SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2818, 18 March 1908, Page 68

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES

(Fbom Oub Own Cobbespondent.) I rNVERCARGILL, Har\ 14. A considerable quantity of oats has been Offering from th« country during the past (week, and the bulk has been sold at from 2s Ko 2s Id, according ta sample and distance foora Inveroargill. About 2s OJd on trucks can be taken as the average price. The oats now arriving at Bluff stores are of a Uniformly good quality, but I understand the yields- on the whole are not equal to those of previous years. Another fortnight should see deliveries- fairly general, and it f B expected that the price will then ease $o about Is lOd. A few sales are being made to Auckland at up to 2s 5d (f.0.b., s.i.). Practically all the oats offering are being, sold right out, very few farmers caring to hang on for higher prices, as 2s from the jnill, with anything like a fair yield, pays Jhe grower very well. Very little new chaff has yet been offered in the local market, and at present the price as from £3 to £3 5s on trucks for good quality. The only business passing is with local storekeepers. As was expected in local quarters, ryegrass lias pteadily risen, and I understand that as high as 3s 8d has been paid for prim* lines from South Hillend, and several farjners in that district have sold at Ss 6d. Italian seems to be very scarce this year, and any little lines offering are keenly competed for. The present value is about 3s 6d. Dunedin merchants «re utill buying, though mot in very large quantities. During the week sales have been held at Dipton, Woodlands, and Otautau. At these pales the yardings have ' been large and the demand good. At Otauteu on Friday about 8000 sheep were yarded, and practically the .whole entry was cleared. Lambs were forward in large numbers, and were all readily [placed. Good rape lambs sold at aB high as 14s 3d, but from 12a lOd to 13s 6d may he taken as the ruling price for decent lines. Smaller sortß realised from 11s to 12s 6d, end weedy and inferior from 6s 6d to Bs. Consequent on the rise in the mutton market and the fact that lambs are hard to obtain, forward wethers have taken a decided unctve, and values are now fully 2s per head Ibetter than they were a fortnight or three weeks *go- Four and six-tooth wethers hay« been sold at from 15s 6d to 16s 6d, two.tooths at from 16s to 16s 2d. The latter price was paid at Otautau on Friday for a good line, well grown and ■ " sappy." Ewes are also good property, and the supply of zeally well-bred ewes at the present time is not equal to the demand. Six and eightitooths have been sold at from 21s to 21s 6d, »nd two-tooths from 19s fid to 21s. Practically no fonx-tboths Tiave been on offer ■this year. Fat lamb buyers ore getting away fairly large numbers now, although growers complain that the percentage ready •to Mil is nothing like as large as last year's supply. Lambs, though healthy and in good enough condition, do not seem to be finishing off quite so well as usual. Operations in fat cattle are purely local, end butchers are not at all keen to stock up in large 'numbers, bat axe simply buying as they require the stock for killing. It is the "general opinion that in the winter beef will be fully as high as during the previoua itwo seasons, and forward bullocks should be readily sold from mow onward. Younger cattle are not changing hands in any quantities. During the week the fibre market Has, if anything, assumed a more gloomy aspect than before, and prices have receded to £17 10» to £18 f.o.b. for fair quality, with hardly iany demand from foreign markets. 'The outlook has not bejen so black for a great number of years, and the bottom seems -to have fallen completely out of the market. Now that things have practically reached bedrock, it is io be hoped that there will be «n improvement, ' mnd that there will be » return of at leasf payable prioet, to enable the industry to keep •live in the Dominion. With these low prices, millers everywhere are deciding to Temain closed down, and only those who aave actual ooatVact* to fill are bow at work. ... ± March 16. At last meeting of the Southland Acclimatisation Society a letter was received from the Premier with reference to a complaint made against Government labourers at Puysegur Point— that they were provided with firearms, and were creating great havoc among native birds— in which he stated that the men carried firearms for the purpose of Shooting wild cattle, and that instructions bad been given to them not to kill native I ■. The -Stock Committee recommended that the use of acetylene lamps by flounder wearers «t tie mouth of the Waiau should *» P^^ted, " rt "rterferes with angkre. The Lawrence people having failed to arxange for the next second-clam band contest to be held in their town, Bluff was asked to undertake it, but at a. meeting held last Monday night it wae decided Siat there was not sufficient time left in which to make Arrangements. An inebriate who arrived from the north and was locked up in Invercargill was found «o have £200 in his possession. In some places he would have been relieved of his burden, but in Invercargill his indiscretion enly cost him £1, forfeited bail.— Southland JDaily News. At last meeting of the Invercargill Chamber tof Commerce it was mentioned that the late Sir John Turnbull had been connected with * .fk&xnber for a longer period than any ?L. eat P resen t members, namely— from 1874, 34 years. At Friday's meeting of the Southland County Council Mr 1. JH. Raymond's resignation was accepted with regret, and a record made in the minutes of the council's high appreciation of Mr Raymond's valuable services. All the members spoke to the resolution, and all were warm in their praise and appreciation of Mr Raymond's ability and public spirit. In the evening Mr Raymond was entertained by the members of the council at a complimentary banquet in the 'Albion Hotel, when further complimentary references were made to Mr Raymond's public services. Mr Raymond has been in public life in Southland for about twenty years, has taken probably a larger share than any other Jpublio man in public affairs, and has been Kiot only an exceedingly valuable member of the various bo&ee to which he has belonged, 3>ut one of the most genial. Mr Colin Robertson, at Waikaia, has been appointed chairman of the Southland County Council in succession to Mr Raymond. The weather throughout Southland during the last week has been very mixed, either H close thunderous atmosphere at howling kales. High seas, due, no doubt, principally to the prevailing g»les, have temporarily put t> stop to beach elevating- work at Orepuki. ■Mr Pickeit, of the Bank of New Zealand, Hiverton, has been appointed manager *b Ophir (Blacks). The necessary permit having been secured, Crams are now running to Otafeara seven times n, day and thrice on Sundays. The place is likely to become a favourite picnicking ground, being now so easily accessible, ana Vjhe bush affording attractions in the way of tern gathering and blackberrying. It ie felt, uowever, by the proprietary that the tramway

nrasf be supplemented t»r • ro&3, and the company are now endeavouring to get the Invercargill Borough Council to undertake a large ■Bcheme of reclamation north of the tramway, so as to enable the company to run the road across the estuary. If the reclamation scheme could be taken vp—and that depends for one thing on whether the Marine Department will give its permission — a large tract of good grazing country could be made, which would probably be a most valuable asset to the town, and the Land Proprietary's task of putting a road alongside the tramway would be greatly lightened. Mr James Fleming, of the Southland County Council, has been appointed to represent the council on the Bluff Harbour Board in place of Mr Raymond, resigned. Arrangements are almost completed for the great Hospital collections on Saturday, 28th inst. The town and suburbs have been divided into SI districts, and there will be about 300 lady collectors. Meanwhile the problem is being discussed by the male portion of the community whether it is better to give all one's contribution to the first lady met or to buy up all the threepences in the place and give to all who ask. The Misses M'Kenzie. of the Prince of Waleß and Deschler's Hotels, left Invercargill last Monday for Scotland. A little boy, son of John Campbell, of Drummond, was missed from his home on Wednesday last, and was found dead in » ditch on ' Thursday afternoon after * prolonged search. The child had evidently died of shock and exposure. Mr W. Strang, the well-known furniture warehouseman of Esk street, died very suddenly at Nelson on Tuesday last, it is understood, of heart disease. When Mr Strang left on his holiday there was not supposed to be anything eeriously wrong with ham, though he had been very slightly indisposed of late. Mt Strang was for many years * member erf the Session of First Church, Invercargill, and an officer of the local lodge of Rechabites. A kindly, unassuming man, "he will be greatly missed by a wide circle of. friends. There were fifty-two applicants for the position of secretary of the Southland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, and after eliminating the unmarried and those over fifty years of age, the board found themselves 1 with 21 eligible applicants. These were gradually reduced by the process of balloting, wid the final selection was Mr T. Pride, resident agent at Gore for the Australian Widows' Fund Society. Mr Reginald Day, the present secretary, leaves for his new position in the north next "week. A hockey club has just been formed in Invercargill", with Mr R. Burgess captain, and Mr Arnold W. Smith deputy-captain. Another evidence of the progress of Invercargill! The Post Office private boxes lobby is being enlarged so as to put on another row of private boxes. Preparations are also being made in the premises of telephone subscribers for the installation of the new telephone system, and it is rumoured that considerable extensions to the Government Buildings will be commenced at an early date. AfteT two attempts the promoters of the proposed Progressive Society imve given up the project. This m*y to some extent be due to the fact that a. society of a similar charcter has recently been formed, and has obtained a. good membership. Mr J. O. Hopcraft, of Dunedin, has been appointed accountant to Messrs Mackerras and Htzlett, Invercargill. Mr B. A. Dickinson, for many years a banker in Invercargill and Riveiton, died at the residence of his son-in-law at (3-lad'stone on Friday at the age of 68 years. Since Mr Dickinson: retired on » pension ten years ago he ha% been practising as a public accountant in Invercargill. Mr Leege, who has been steward of the InvercargUl Club for many years' past, has become lessee of the Southland Club Hotel. During the past week a petition has been in circulation in Invercargill requesting -that a poll should be taken on the question of having the factory half-holiday observed on the same day as the shops and offices holiday. This came before the Inverca-rgill Borough Council at its last meeting, wnl the poll is to be taken on the matter towards the close of this month. Previous to his departure to Colac Mr Richard Morgan, home missionary in the Clifden district, was entertained at a farewell social in Mrs Davies's hall, when he was presented with a substantial cheque, *nd Mrs Morgan with a purse of sovereigns. M* Morgan proved himself a good worker while at Clifden, and his departure is a los 3to the district. Rev. R. Ferguson preached an in memoriam sermon at First Church yesterday referring to the late Mar Win. Strang, for many years a prominent member of the congregation. Mr John G-ilkison, of Messrs J. E. Watson, •nd Co., was seriously hurt on Friday night. He was driving from Otautau to Clifden in company with Mr James King, when, the night being dark and stormy, the buggy upset over »' small embankment on the Hamilton Burn, and Mr Gillrison was thrown out, the wheel passing over the small of his back and rupturing his kidneys. He was taken to a neighbouring house, and on Saturday evening brought to town by special train, a-nd conveyed in the ambulance to Nurse Sproule's Private Hospital Mr Gilkison suffers a great deal of pain, and inward bleeding causes his friends some anxiety. The last of the old Invercargill tramcars ran last night, and the rails will at once be taken up. The Inyercargill tram system has been the object of derision for years past, but the proprietors deserve sympathy rather than contumely. The running of the cars has bsen anything but a- joke to them. '