SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3383, 15 January 1919, Page 23

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

(Fbom Oub Own Corhespondent.) INVERCARGILL, January 11. At a conference of representatives of the Southland local bodiea and the Southland League, held in- the Municipal Chambers on Thursday, various resolutions were adopted committing the district to the electrification scheme proposed by Mr W. A. Rodger. Thus Mr Rodger's efforts, characterised by great ability and energy, have resulted in the initiation of a. project which must have a very great effect on the future of Southland in the saving of labour and increase of home comforts! all over the district, and particularly in supplying Invercargill with cheap power, enabling it to manufacture for the many requirements of the people of the province, and so provide employment for a very greatly-increased population. The meeting showed a very proper appreciation of Mr Rodger's valuable cervices, and everyone must approve the hope expressed by the Hon. A. F. Hawke that Mr Eodger should continue to fill a big place in the scheme which he has been so largely instrumental in bringing into being. Before the proposed district is formed and the board set up it is intended to secure such orders for current as will guarantee the financial success of the movement, and Mr Rodger himself is to canvass the country, with assistance from members of the various County and Borough Councils, and the help of the secretary of the Southland League. The Monowai is to be the source of power, and, as pointed out by Mr Rodger, the installation will provide work for thousands of returning soldiers, and lessen the problem of their rcabsorption into civil life. Master C. Dixon still leads in the egglaying competition, his total being 1157. The next best are:—Chas. Thomson, 1107; J. J. Schultz, 1076; A. Provan, 1056; Mrs Gorinski, 1016. The Rev. W. W. .urown, of Mataura, has accepted a call to East Taieri Presbyterian Church, and will be inducted on the 23rd inst. Mr W. A. Saunders has resigned the position of registrar of electors for Southland, which he has held for a good many years, and is being succeeded by Mr J. D. Ferguson, Wellington. During the recent visit of the Hon. J. A. Ha nan, Minister of Education, to Invercargill, he was waited on by a deputation asking that the old part of the South School, which has been in use for 40 years, should bo rebuilt, and the Minister admitted the need of a new school, and -intimated his willingness to give a reasonable grant for that purpose. Mr F. C. Hay, who has don© the preliminary work in connection with the Monowai electric power scheme, has been appointed consulting engineer to the Electrification Commitete.

Heavy rain on Thursday and Friday nights has put all the Southland rivers in a state of flood, and they -will not be fit for fishing for a week or so. An Invercargill angler visiting the Mirnihau on Friday caught the river on the rise and got a fine basket of trout, ranging from l£lb to 2§lb. On Saturday, however, the river was in such'a state of flood as to be quite unfishable, the besfi ripples being blotted out and their places unapproachable. The shortage of labour in Southland has given the rabbits a great chance, and the whole country is over-run with them. In the mornings and evenings hundreds of them are to be seen feeding along the roadsides,

and scores are killed night by motor carffi Mibs Jobson, who ia leaving the position of principal of the Soutshland Girls' High School to take a similar position in. Wellngton, waa yesterday presented by the Southland School Board of Governors with a silver tea service suitably inscribed. • The presentation w.aa made by Mr R. A. Anderson, chairman of the board, who acknowledged the good work in the cause of education taken by Miss Jobson in various publio the past eight years, the Mayor following on with eulogistio references to the part taken by Miss "obson in various publio movements during her stay in Invercargill. Miss Jobson, in acknowledging the presentation, said she would always cherish pleasant memories of the harmonious relations that have exsited between herself and the pupils and staff, and also the board. A shop window in Tay street was a great centre of attraction for passers-by this morning, the attraction being a man in bod in a hypnotic sleep. The sleep was apparently .very deep, for when the bed, with the man on it, was being carried across 1 the street, the bedstead broke, and the man was deposited on the road, without, however, being awakened. At the meeting of the electrification conference on Friday attention was drawn to the fact that the whole of the legal work in . connection with the initiation of the scheme has been done gratuitously by Mr W. Macaljster, and a vote of thanks to him was carried with enthusiasm. Votes of thanks were also passed to Mr A.. W. Eodger and Sir Joseph Ward and the other members who had assisted in getting the Electrio Power Board's Bill through Parliament. During the week endeavours have been made to secure a visit to Southland by Genenal Pau and the other members of the French Miesion, but without success, and a request to have one -of the arriving transports discharge at Bluff did not elicit more than a half promise. The Mayor, however, has had assurances which lead him to believe that the through express will be resumed before, long. y