SOUTHLAND TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3862, 20 March 1928, Page 35

SOUTHLAND TOPICS.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

. INVERCARGILL. March 17. Ine Prime Minister and his col.eagues have departed from our midst, and the farmers who have formed tho personnel of the various deputations that waited on the Ministers have taken off their coats and stiff collars and returned to toil. Although tho next general election is still a good many months away, the atmosphere is already being charged with a good deal of hot air and a little electricity from visiting politicians. Mr Armstrong has been drawing happy pictures of New Zea.and if only Labour were allowed to rule, and the Nationalist leader, Air G. W Forbes, entertained the people in the Winton district with a host of promises and much severe criticism of Reform on Friday evening.

In Invercargill Wednesday marked an important step in Labour circles, when the handsome new hall in Esk street was officially opened by Mr P. Fraser, M.P. Other speakers on the occasion were Mr f • O Byrne, who supplied the humour, and Mr W. C. Denham, who availed himself if the opportunity of getting in some prelimi nary propaganda, ho being the probable Labour candidate for Invercargill. Motor car accidents hav e been fairly common in Southland lately; but it is not always that tho owner of tho car sutlers loss. An Invercargill motorist attended a function not far from town the other day On his return to town he went (o take a rug out of the back scat of his car, and found reposing on the floor a ‘ pig ’’—not the live animal, but the receptacle for beer. Someone had blundered.

It is many years since the Invercargill Regatta Chib has held such a successful fix ture as that of last Saturday. With strong crews from Dunedin and good support locally the racing was always interesting, and a crowd of close on oOO'O had a most entertaining afternoon. While the rowers were working hard on the water, schoolboy athletes from many southern schools were striving against each other at Rugby Park in the Otago and Southland secondary schools’ championships. Many records wore broken, and the Gore High School had the honour of annexing the junior shield, the senior going to the Otago Boys’ High School. Oysters are now being consumed with avidity in many households, and soon tho housewife will be able to place muttonbirds on the menu ako. This week a party of 200 mutton birders left for the islands where the fat fledglings abound. The season, which commences on April 1, promises to be a record one, the weather having been most favourable for tho fattening of the youngsters by their parents. Not only Atlantic salmon, but rainbow trout, thrive in Southland waters. A fine specimen of the latter fish, weighing I3 ! b, was recently caught at Monowai. and when displayed in a local shop window it created a great deal of interest among anglers. The people of Southland in general and Stewart Island in particular are receiving a lot of praise for their hospitality to the many Sanders Cup visitors. Every northern paper eulogises the arrangements made by the local committee, and gives equal praise to the Islanders for their success in making all visitors feel at home.

Some strange monsters have from time to time been pulled out of Bluff Harbour. An Invercargill fisherman landed a huge conger cel the other day. The fish measured sft 3{in in length, and weighed 2511 b. Its last meal evidently consisted of three cod, 11 mullet, and some ambergris, for these .several articles ‘were found inside it. According to the man who landed it, the eel had a double chin, this confirming its cat ing capacity. Passengers on the Manuka also tried their luck with rod and line, and encountered good sport.

Visions of a gold rush in Southland were inspired by tho discovery that there was an apparently rich deposit of the precious yellow metal at Greenhills. If hopes are realised, the population of the province may be considerably augmented in the near future.

Southland farmers are busy curry-comb-mg the Berkshire and electroluxing the cows in preparation for the visit of their fellow toilers from Canterbury. The eyes of the northerners will be opened as they tour through prosperous Southland. They will also enjoy reading the Town v. Country arguments in the local papers.