SOUTHLAND TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3870, 15 May 1928, Page 35

SOUTHLAND TOPICS.

(From Oua Own Correspondent.) INVERCARGILL, May 12. When these notes appear in print Southland’s wonderful week of jollity will be well on its way, and thousands from the country will be in Invercargill for those two great attractions, May Fair and the Winter Show. Those in charge of the carnival arrangements are confident that on Wednesday afternoon there will be 30,000 people on the Invercargill streets, while music from a dozen bands will give the air a bad time. Two trainloads of merrymakers, heralded by three bands, will come from Gore, and every other centre in the province will supply its gay quota. Most wonderful of all will be the pageant, but there are countless other attractions.

To further brighten the week Sir Benjamin and John Fuller's musical comedy company will play three nights at Invercargill. The town has been much better catered for lately in the entertainment line. This week Fraser Gange and Amy Evans delighted a big house with their singing, and the following night the Orchestral Society gave an enjoyable concert.

Gore has been in the throes of competitions all the week, and the festival is proving a most popular and successful one, the competitors’ work being of a high standard, and the attendances very large. Invercargill has st last secured a town clerk, and has gone to the other end of New Zealand to get him. The successful applicant is Mr Grange, of Whangarei, and the committee appointed to make the final selection is satisfied the borough has secured a most capable officer. It is certainly the day of the young man, for Mr Grange is only 32 years of age, and the salary attached to the position is £750, rising to £9OO per annum. That there are much easier ways of securing wild ducks than getting up at an unearthly hour and shooting them js the firm conviction of an Invercargill man. Moreover, he had the courage of his convictions, for, when a country sportsman brought 10 fat birds into town to distribute amongst his friends, and left them for a few minutes unguarded, the “ easymoney ” artist removed eight from the car. Tne police are now trying to find the feathers. y

Lumsden was the scene of a disastrous fire on Tuesday, when shortly before midnight an almost new house owned aud occupied by Mrs C. S. Edgar was completely destroyed, together with all its contents. The outbreak began, it is thought, in the washhouse. It would be interesting to know how much money the people of Southlaud have to spend each year in plumbers’ bills, owing to the ravages which the peculiar water in the province makes on the pipes. While it is amazing that the iron constitution of the pioneers did not suffer from rust, it is even more amazing how quickly iron pipes in household water systems are corroded in a few years through the peculiar nature of Southland water. At the Hospital Board meeting the other daj’ the secretary showed members sections of pipes taken from the hotwater system at the Kew Hospital. One pipe was so choked with rust that daylight could not be seen through it. The trouble is worse in the town, but is also experienced in the country, and the only remedy is to instal the more expensive copper pipes.

Judging from the way assistance is being sought from the Hospital Board from out-of-work breadwinners, the unemployment problem is going to loom large this winter. Country members of * the board state that the farmers arc unable to give the men work owing to the high nay expected. The policy of the Government in not allowing necessary and ordinary work to be done for unemployment relief has been criticised, members holding the view that the special works on which the men are often put are sheer waste of money. There is a distinct possibility of a Rugby team representative of all the Southland sub-unions being sent to tour the West Coast this season. The team has definitely been committed to matches in Oamaru and Ashburton, and with the object of helping the game in Westland the Southland Rugby Union will do its best to arrange the tour. The Winton Sheep Dog Trial Club held its second annual trials at The Bend. Winton, on Tuesday and Wednesday, and last year’s successful opening was eclipsed. Five events were decided, and the honours were shared by Messrs J. Scott, J. Anderson, D. Watson, F. Gerrard, and J. Waddell.

Dee street, Invercargill, is shortly to be graced with a fine four-storeyed building at Lewis’s Corner. The freehold and buildinss. until a short time ago owned and occupied by Lewis’s Ltd., was acquired by a Christchurch firm for approximately £37,000, and the new owners intend to erect a fine building of four storeys on the site.

That weasels could force a man to file as a bankrupt seems incredible, but a poultry farmer of Invereargill told his creditors on. Friday that these destructive importations had killed 600 of his best pullets, this representing an actual loss of nearly £4OO, in addition to the lack of production from the older hens, which he had to keep instead of selling in the ordinary course of events. After the slaughter of his best birds he embarked on a weasel war, and in three days killed 49.