SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2985, 31 May 1911, Page 52

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) INVERCARGILL, May 28.'Good progress is being made with the new Government buildings opposite to the Invercargill Railway Station, and it is anticipated that they will lb© ready for occupation in September or October next. A company with a capital of £12,C00 has taken over the lease of ths Prince of Wales Hotel site and the ground is being made ready for the laying of the foundations of the new hotel. A large number of Soutblanders took part in the Gabriel's Gully Jubilee celebrations at Lawrence last week, several of them seeing the township for the first time, as it did not exist at the outbreak of the diggings. Residents of 30 years ago were struck with the progress of Lawrence and the utter decay of Weatherstones, a striking feature of the town being the tiees planted many years ago by the late Mr Edward Herbert. These have now grown to large proportions along Whitehaven street, and are fairly well grown on the old racecourse and the Dam Hill.

The Invercargill Corporation-offers a reward of £5 for the conviction of any person giving a false alarm of fire through the alarm boxes. A young man was fined for this offence some time ago, but it does not appear to have put an end to the practice.

The annual conference of the Southland Farmers' Union held in Allen's- Hall on Friday was well attended. Mr T. W. Foster, Wyndham, was elected president, and Messrs John M'Queen and H. J. Middleton vice-presidents. Mr Andrew Kinross, who has been a member of the Southland Land Board for the last 33 years, was on Friday presented with a Morris chair on the occasion of his retirement. Messrs Duncan King, James King, John M'Lean, and the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Mr Skeet, spoke in appreciation of Mr Kinross's services during those many years, and wished him health and happiness in the evening of his days. Two boys under 16, charged at the Police Court, Invercargill, on Tuesday, with shooting with a pea rifle, were convicted, and the rifle, valued at 38s, was confiscated. Most of the tradespeople of Invercargill have decided to close on Monday, June 5, instead of Saturday, June 3, in celebration of the King's Birthday. The ironmongers, however, have decided to stick to Saturday. The Southland A. and P. Association's Winter Show is to be held on Wednesday and Thursday, June 7 and 8, in the Zeajandia Hall as usual. Mr J. R. Brown, the well-known auctioneer of the National Mortgage and Agency Company, has been offered, and has accepted, the position of manager of the company's branch at Ashbuirton, a change which means substantial promotion. Mr Brown has beeii in the company's employment for 13 years, and has worked his way steadily up from the position of shipping clerk. Mr Kenneth Cameron, District Health Officer for Otago and Southland, is about to leave Invercargill to take up his rosi dence in Dunedin, that town being a more convenient centre from which to work his • very laTge district. The Southland Building Society last year did a bigger business than in any previous vear, the advances totalling £44,170. A dividend of 6 per cent, is to be paid. . . At Tuesday night's meeting of the Invercargill Starr-Bowkett Society the two free loans of £SOO in group one fell ro cluster 8182 and 55. In group number 2

the free loan fell to cluster 10, and in group number 3 to cluster 44. Major-general Godiey, commandant of the New Zealand Defence Forces, Las spent the week in Southland giving addresoes in the various centres on the new defence- scheme. He was everywhere we'll received and plied with questions-.. which shows how cordially a.re the people generally in the scheme, and; how >ntaretetod in the details.