SOUTHLAND TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3662, 20 May 1924, Page 31

SOUTHLAND TOPICS.

(From Ottr Own Correspondent.) INVERCARGILL, May 17. The weather during the past week has been very breezy, and some strong gales have been experienced. Sometimes these were accompanied by rain around the coast, but inland little rain has fallen, just sufficient for agricultural and domestic purposes. An interesting lecture in herd testing was delivered to the members of the George Road Junior Agricultural Club by Mr A. 11. Mackrell. This club has now been in existence three years and is doing useful work. It. is the only one of its kind in Southland, and has kept going in face of many difficulties. It is stronger than ever this year, and its evenings are well attended and enjoyed by old and young. To stimulate interest in the Farmers’ Union, Messrs W. J. Poison, Dominion President. A. A. Ross, and Alfred Harding, Auckland Executive, have been delivering I lectures in various parts of Southland during the week. The tour commenced at Mataura last Friday, and after visiting Invercargill, the Western and Waimea districts, it. concluded at Gore on Thursday evening. The party had a successful tour, and the Union should benefit considerably in increased membership. After a period of calm the South Invercargill Borough Council has broken out again. This time it is the Town Clerk, Air A. E. Dyson, who is being attacked, and it is hinted that a motion asking him to resign will be moved at the next Council meeting. At the annual meeting of the Southland Acclimatisation Society many proxy votes were used, and (he use of these has been the cause of some fierce arguments. At tho last Society meeting a complaint that some of the proxies had been illegally used, was lodged, and a special committee has been set up to investigate tile votes. A peculiar position has arisen in that stormy borough, South Invercargill. At the last election, Mr J. Mitchell was eleethe Mayor by lot, but the election was upset on a petition, and Air W. Alc-Oheney declared elected. It now transpires that an amount of £27 10s was paid to defend the case by the Borough, and no authorisation for the expenditure of the amount can L e found. T he case has been referred to a local authority for a ruling. The Workers’ Educational Association is gradually extending its activities throughout the province, and branches are now es-

tablished at Bluff, Riverton, and J.imehilN all ot which are in a flourishing condition.’ 4ne growth of the movement is largely due to Air S. G. August, who works very Hard tor the Association. There was a big gathering of golfers at the Otatara golfhouse last Saturday to bid farewell to Air It. A. Wilson, 'who has been a prominent golfer here for mainyears’ and one of the province’s best, Mr Wilson was presented with a substantial roll of notes by his fellow golfers, and ail wished him success in Christchurch. N° x t week will be Carnival Week, and the Committee has left no stone unturned in their endeavour to make it a huge success. Everyone is awaiting the outcome, and at hard work goes for anything the Carnival should be unique. A farm school, in connection with Carnival Week, wil open on Monday. A comprehensive syllabus has been arranged, and lectures of every description and on all tarm subjects will be given. It is anticipated that the school will be a big success. W ifch the opening cf the shooting season, accidents are more or less frequent, but only one serious one has been reported so tar. This is a youth named Ronald Cosier. Centre Bush, and he is at present an inmate of the Southland hospital suffering from a gunshot wound in the leg. The Birehtvood Hunt Club has been very active recently, and many enjoyable runs nave been held in the Western district. I nis district is the homo of the hunt, but in recent years it has been going further afield, and successful runs are now held all over Southland. The club’s popularity is growing, and its membership is now very large. Some interesting information was revealed in one of the tags attached to the 1522-23 balance sheet of the Bluff Borough Council. It appears that three loans, all due in 1927 and amounting to £9OOO have been issued under the wrong Act. and the debentures are not worth the paper they are written cn. The council will have to recall all these and issue fresh debentures to holders. lhe annual meeting of the Orchestral Society was held during the week. The balance sheet showed a credit of £lO 8s Bd, with a large number of subscriptions outstanding. The concerts held last winter were very enjoyable. The following officebearers were elected: —President, Air A. le H. Hoyles; vice-presidents—Hon. A. F. Hawke, Messrs R. A. Anderson, J. T. Gilkison, A. IT. Stock, Dr Hogg, and Dr Ritchie Crawford; lion, secretary. Mr A. 11. Ferguson; hon. treasurer. Air Cardno; committee —Messrs 11. L. Hay. E. Grant, R. A:t Strang, A. E. Wish, and A. L. Adamson; librarians —.Misses M. .Anderson, S. Potter, J. Harvey, and R. Xicol; hon. auditor, Air W. F. Scandrett. Air J. Alacdonald. of the local Lands Office, who has heen transferred to Dunedin, was mot and fare welled by the members of the local staff. Eulogistic reference was made to Air Macdonald's many good qualities, and all wished him success in his new position. The inquest which followed the fatal Riversdale fire, in which the Rev. Father Daniel O’Neill lost his life, failed to throw any light on the origin of the fire, which still remains a mystery. The late Father O’Neill was a Dunedin boy, and during his stay in Riversdale had made himself popular with all. Ilis sudden death was a shock to many. Two years’ probation was the sentence imposed by Mr G Cruickshank. S.M., on the brothers Taylor, who were charged last week with resisting arrest. They were ordered to pay £3 12s fed, the amount of damage done to the constable s uniform in the scuffle which ensued during the arrest. The Bluff Cool Stores Company _has ordered a freezing plant at a cost of about £6500 for installation at the stores. For sente years the stores have only been naturally cooled, and the shrinkage of cheese has been much higher than in any of the other South Island stores when a freezer has been used. It is hoped to have the machinery working before the next season’s cheese arrives into stores. A surplus of £SOB assets over liabilities was shown at the annual meeting of the Invercargill Bowling Club. In® °1 ub experienced a successful year, ana the officials have every reason to be pleased with the result of the year’s work. The election of officers resulted as follows President, Mr A. J. Geddes; vice-president, Air 1. Gilbert; secretary. Air C. Edwards; treasurer, Air P J Israel; auditor, Air D. Cochrane; delegates’ to Centre, Alessrs A. Derbie and \ f Geddes: selector, Air .J. Strang;; committee—Messrs T. D. Lennie, A. Derbie. I. Jenkins, G. .Melvin, T. Gilbertson G. \\ arden ■ Social Committee— Meat's H. Mason, J. O’Donnell, W. Aliller, T. Robertson, and G. Withers. Some interesting discussion took place at the meeting of the creditors of \\ . JIlayleq tobacconist, Gore. Ha\!es filed with a deficiency of £1570 9s fed. Tn tho course of the meeting the Deputy Official W»nee said ITayles had gone back £2feUU in four years. The meeting decided mat the assignee should examine the books, and, if necessary, refer them to Lie Cio \\n Solicitor for further action. The Southland Alotov Association held its annual meeting on Tuesday evening, "hen a successful year’s work was reviewed, lhe membership has increased considerably, and the association is rapidly becoming a powerful local body. The election of officebearers for the ensuing year resulted as follows:—President, Dr Stanley Brown; vice-presidents Drs Go Wield Crawford (Invercargill). A. J. MTlroy (Gore). Messrs G. Cruickshank, HAL, I. G. O Beirne, J K Ilaigh, F. APl’hail, F. A. Nmol (Bluff), and E. B. Gee (Riverton); club captain. Mr W. F. Sutton; deputy captain, Air 1. h. Alacdonald; committee—Dr J G- -Macdonald, Messrs A. E. Lea. •!. F. Lilhorap, A. Derbie, G. R. Cooper. \\ . H. Boyes. x. Chewings, F. F. Newton. D. J. \\ esney, and Charles Campbell; motor cyclists' representatives, Alessrs I. Von T imzelman and Al'Kay; auditor, Air D. Cuthbertson.