AUSTRALIA

Star (Christchurch), Issue 514, 12 January 1870, Page 3

AUSTRALIA

(From the Argus, Dec. 23 to Dec. 29 inclusive.) The New Zealand Government invite tenders for the whole or any part of £150,000 in Treasury bills of £100 each, bearing interest, payable half-yearly, at the rate of £6 ls 8d per annum. Purchasers will be required to pay 5 per cent, down, and the balance by four instalments, extending over a peiiod of four months. "A better harvest than that now being gathered in the Sandhurst district," states our correspondent, " has not been garnered in Bendigo for a long time. Wheat has opened with a market of 4s 3d., but it is anticipated that before the season is well advanced, rates up to 7s will rule. Some speculators have been rather bitten over the sudden changes in the flour and grain markets." It would appear, observes tbe Ovens and Murray Advertiser, as if the millers ot Wangarratta and neighbourhood had a means of collecting agricultural statistics from which they can draw pretty accurate conclusions. At all events they have held a meeting and fixed the starting price of wheat at 4s per bushel — no bad price either, if the farmers' accounts of the crops may be believed. A correspondent of the Geelong Advertiser, writing from Lake Bolac, says :— " The country round about has quite a parched and burnt appearance, and there is every likelihood of there being as severe a drought this summer as last. The water in the salt lakes is nearly all evaporated, so that if the present weather continues salt-gathering will commence in about a month. Harvesting operations are still progressing, and I hear no complaints of the scarcity of labour. It is no good offering any remarks as to the probable yield till threshing commences. The wheat crop looks well ; not so the oats, which have suffered from take-all, and will, I am afraid, be a scarce commodity all over the colony, as by all accounts tbe ravages of this disease have been pretty general everywhere." *" Now that the hot weather is upon U9," writes the Kyneton Observer, " several housekeepers have been induced to try the preservative powers of the bi-sulphate of lime, and the result, as reported to us, has been very satisfactory. By its use joints of meat have been kept perfectly sweet for a month, and even milk has been preserved for eight or nine days by covering the vessel containing it with a cloth dipped in the preparation. As the bi-sulphate is procurable at ls 6d per bottle, and the process of applying it is simply to brush over the meat with the preservative, the experiment is within the reach of everybody. Joints treated after this fashion catbe hung as long as required, and thereby the meat becomes tender and palatable. The practice of eating fresh-killed meat in hot weather is very unwholesome, and can be avoided by the use of the bi-sulphate." Last week was tried, at Mr Saunders's farm, between Fentridge and the Moonee Ponds, the nearest approach we can expect for some time to a reaping and binding machine. This is the Marsh Harvester, made by Warder, Mitchell, and Co., of Springfield, Ohio, and imported from America by Robinson and Co., of Melbourne, to try how it will answer for this country. The reaping is performed as with an ordinary machine, and two men are carried on a platform at the side to tie the sheaves. About the cutting part of the machine we need only say that it is quite different from that of any in use here, the motion to the knife-bar being given by a long wooden rod and a lever, so that there is perfect smoothness of action without noise. The swathe, as it falls from the knives, is taken to the side, and raised over the driving wheel by an endless canvas belt, which leaves it on a sort of shelf until enough is collected to form a sheaf. The two men stand beside this, make their bands, and tie the sheaves as fast as collected — at leaßt they ought to do so, but without frequent stoppages this can only be done by very nimble fingers. During the trials last week, in a rather light crop of wheat, the machine did its work perfectly ; but the binders, being quite unused to such speed, were not by any means fast enough for it. With modifications and alterations in proportion to render ifc suitable for the heavier crops to be encountered in this country, the Marsh Harvester promises to be in as great demand here shortly as it is in America. Walter Doughs, the self-styled evangelist — described in our Hobart Town telegrams a few days ago as having, whilst pretending to conduct Divine service, enacted scenes which ended in his being summoned for disorderly conduct — is a celebrity well known to a large number of people in the suburbs of Melbourne. About three years ago he held ser-

I vices every night in the Baptist church adjoining the Benevolent Asylum. His preaching was characterised by great earnestness, I and appeared to possess a peculiar fascination for many of his admirers and followers, who, though chiefly belonging to the softer sex, included several tradesmen and others in comfortable circumstances. Mr Douglas is of the nervous temperament, and his style is the howling or declamatory ; whilst his personal appeals to occasional hearers, singled out apparently at random, in which he told them " they were children of the evil one, and swimming towards the burning lake," were calculated to arrest and arouse the attention of the many nervous and impulsive people who flocked to hear him. His earnestness carried him on from 7 in the evening till 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, for weeks together. At these services it was no unusual thing for the preacher to have a number of women, married, single, and widows frantically crying ot all hours of the morning for his prayers and advice. One of the latter laid her hand and fortune of £700 a-year at the apostle's feet. Thus aided, he has gone forth into the Southern hemisphere, visiting New Zealand and Tasmania, to preach what he believes to be the Gospel. Whilst in Victoria he also*officiated on Sundays for a long time in the Presbyterian Church, Napier street, Collingwood. In narrating his own career to his hearers, he stated that he had been a great drunkard, and the son of a drunken father, that he was born in America, went to London, where he was in such destitution that he resolved to drown himself, but meeting with some Christian, he was what he termed converted, and a short time afterwards emigrated to this colony. The agricultural statistics show that during theyear ending 31 st March, 1869, the number of holders had increased to 29,218, or 3390 more than in 1867 ; the extent of land occupied to 8,884,193 a., or 775,728 a. more than in the preceding year ; and the extent of land cultivated to 712,865 a., or 81,658 a. more than in 1867. The quantity of produce raised differed considerably from that of the previous year, there being of wheat 817,565 bushels, and of " other cereals " 6743 bushels more than in 1867 ; while there were of oats, 74,949 bushels ; barley, 32.031 bushels ; potatoes, 37,843 tons ; other green crops, 7426 tons ; hay, 17,792 tons ; tobacco, 323c wt. ; vines, 957,037 (the returns of vines for 1868 are, however, imperfect) ; grapes sold, 5885cwt., and wine made, 10,525 gals, less than in 1867 ; while of brandy there was an increase in the quantity made of 230 gals, over that of the previous year. The approximate value of agricultural implements and machinery upon farms is estimated at £1,144,489 ; and the value of improvements, which includes the value of buildings of all descriptions, fences, &c, but not the cost of clearing and cropping the land, is estimated at £7,302,677. There are 136 flour and grain mills, of which 127 are worked by steam and 9by water power. The quantity of flour made during the year was 98,809 tons, besides 422 bushels of meal. The number of persons employed on farms unconnected with stations is 60,711. of whom 41,242 are males and 19,469 females. The number employed on stations is 7591, 0 f whom 5798 are males and 1793 are females. The total number of persons employed in agricultural and pastoral pursuits is 68,302. The rates of wages paid to labourers vary considerably in different districts. The wages of ploughmen vary from 1 4s to 40s a week ; farm labourers, from 10s to 40s; married couples on farms, from £40 to £80 per annum ; females, from 5s to 15s a week ; mowers, from 15s to 40s a week, or from ls 6d to 7s 6d per acre ; reapers, from 15s to 40s a week, or from 5 s to 208 per acre ; threshing from 3d to 8d per bushel.