LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 20

LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

A meeting of the Rain-producing Committee was held at Oamaru on the 7th rnfct. to receive the report and balance sheet in connection with the experiments recently carried out in the district. The (iovernment (says the Oamaru Mail's report), through the keen interest of Mr J. A. Maophecaon, H.P., and the appreciation of the Prime Minister, had placed on the Estimates an amount covering all cost of the materiar used, and the committee held a balance to credit of £110, which was placed on fixed deposit for future experiments. A special vote of thanks and appreciation was heartily carried to the Prime Minuter ior his generous assistance, also to -Mr Macpherson for the very keon manner in which be had attended to the wants of the farmers throughout the district. Mr Doyey, the chairman, in thanking the committee' for their assistance, and the secretary (Mr H. F. Gibson) for co ably carrying out his work, considered that the recent efforts at rain-producing were successful. An executive meeting of the Wyndham A. and P. Society was held on the 7th inst., Mr Robert Shields (president) in the chair. The secretary (Mr H. Hunter) produced a rough statement summarising the accounts arising over the show. The total receipts (approximately) were £178 li-s (entry money £50 13s, sheep-guessing £9 16?, sates £30 19s, members' tickets £60), and the expenditure £166 16s lid (prize money £105, printing and advertising £22, luncheon £7 6s 6d, rent of Mrs Kidd's paddock £2 10b, judges £4 13s, band £4). There would be a credit balance of about £11 or £12. The statement was considered a highly satisfactory one. Accounts amounting to £46 were passed for payment. It ■was decided to forward Messrs W. Rankin (Waikiwi) and G. T. Smyth (Invercargill) an honorarium of one guinea each for their seri ieee a<? judges. A meeting of the committee of the North Otago A. and P. Association took place on Wednesday last, thers being a

I good attendance. The president (Mr C. W. Reid) occupied the chair. .Previous to the consideration of the business for which the meeting was called, the President said that it gave- him much pleasure in presenting two of the cups won at the late show. Mr Reid then presented Mr W. Gardiner with the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency's Gup for the best typical draught horse in the show. He was pleased to see the cup fall into*-wich hands as Mr Gardiner's, and congratulated that gentleman on possessing the best typical draught horse in North Otago, and possibly in New Zealand. He Tegretted that Mr Burbury was not able to personally present the cup. Mr Gardiner, in accepting the cup, briefly thanked the president for his kind remarks about himself and about the horse. The i President then, on behalf of Messrs Quibell Bros., presented Mr Thomas Little with that firm's handsome cup for the largest number of points in Border Leicester sheep. Mr Reid said be was pleased to see the cup fall" to such an enthusiast, and the stock were indeed well worthy of the cup and the breeder. Mr Little thanked the president foe- his remarks. It* was the honour of North Otago that made him so keen on winning the cup. Mr Reid said he regretted that 'Messrs Cooper's cup, for the j largest prise-taker at * the show, was not j available, in order thai he could present , same to the winner, Mr Basil Seth-Smifh. j He congratulated Mr Basil Seth-Smith on winninir the cup. Mr Basil Seth-Smith wrote that, having won his own special prize for best yearling heifer in shorthorns, he would be pleased to hold the same over till next year, and then double it. — Mr Seth-Smith's .offer wa3 accepted with thanks. Mr John Reid's offer of a 10guinea cup for competition at next year's show was accepted with thanks. The President remarked that the society were doing very well towards next year's show. In addition to the 10-guinea cup offered by Mr Reid, the National Mortgage Company had offered a 10-guinea cup, Mr S. Rutherford had offered a five-guinea cup, and Mr Basil Seth-Smith had offered to double his special prise for l>est yearlingheifer. The Oamaru Chamber of Commerce wrote asking the assistance of the society in the matter of getting wool sales held m Oamaru. It was. decided to give the Chamber of Commerce as much help as possible. - Mr G. M. 'Bruce forwarded his resignation as an auditor, necessitated owing to his being about to leave the district. The resignation was accepted with regret. Two exhibitors, Messrs P. Ireland and F. HiUyer. wrote complaining of the treatment accorded their cattle by the Railway Department, and intimating that unless arrangements were altered it was not worth their while exhibiting at future shows. — During the discussion which followed, strong exception was taken to the ' treatment received by the show authorities at the hands of the cailway officials, and it was decided that the complaints be forwarded to the traffic manager at Dunedjn ■for his consideration. The President said lhat members would have noticed that the Minister of Lands had kept his promise about getting a clause put into a bill enabling the society to sell their sections on the North road. — He considered the thanks of the society were due to the Minister, and alsoa I so to the Hon. T. Y. Duncan and Mr J. A. Macpherson. for their assistance. — A resolution of thanks was minuted. The question of the duplication -of the dairy produce- exhibits was discussed, the matter being- introduced by Mr Gardiner, who said that he had heard a good deal of grumbling owing to the fact that duplication was allowed.-1-Mr Brownlee said he had always been against the duplication of exhibits in the dairy produce section. — It was resolved that it be a recommendation to the incoming committee that no duplication he allowed in the section named. The Finance Committee's report, which was adopted, showed that accounts connected with the show to the amount of £130 4s lOd, accounts relating to current expenses and plant amounting to £189 9s 2d, and' prize money to the value of £598 4s, making a total of £917 18s, had been passed for payment. The secretary submitted a statement showing that, exclusive of expenditure on the new ground, the operations of the society J for the year would probably show a profit of close on £200. The next meeting was ■ fixed for January 6. j Writing on the 9th inst., the Waitahuna t correspondent of the Tuapeka Times- reports: — The grain crops are at present looking well, and give promise of an abundant harvest. A heavy shower of hail, which fell with great force on some pans of the district on Saturday last, has- done ,' a good deal of damage, especially to the turnip plant«, and in some cases will necessitate sowing the seed a second time. Quantities of nicely wrought-up soil have also , been washed off some of the hillaides. Grass on the low grounds is good, but on the high spurs farmers complain that feed is very bate, there not having been sufficient moisture The creamery mrk supply, which was expected to reach 600 gallons this summer, haa so far not gone much above 300 gallons. I hear the supply is on the increase. The Park Hill correspondent of "the Tapanui Courier writes: — It is very pleasing to note the forward appearance of all our surrounding- districts. Ererv farm shows a marked improvement. The weather lately has been all that could be desired — warm rain showers, with much sunshine. Leaving Park Hill on the old Switzers road, from where a commanding view is obtained of a large farming district, extending- for many miles to right and left, the appearance of the country as a whole would be difficult to beat in tho Dominion of New Zealand. Turnip sowing, both in drill and broadcast, i<» well nigh finished, much of the work having , 1 'jftftP done daring the last tv.o weeks. |

Sheep-shearing is in full swing, and will bd completed before the New_Year comes, pro« vidinjj the weather continues favourable. M r J. A. Kirke, lessee of Dusky Runs, commenced on the 4th inst. with 'our Cooper shearing machines, driven by a 2-h.p. Fairbanks Morse oil engine. Tho machines were se£ to work by Mr E. O. Mills, expert (Greendale, Canterbury), who is engaged by Mr Kirke to superintend the working of the machines during shearing. A few visitors were there that day, and were all highly pleased with what they' saw of the machines and the work done. The motive power was very steady, and kept the machinery going without trouble. At an informal social gathering of judges, exhibitors, and others, held at the invitation of some members of the committee of the Southland A. and P.- Association on Wednesday last in Invercargill, Mr Kyle, veterinary examiner of stock at the Christchurch abattoirs, who is an old Southland man, and was present, in reply to a toast, made some excellent suggestions with regard to. the care which should be exercised in the selection And examination of stookr bought in the Old Country for importation into New Zealand, and as to the duty of toe Government in. providing for the exa* mination of stud horses in the Dominion.? Mr Ky)« was emphatic in his condemnation of the practice of breeding from thoroughbred horses or mares with any unsoundness, and said there werevery few of this breed! 'in the colony which were perfectly sound, this l>eing traceable to the importation o£ animals with high pedigrees, but which were unsound in v constitution. He advocated ■that an examining surgeon should b« attached to the High Commissioner's office in London, whose duty it would be to examine all stock which any colonist desired to buy for introduction 'nto the Dominion. By following this course nothing* but the soundest animals would be purchased, and those jjesiroua of doing business with the stock-owners of the Dominion would not be able to foist anything on to settlers. He also regretted that the Stock Bill introduced into the House a /ear or so ago had not been put on the Statute Book, as<jt would have prevented unsound animals taking prises in show rings. The following district notes are supplied by correspondents of the Olutha. Free P-ess : Hillend: Crops are fairly advanced; on* or. two lots are now shot, but they were sown veTy early. Turnins appear to have a good healthy braird, while grass has come away most luxuriantly. Shearing is in full i swing, but we are a little despondent at I the fall in prices. Is this the start of a reduction in raw products all along the line? If so, one ought to be prepared for the proverbial wet day, and rest on the good prices of the last few /ears.— Fomahaka Downs: The beautiful warm, genial weather and occasional -welcome showers of rain have given a wonderful spur to our vegetation, consequently the> stock are beginning to Jose some of their bony excrescences ; not before time, as the summer is too short4ired. The crops, in this once- notorious; but now high-up-the-ladder-of-£ame district are looking remarkably well, especially the autumn and winter-sown, the hitter giving promise o? a very heavy yield. As the whole of &ws estate is now settled, a much larger area than usual will be harvested. Turnip-sowing" and shearing are now receiving attention. The clip is equal, if not superior, to that of former years, but unfortunately this cannot be said regarding the prices, which are reported to be on the wane. The Cknadian thistle is spreading with aJarnung rapidity; indeed, it will only be a matter of time when it will "have full possession. One settler is thinking- of resigning hi* position and handing his farm over to thsv Government. I venture to predict, for various reasons, that about 1000 acres will be on the market shortly, but with the present earth hunger it may happily be soon re-selected. For the half-year ended March 31 tfc# Maniototo County Council expended £49 3s lOd on the suppression of small birds. The Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) and the Hon. Mr M'Nab (Minister of Lands) were on Wednesday last invited to luncheon on the show ground by tb» president and directors of the Southland A- and P. Association, and they took occasion to refer to several interesting matters from a general public point of view. Mr Jas. Drain (the president) occupied the chair and tendered a hearty welcome to the Ministerial party. In the« course of his remarks Sir Joseph Ward said he wished to mention a matter that he considered should receive more than ordinary consideration from the farmers of Southland. At present there were too. many shows held in the district, and they should sink their differences' and endeavour tomake the show in Invercargill greater than any similar exhibition in New Zealand. Patriotic^ sentiment should enable this to be easily done, and they would, he hoped, all agree thai it would be to their advantage to concentrate thfi ir effort* on one provincial show. It would aaa greatly to Southland's importance, because then people from all over the Dominion would be attracted, as was the case with, the Pahnerston North and Canterbury ehowe. People in the north would be anxious to compare their products witn those of Southland, and if they could only impress upon- the old farmers to induce the young farmers to say, "We will have one show in Southland," fliey would do a, very great good for the provinoe. It would be a difficult thing to do, pwnapi, as there was that natural desire to boW shows in their respective centres, trati should his suggestion find acceptance, the opportunity would be favourable, as «oo» as they woul dha-ve the new show ground, which would suit the requirements of a. much larger exhibition than that now Turnip thinning on Incholutha and other low-lying land* in the neighbourhood (aaya the Clutha Free Press) is absorbing all