AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2692, 18 October 1905, Page 21

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

j The prospects of woolgrowers are exceed- / ingly bright. Buyers are already on the alert, and tempting offers for next season's ! clip are being made in several districts. ' Offers of l^d per pound in advance of last year are on record. The fifth annual exhibition of horse stock in connection with the Amberley Breeders' Association was held on the Domain at Amberl&y on Thursday last, Jnit wae not so ! well attended as usual, the gate takings being only £15, as compared with_ £32 last | year. The exhibits at the respective snows have numbered in 1901 96, and in the following years 166, 217, 196, and on this occasion 121. The marked reduction this year is attributed to the large sales of draught stock from the district, ihe fact that the ' season lias kept fanners behind baud with

ploughing and grain sowing operations, so that ihe agricultural horses could not be spared for a day, and the growing feeling that farmers could not compete successfully! with stud breeders, which accounts for somewhat of a decline in this section. There was a- good entry of light horses and ponies. The reported death of Air C. DampierCrossley on the morning of the show caused the withdrawal of some of the exhibits in the stock of the we'l-known horse Goodwood. The arrangements of the ground! reflected credit on the stewards and the untiring secretary, Mr R. J. Parsons. The membership of the _Mackenzie County Agricultural Society is ab"out 140, and the society has about £100 worth of assets and/ but. trifling liability. In support of what appeared in this paper a few days ago relative to the fraudulent packing of fat (says last Thursday's Timariu Post), there was left at thic office this morning a lump of iron weighing 71b, which a buyer had found in a tin of fat which he recently purchased, and the same buyer says it is no uncommon thing to find all sorts of rubbish mixed with fat which on top appears perfectly good. A dozen - pounds of stone he found in one tin, and at the present time he has a dispute over a parcel of two tons of fat, for which he agreed to pay 15s per cwt, but which, on opening up, he found to be so mixed underneath the surface with "matck" for which he could find no name, that he refuses to take it unless a reduotion in price is made.