ON THE LAND

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 69, 28 April 1914, Page 11

ON THE LAND

COUNTRY NEWS. (From Our Special Correspondents.) WAIAU The usual monthly meeting 'of the Amuri A. and P. Association was held in the Waiau Coronation Library on Saturday afternoon. Mr K. Pettigrew presided over a fair attendance of members. After the reading and confirmation of the minutes, the chairman moved that letters of condolence be sent to the widows of the late Messrs D. D. Maefarlane and W. Macfarlane. He referred briefly to the very great help rendered the association by the deceased gentlemen. The motion was carried in silence, members standing. The association has been particularly unfortunate in having lost four of its members through death within the very short period of three months. The late Mr D- I). Macfarlane was a, tower of strength to the association, and his loss will be keenly felt. He was a prominent exhibitor in the cattle section.

The' report of the tenth biennial conference of the A. and P. Associations of New Zealand was received. The judges in the soft turnip competition, Messrs H. T. Beaven and S. Baker, presented a very full and comprehensive report, and a motion thanking them for the trouble they had taken was passed. The hard turnips are to be jutlged in May. Messrs Pettigrew and Poster were appointed to act with the secretary in scrutinising the points in the sheep section, in order to decide the winner of Messrs Fletcher, Humphreys, and Co. '3 challenge cup. Mr C, Netting brought up the matter of the condition of the Waiau Bridge. •A year ago half of this very lengthy bridge was redecked. Now both halves are in a very dangerous and unsatisfactory condition. There being no railway from Culverden to Waiau, extremely heavy loads are carried oyer this bridge in both directions. In the winter time the carriers are on the move long before the frost melts, and the new, planking is smooth and as slippery as glass. Sand has had to be sprinkled about by the drivers to enable the horses to get a footing, but .even with this precaution horses have been down several times and it is almost impossible to get along with a full load. The other half of the bridge is full of rotten planks and bad holes are plentiful. The association wishes to have the new planks tarred and sanded and the old portion redecked- It was decided that the Amuri County Council be written to and the state of the bridge pointed out.

Last year a Lecture Committee was appointed to procure speakers to address •the association on the various technicalities of farm ?work. Mr Sidney A. Clark, instructor of agriculture at Rangiora High School, is to speak on " Fertilisers and their uses" at an early date. The Show Revision Committee appointed by the association are sticking well to their work • an/1 holding frequent meetings. Suggestions have been invited from all and sundry, but at the • meeting on Saturday the secretary •Stated that so far none had been re-, ceived. The Amuri settlers are now jubilant lover the fact that at last tenders have been called for the * construction of part of the Culverden-Waiau railway. Although the seetion is small, only three miles in fact, it is understood that plans for other sections are in active preparation, and it is hoped that tenders for these will be called at an early date. On Thursday last, as Mr Mercer, of "Waikare, was returning from Kaikoura in his Hubmobile car with four passengers, he met a Cadillac taxi on its way to Lynton Downs. Mr Mercer was descending the hill near Mr A. J. Sunckell's residence at the Tongue, while the taxi was climbing up out of the Lottery riverbed. The meeting was sudden and dramatic. A sharp elbow in the road hid the view till a fraction of a second before the cars met. To avert a certain fatality Mr Mercer swerved suddenly to the left, and the car with its heavy load Went oven* the bank. There is a fair amount of batter, and, curving upwards to the right under Mr. Mercer's skilful direction, the car climbed the steep ascent on to the road again. There was a slight collision when the .cars met, a splashboard being broken, but why the car did not overturn on the steep bank and how it climbed on to the road again are matters of wonder. Mr Duncan "Rutherford, who viewed the incident from the Lottery River, expressed the opinion that it was the nearest thing to a fatal accident he had ever witnessed. WADDINGTON. Mr G. 11. Judd experimented with the new wheat, Red Marvel, this year on his Westacre farm and the result was highly gratifying, the yield being 60 bushels per acre as against 42 bushels of Solid Straw Tuscan grown under similar ditionsNearly the whole countryside had made tip their minds to visit the Kowai Camp on Sunday, and great was the disappointment when the morning broke so stormy. It is still raining heavily, and does not look like clearing. The Central Committee of the Malvern parish met at Sheffield on Saturday. Present: Messrs Seymour, Carter, Pole, Wright, and Cullen. The usual guarantees were made to the stipend fund, and various matters were discussed with relation to the vicarage and grounds, and it was decided to start topping the trees. AMBERLEY. On Saturday afternoon a cricket match was played between teams representing the local Oddfellows' and Druids' Lodges, and resulted in a draw, the scores being: —Druids, 107; Oddfellows, .'J7 for three wickets. The most successful batsmen were:—For the former, J. Savage, and for the latter, V. Bhodes and C. B. Mason. The successful bowlers were:—For Druids, A. Powell and C. Neale; for Oddfellows, P. Feathery. In the evening the Oddfellows entertained. the Druids to a card match, which resulted in the latter winning by 20 points. The scores were: —Druids, 822 points; Oddfellows, 802. GLENTUNNEL. The annual anniversary social in connection with the Loyal Coleridge Lodge of Oddfellows was held in the lodge:room on Friday evening. This year the social took the form of a euchre party and dance. The euchre prizes were won by Mrs Perry and Mr Campbell, and the booby prizes by Mr and Mrs Com-

mon. After supper had been dispensed dancing was kept up till an early hour. After several fine days misty rain set in in the Glentunnel district early ;on Sunday morning. As the day ad- | vanced the rain increased, and at times j fell very heavily. At present the weather shows no Bigns of clearing. The rain will prove of considerable benefit to the pastures and turnip crops. DUNSANDEL. On Saturday afternoon three rinks from the Southbridge Bowling Club journeyed by motor-car to Dunsandel to compete for the Ellesmere silver rooster. The visitors, however, were unsuccessful in their attempt. The scores were as follow, Dunsandel being mentioned first in each case: —D. Cameron, G. Kime, J. Boag, jun., H. Brown (s) 21; V. Berg, E. A. Inwood, . Garrigan, M. Curran (s) 22; W. Hall, R. Claydon, J. Burgess, J. Boag, sen. (s) 26; J. Tree, J.® Morrison, E. A. Inwood, A. Holmes (s) 13; P. Delargey, A. M'Pherson, jun., A. M'Pherson, sen., F. Lill (s) 28; M'Cormick, Turner, J. W. Walker, C. Piper (s) 19; totals, Dunsandel 75 points, Southbridge 54. PARISH MEETINGS. The annual meeting of parishioners of St. Thomas's Church was held on Tuesday. The Rev. H. G. Hawkins presided over a small attendance. The warden's report seated that the past year had been a successful one. The balancesheet showed a credit balance of £l3 0/10. It was decided to hold a sale of work and produce on May 8 to raise funds in order to extinguish a small debt. The following wardens and vestry were elected: —Bishop's warden, Mr 11. P. Wright; people's warden, Mr D. Wright; vestry, Messrs D. Westenra, J. Hill, W. Ballock, F. Owers, W. J. Webb, C. Wright, and A. J. M'Laughlin. Hearty votes of 'thanks were accorded to. Mr R. B. Willis, lay-reader, Mrs Delargey, organist, and to all who had assisted in the. church work during the year.