THE COUNTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3397, 23 April 1919, Page 23

THE COUNTRY.

t3T Correspondents are reminded that all letters for the current week's issue must reach Dunedin NOT LATEB THAN MONDAY NIGHT. Letters coming to hand on Tuesday are too late, and are thua a week old when they appear.

LAKE COUNTY. April 19—After a fortnight's changeable ■weather it cleared up to-day, and conditions are ideal for the regatta, whnch is being held in Queenstown. Unfortunately Queenstown Bay wa« too rough, and the events were rowed off in the Frankton. arm of the lake. . Lake County Council.—An ordinary meeting of the council was held in Queenstown on° Tuesday. Before the business was commenced a motion of condolence was passed to the widow and family of Mr G. D. Baird, a former member of the council. —The council voted the sum of £55 towards peace celebrations—Queenstown £2O, Arrowtown £2O, Cardrona £5, Kingston £5, and Glenorchy £s—lt was decided to recommend to the warden that reductions be made in rent of mining privileges of A. F. Hawke and another, W. Reid and C. Ross, and Lafranchi Bros., Cardrona.—A six-farthmg rate was decided on for* the coming year—After paying accounts, the overdraft was- reported to be £930 below the limit. Soldiers' Return.—A welcome-home social to Privates Malcolm Chalmers and E. Bruce was held at Gibbston on Friday evening, 11th inst. During the evening Mr James Leslie, on behalf of the Gibbston residents, presented the returned men with gold medals, suitably inscribed. Songs were contributed by Misses Enright and Cowan and Mr R. Cowan; Rev. J Rattray played several cornet solos, arid Mr W. Penglase danced a sailor's hornpipe. A most pleasant evening was terminated with the singing of "Auld lang syne" and the National Anthem. Rifle Shooting.—The fifth and final shoot fox President H. Mackenzie's trophy (a silver teapot) took place on the Queenstown Range on the sth inst. The conditions were three out of five matches, seven shots &z 300 and 500 yards. The wiinner proved to be A. E. Smith, Skippers. On the same day a match between teams (five men a-side) from Queenstown, Skippers, and Glenorchy sections was fired. The conditions were thA same. The match resulted: Queenstown, 374; Skippers, 345; Glenorchy, __ 317. Accident. —An unfortunate accident' befell Miss Lily Geisow, of Queenstown, on Friday, 11th inst., at Kinston, where she had been acting as deputy returning officer at the licensing poll on the previous day. While waiting for the departure of the Bteamer for Queenstown, Miss Geisow went for a walk along the western side of the lake on Friday morning. As she did not return a search party was organised, but no trace of her was found until early on Saturday morning, when she was discovered in an unconscious condition lying among the tall " fern near the lake. She was taken to Kingston, and measures taken to restore animation. The services of i)r Pitts, of Waimate, who was on his way to Dunedin, were secured, and he pronounced her to be suffering from concussion and shock. It appears that Miss Geisow slipped, and her head striking a stone rendered her unconscious. She was sufficiently recovered to return to her-home on Monday, and is making good progress towards recovery. Presentation.—At St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Queenstown, on Friday evening, 11th inst., Miss Gardiner, who has been a valuable member of the choir, and who was about to leave Queenstown, was presented by her fellow members with a copper kettle and stand and a silver bread fork. The presentation *vas made by the Rev. R. C. Hunter. —Miss A. Powley, a member of the Arrow Presbyterian Church choir, was, on the eve of her departure for Invercargill, presented with a leather-bound copy of Church Praise. The presentation was made by Mr W. Stevenson on behalf of the choir members. Clearing Sale.—Mr T. J. Cotter, auctioneer, held a clearing sale of stock, implements, etc., at Arrowtown on Saturday last on account of Mt "Wlilliam M'Bride, who recently disposed of his farm to Mr Thomas Feehly. Two cows sold at £l2 and £l2 10s, two-tooth and four-tooth ewes at 255, fullmouth ewes at 8s and 10s, lambs 10s, ram £3 3s, and a three-year-old hackney filly £l3. Implements and sundries also brought good prices. Personal.—Mr W. T. Smith, who met with a serious accident on the Maoetown road on the 25th of January last, has sufficiently recovered to be able to leave the hospital, and is now able to get about.—General regret was expressed when news was received of the death at Southampton, England, on March 20, of Mr Walter Seaiie, who was for many years proprietor of El'chardt's Hotel, Queenstown. —Sergeant J. P. Kennett, D.C.M., Sergeant H. Watson, and Private F. Watson were welcomed home at a social held at Glenorchy recently, and each was presented with a medal. TUTURAU. April 18.—Very broken weather has prevailed for the past month, and harvesting has been prolonged, and there is still some crop to cut and to lead in. On the few fine days we had everyone worked their hardest, and those fortunately finished helped their neighbours, eo that a good number of stacks axe to be seen. On Wednesday, 16th, rar.n set in at 10 a.m., and continued in a downpour all day. All the creeks were bank high, and the day was bitterly cold, with frost overnight. The Hokonui Hills were white on Thursday, which day was fine and clear, and wo hoped the weather would be fine for the holidays; but to-day (Good Friday) is -as niiiserablo as can be—heavy rain showers and hail and a strong south-west wind and very cold. The only comfortable place is near a largo fire. The school children all got a good soaking on Wednesday, and are glad of the holidays. Winter Feed.—Winter is setting in early, and feed is so scarce already that few will .be. able to buy in stock or to graze others. The hilly ground, though more troublo to farm, is the best for sheltering stock these stormy days; the winds have been so frequent and so cold. Friday night was very stormy and very cold, with high wind and hoavy rain and much hail, and there seems no prospect of fine weather yet. Valedictory.—On Wednesday, the 9th, there was a large gathering of district people at the church to farewell M r ss Mabel Dickie, whoso wedding took place on the 16th. Miss Dickie has been organist for the Church Christian Endeavour and Sunday School for several years, also a Sunday School teacher and a general help at all our socials. Being a general favourite and a good musician, we will greatly miss her. Mr Batchelor (Mataura) occupied the chair, and an excellent musical programme was submitted. The organists were Misses Shanks and Wright, Mrs Taylor, and Miss Bennett. On behalf of the people Mr Batchelor presented Miss Dickie with a

handsome silver tea service and eiderdown quilt, refertfing to the high esteem in which she was held. Messrs W. Muir, D. Muir, and J. Christie also sjpoke briefly, wishing Miss Dickie -every happiness. Miss Dickie suitably replied. Tea and cake were passed round, and the company parted about 4 o'clock.

WAIKAIA. April 18.—Winter is beginning to make its presence felt. During the week we have had some heavy frosts. Very heavy ram fell on Monday morning, followed by snow in the afternoon. Church Matters.—On Monday, 7th, at the close of the Christian Endeavour meeting Mr Joseph Davidson presented the Rev. Mr Hain, who is retiring this month from the charge of Waikaia, with a beautiful glasscovered wreath (suitably inscribed), to be placed on Mrs Hain's grave. Mr Hain feelingly thanked the donors. Last Sunday Mr Mitchell (Knapdale) occupied the pulpit, and preached very earnest sermons. He referred in eulogistic terms to the work done by Mr Hain. , Social.—The Presbyterian Church annual social was held on Wednesday evening, April 16. Tire weather was wintry, and, snow covering the ground, prevented many from attending. The church was decorated with evergreens. The choir rendered anthems, and solos were given by Mr Clark, Mr Hicks, Mr A. Hain, and Mr J. Davidson. The treasurer's report was read., and considered satisfactory. Rev. J. M. Simpson (Gore) gave an address, during which he dwelt upon the many excellent qualities of the Rev. Mr Hain, the departing minister. The following commitee were appointed:—Messrs A. Christie, J. Cooper, W. Cooper, J. Davidson, J. Lowe, T. D. Moffat, W. M'Kee, C. M'KenzJie, J. Sproat, J. Thompson, D. Wilson, and F. White. The sale of furniture, etc., will be held at the manse on the 30th. ETTRICK. April 21. —The season continues very broken—in fact, it is bordering very much on winter. Last Wednesday was particularly rough, and the hills had a heavy .coating of snow well down. Winter Feed. —The outlook for winter feed is not at a'l promising. The turnips were badly blighted during the dry spell in March, but have recovered somewhat, although there is not sufficient heat to bring them on much now. The Harvest.—Crops have been very good, but, as in other districts, are very late, and some paddocks are not yet led in. Thrashing and chaffcutting are general, however; but it wiill be some time before the mill can get round the district, as the broken weather is interfering considerably with its progress." Fruit crops have been fair, and apple-pick-ling is now the order of the day. There are some fairly good yields, but all varieties show decided lack of colour, owing to the absence of heat and sunshine—two important factors for maturing the apple. Referendum. —The licensing poll created considerable (interest, the opposing sides bsing very evenly divided. Continuation scored 37 votes and prohibition 36. General. —There are a number of visitors to the district for the Easter holidays.— The Tennis Club had a tournament a 3 a closing function on Saturday, when there was keen competition. Miss Leslie won the Ladies' Chamionship Singles, and Mr W. Thompson the Gentlemen's Singles. ALEXANDRA NOTES. ALEXANDRA, April 16. A motion on linos similar to that passed at several householders' meetings was submitted to the Alexandra meeting and carried unanimously protesting against the making of Government grants to any but State schools. Another motion urging upon the Education Board the necessity of establishing a technical school in the Alexandra district was also adopted. Municipal affairs are quiet. The Mayor (Mr "W. Black) offers himself for re-election, and so far no other candidate for the position has appeared. Most of the present councillors have intimated their willingness to stand for re-election, and no new candidates have been announced. The recent rain, although somewhat late, has done a fair amount of good. The ground is warm, and growth is coming away. As a result of a local deputation which waited on Mr Bowles, (district traffic manager) on his recent visit to Alexandra, the experiment is being tried of bringing the second Otago Central train (better known as the goods train) right through to Clyde instead of stopping, as formerly, at Omakau. This is to try to. relieve the congestion of goods traffic. At a recent lecture on tomato culture given in the Alexandra Town Hall by a prominent local grower the possibilities of outdoor tomato growing were emphasised. Last season, from 20G0 plants, the lecturer secured 11,6861 bof fruit. This crop, taken at the very low average price of 2ad per lb, would -return £l2l. The lecturer made it quite clear that his own average worked out considerably higher, but jokingly said he would not tell, as they would all want to become tomato growers. Mr J. H. Thorp (Government orchard instructor), who was present, at the close of the lecture exhibited specimens cf stone fruit badly infected with brown rot and black spot. Mr Thorp was of the opinion that brown rot was not to be found in this district.