NORTH OTAGO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3867, 24 April 1928, Page 25

NORTH OTAGO.

NEWS FROM THE DISTRICT. OBITUARY. ’ .

There passed away at her residence, Ouse street, on April 15, after a short illness, another pioneer of the district in. Mk e person of Mrs Janet Blyth, wife of. Mr William Blyth, at the age of 71 years. The deceased lady was born a* Broughton, Peebleshire, Scotland, in 1856, and .came to New Zealand at an age. She was married some 48 years ago, and for, a number of. years lived at Georgetown', where her husband, Mr William Blyth, built the store and hotel- The late Mrs Blyth' was' of a retiring kindly nature, and <uririg her residence of nearly 50 years in the district she became widely known and made many firm friends. She leaves a widower and five, sons and two daughters to mourn their loss—Mr William Blyth (.Hamilton'), Mr Jack Blyth (Wellington), Mr George Blyth (Timaru), Mr Thomas Blyth (Petone), Mr James Blyth. (Sydney), and Miss Jean Blyth (Wellington), and Miss Mary Blyth (Oamaru). Private interment took place at Oamaru yesterday. THE PENSIONS OFFICE. Much regret is expressed in Oamaru among the old age pensioners at tlie retirement, as from March 31, of Mr R. S. Stokes, the registrar of pensions for the district. Mr Stokes has been a most courteous and' painstaking officer. Arrangements have now been made that a pensions officer from Dunedin will visit Oamaru on the last Wednesday in each month. This permanent fixture will be milch appreciated by the pensioners.

. ’ r AN UNEXPECTED HAUL; An Oamaru lady who has just, returned from (Wellington. states that a new class of criminal has developed in the Empire City. . Well-dressed, and most polite individuals., make. a practice of approaching women in the back streets, who ma; be carrying parcels, and, after doffing their hats,, offer in a very gentlemanly-way to carry the parcel. When the parcel is handed polite- individual takes-to his heels, and is soon lost in the darkness, while the surprised woman is .left too dumbfounded to give an immediate-.-alarm. One., of the well-dressed gentry proffered, his assistance to a lady who was carrying a bulky parcel along Oriential Bay The offer was accepted, after some little demur, and- -the polite one bolted with his swag. The lady returned laughingly to her home. The » parcel contained the carcass of. a deceased feline which she had intended to deposit in the harbour at a suitable spot. CORONER’S INQUEST?' An inquest touching the death of George Menzies was held in the courthouse at Oamaru on Thursday by Mr W. H. Frith, coroner. The Coroner returned a verdiet of death from laceration of the brain and heart failure, resulting from an accident with a circular saw. The Coroner added that it was to be regretted that the inspector of machinery had not been notified before the saw was used, as a circular saw. was. at all times a dangerous, implement, ... , PROPOSED WHEAT POOL. At its next meeting the executive of the- North Otago r aimers’ Union will have before it a new scheme for the formation of a wheat pool, which was endorsed by a large conference of wheatgrowers held at Rangiora a few days ago. The articles of incorporation provide for the formation of a capital stock corporation, “ to promote, foster, and encourage the business of producing and marketing wheat co-operatively;. to minimise speculation and waste in the production and marketing of wheat; to stabilise wheat markets; and to handle cooperatively and collectively the problems of wheatgrowers. Provision is also made for producing, handling, storing, and marketing of wheat and for the financing of such operations. The association may take over and sell any members’ wheat, and purchase and sell machinery, equipment, and supplies used in wheatgrowing activities. It may borrow money anjf make advances to members of the association on wheat taken over from them by the association. Moreover, it may guarantee the finance of any member, and may purchase or otherwise acquire the capital stock, bonds, etc., of any corporation or association at present engaged in the handling or marketing of wheat. The association is to make ho profits from any of its activities, but all of its operations are to be commercial,- but cooperative in character. The association is not to be permitted to buy or sell wheat except from and for its members only,, and. on a standard co-operative basis It is expressly forbidden to do anything with the intent or effect of limiting or of fixing the price or of lessening the production or sale of any product. Only wheat growers are permitted to become members' 5 of the association. The term for which the association is to contract is three years from and after the date of incorporation. -The directors of seven are to be elected annually. It is proposed that the wheat-growing area shall be divided into seven districts, with one representa.tive from■ each district. The association is -to issue to each of its members out of its capital stock one share only of 5s at par and fully paid up, apd each grower is to pay with his application for his one share the sum of 15s to defray the costs of the association. THE POTATO YIELD. The potato yield in North Otago this season has not been heavy. This has been due to the prevalence of blight and adverse weather conditions. One grower of the Jersey’ Bennes variety Of potato, however, secured a gross return of £l2O from, one acre. THE MILLERS’, PROPOSALS. proposals made by the conference of flourmillers at Christchurch for the making of forward contracts for next year’s- wheat, were freely ’discussed -by farmers who were in Oamaru on Friday. The general opinion appeared to -be that the offer was without much significance.

One large grower, speaking to .the representative of the Otago Daily Times, said: “At first blush it might look as though the millers were making a great conces-sion-to the growers of the,.popular variety of wheat. On close analysis it will be found that the concessions are more imaginary than real. The offer is 5s lid per bushel for Tuscan, 6s 2d per bushel for Hunter’s, and 6s 8d per bushel for velvet. It will be noticed that these prices are substantially higher than the prices ruling in the present season for Tuscan and Hunter’s, but are at least 6d per bushel lower than the price now ruling for velvet. An attempt to make the growei of velvet contribute to the grower of Tuscan may sound quite logical and just to the Tuscan' grower. But what of the other fellow?" Have the millers -any right to ask the grower of velvet to accept less ’ than the economic value of his iwheat? The'.cream of the joke—for I cannot regard is as other than a joke— —is that the millers are prepared to make contracts, for only onequarter of the wheat, and this wheat must be of ‘good milling’ quality. The farmer with only one eye must see that the millers may open next season with 5s 3d or 5s 4d per bushel for Tuscan, or even lower than that figure. They are the sole judges of what is ‘good milling’ wheat, and they may, in fact, reject what they like. If the millers give: 5s lid per bushel for 25 per, cent, of the Tuscan, and 5s 3d per bushel for .75 per cent., who will be the gainers? This is a very subtle move on the part of the millers, but in mv opinion it will not stand a moment’s scrutiny. If the millers are prepared to guarantee 5s lid per bushel for 25 per-cent, of next season’s wheat, why are they not prepared to pay more than 5s 6d fur this year’s output? ” FUNCTION AT KUROW. The ceremony of switching on the electric light at Kurow, which took place on Friday evening in the Kurow Hall, in the presence of a large assemblage, was one of the most important that has been witnessed for some years. Settlers were present from all parts of. the district. Speeches eulogistic of the Power Board were. given, and the Chairman. (Mr J. VV. Forrester) and the members congratulated the district upon the progressive movement it had made. It was pointed out that Kurow was the first country town in the district to have its streets lighted With electricity."■The Engineermanager of the board (Mr I. Dalmer) stressed the value of electric power to the district, and pointed to the enormous enterprise that was being inaugurated by the Public .Works Department in the neighbourhood of Kurow in the erection of a subsidiary power station. The hall was darkened, and as a blaze of electric light was thrown on there was quite an ovation. In honour of the occasion, an electric iron was presented to one of the oldest lady residents of the district. At the conclusion of the ceremony, musical items were given, and after a sumptuous supper had been partaken of dancing was engaged in until the early hours qf the morning. The event of last night is regarded as one of many progressive movements that will be . made by Kurow during the next few years. •' WEEK ON THE FARM. The past week has been a fairly good one for farmers in North. Otago. Threshing operations have continued, and the mills have been working every -day with the exception of Monday, when heavy rain fell. The ground is in, excellent order for ploughing, and teams are. at jyork in all directions preparing for autumn , sowing. A good area has been put down in oats for winter feed. The harvesting of cowgrass has been delayed by broken weather, and it is feared that much of the crop will be lost. The turnip and rape crops are holding out well, and the freezing j works continue to receive large drafts of fat lambs. The dairy industry is holding out much better than was expected, and the supply of cream to the local dairy factories is slightly better than it was at this time last year. PUKEURI FREEZING WORKS. The Pukeuri Freezing Works are very busy at present, and are putting through about 3000 lambs per day. The lambs are now coming forward in excellent condition. Up till Thursday the total number slaughtered was 181,569, which is about 10,000 in excess of Hie number slaughtered at the same period last year. RUGBY FOOTBALL. The North Otago Rugby Union competitions were commenced on Saturday. The weather was fine, but a strong southerly wind was blowing. The attendance was fairly good, considering the counter-attractions, and -the games were interesting, although the combination left room for improvement. Athletic (13 points) defeated Old Boys (9), and Maheno (14 points) defeated Excelsior (6). The junior match between Maheno and by 9 points to 5. The Old Boys and School match resulted in a draw, neither side scoring. In the Third Grade. matches St. Kevins defeated Old Boys by 12 points to nil; School beat Athletic b v 32 points to nil; and Excelsior beat School B by 44 points to nil. Maheno defaulted to Pirates. OBITUARY. Mr Jqhn Turnbull, who died recently on the Kaiapoi bowling green, was a former resident, of Oamaru, and was for many years wool carder at the' Oamaru Woollen Factory. He left that position to take an appointment in the Kaiapoi Factory as spinner. Before coming to Oamaru he was member of the East Taieri Rifles, and while here was in' the Oamaru Navals and the King’s Rifles. In his early days he was-a keen footballer, and* latterly was an enthusiastic bowler and quoits player. He is survived by four sons and one daughter. PRICE OF . LAMBS. The price of export lambs was adper lb for all grades as from yesterday. The price of export ewes and wethers is also being advanced by |d per lb.