The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays. THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1897. THE RINDEBPEST.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XX, Issue 3548, 14 January 1897, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays. THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1897. THE RINDEBPEST.

Letters from the Cape give doleful accounts of the damage done to herds by the rinderpest. The disease has practically exterminated the cattle north of the Orange Eiver and it is feared that its ravages will extend to Cape Colony, despite the efforts of the Government to keep it in check. It is a very serious question for woolgrowers, for should the rinderpest not be checked, the difficulties of transport will be enormously increased, and the cost of carriage by mules and donkeys will, in many instances be prohibitive. Mr Eeancis E. Thompson", a well known Matabeleland pioneer, gives tbe following particulars of the dreaded scourge. Mr Thompson is a member of the Cape Legislative Assembly, and he was appointed by Parliament last session to act as special ltinderpest Commissioner with a view to seeing what steps he thought necessary to stop the progress of the disease. To a representative who called upon him Mr Thompson said:— Three woeks after my appointment as special commissioner, a special commission of five men was appointed to come up country and act with me. I had constructed 800 miles of fencing, and had working with me 700 white police. My feeling from the very commencement was that we had commenced too far north, and I always urged upon my colleagues the necessity of getting right away down on the Orange Eiver, and there forming a clean belt from east to west of the continent, of fencing this line with barbed wire, closing all fords and roads, and of bringing all the police from the north down to this bank, which would be about 900 miles in length. The Government per se agreed to this, but my colleagues could not see the necessity for such action. The matter was delayed, and my position becoming untenable, I resigned. I suggested that all the natives in the north who had refused to allow their cattle to be shot and compensated for should be left to their own devices. This was not agreed to, and after a further delay I insisted on my resignation being accepted. .Now, after a lapse of six weeks, the fencing of the Orange Eiver is being commenced, but as the rinderpest jumps GO miles a day, it is too lato. The Transvaal war, native rebellions, and tbe Jameson raid sink into insignificance compared with the present situation, which iB undoubtedly the gravest that a British colony has ever had to face. The rinderpest will run through the whole of Cape Colony ani Naial, and uot out) per cent, of the cattle in Cape

Colony can be saved, lam persuaded that the will not stop until it reaches the dock gates at Capetown. To stop its course is now a matter of impossibility, and if the policy of killing cattle and compensating is pursued with the colonial natives as in the north, my long experience of South Africa and its natives leads me to the bonviction that we shall have to face one of the biggest wars Africa has ever experienced. Rinderpest is now in the old Cape Colony at Bethulie, and is all over the Free State. Natal is at present unaffected, but at HerBchell —the great native centre which bounds the Free State—its presence may be expected at any hour. Then comes the question, What is to be done ? The Herschell natives are of a very different stamp to the Bechu anas. If they refused to have their cattle killed we should have before us the danger of fighting 50,000 of the best and most warlike natives in Africa. My last advice to the Government was that they should save their money; let the pest run its course, and when all is over compensate the deserving people. The authorities so far realise this that it is agreed that if the rinderpest becomes general south of the Orange River, Government will give up all idea of destroying the herds. The rinderpest will alter the whole conditions of life in South Africa. It will affect politics, inasmuch as it will remove from the arena the farming element —people who own small farms with fifty head of cattle. These people will have to come into the towns and work at trades. It will kill, too, tho best farming class we have. Men who, like myself, have imported cattle, will never attempt farming again. Only this week I received a cable announcing that every beast on my ranch had been killed. In many cases blood stock is being sold at slaughter prices. Wool, too, has been prohibited from coming into the old colony for fear of bringing infection. This is a serious business as a certain proportion of the northern farmers farm with sheep, and their trade is crippled, no merchants buying wool. Seeing all this, the merchants of Capetown are having weekly shiploads of Argentine mules to take the place of the oxen employed in ploughing. This year no ploughing will be done in the northern districts. I feel sure that the Government will in its wisdom remove the duty on bread and meat, never, I trust to be again imposed. Some idea of the enormous expense involved in fighting the rinderpest may be gathered from the fact that it has cost as much as £SOO in Martini cartridges alone to destroy a herd of 5700 cattle. These cartridges cost 228 6d per hundred, aud in the case of wild cattle 10 or 12 bullets are often required. This herd of cattle took two months to bury, at a further cost of 2s 6d a head, every animal requiring to be buried 6ft below the surface. This is only one incident of the thousands that occur.

Sporting Scraps will be found on the back page.

A large spot on tho boh is dow visible to the nuked eye at sunrise or sunset.

It ia predicted that the prise of potatoes will be high this year.

Mr J. J. Buchanan has been re elected chairman of the Hampden Domain Board. Mount Cook Gaol will shortly be lighted by electricity. In the last three months of 1896 the Knapdale Road Board ( Otago) purchased tho large number of 56,612 birds’ oggs. The police at New Plymouth are enquiring into a caße of alleged tampering with young girls by a coloured man. Messrs Carlile, Tanner, and Sutton retire from tbe Hawke’s Bay Education Board by rotation at the end of March. Wo hear that dogs got amongst Mr Rathbone’e stud sheep last night and did considerable damage. A Good Templar Cycling Corps for temperance mission work has just been formed at Essex, England. It ia curione to note how men vary in temper. When one man would heave a sigh another would heave a brick. Nature makes but few mistakes ; but. somehow it seems ae if tbe herring might have been built with fewer bones. At Masterton last week a man was fiued £2 with costs for supplying drink to two Maori women.

Mr G J Grant draws attention to the alteration in the time table of his line of coach3B to Biaekhoad, Mangakuri, aud Te Apiti % In one of the recent inventions for sterilising milk in bulk, steam is the agent employed, the result being that neither tho flavour nor the colour of the milk is in the slightest degree impaired.

Mrs Morgan, the widow of one of the early missionaries in New Zealand, died recently at her home in the Bay of Islands, aged 90. She came out to the colony about 65 years ago. Notice iB given in Hie Gazette that a 200 acre section of second class land, about eight and a half miles from Man gatora railway station, is to be open for sale or selection on and after Feb. 24th.

The Waipawa Dramatic Club purpose staging “Sweet Lavender” at an early date. The club will be assisted by Mr J G. Swan of Napier, who is justly regarded as one of the best amateur actors in the colony. Tbe Ruapehu was docked at Lyttelton yostorday. It was found that tho hull was not even marked but that a few rivots were gone from the sternpost. It is supposed they were shaken out when the vessel wqb being towed. A young man named Charles O. Goddard, a resident of Papatu, was brought before the local Bench yesterday on a charge of lunacy Ho was committo&to the Wellington lunstio asylum, aud left in charge of Constable Riordan by yeßter day’s express. Much needed rain fell in tho South Island yesterday. There is a decided fall in the temperature in this district to-day. A good downpour would be appreciated, as nearly every watpr tank in the town is empty. At Woodville, yesterday, G. F. Barton, of Kumeroa, was fined Is and costs for noglecting to dip his sheep within tbe time prescribed by law. Inspector Drummond only asked for a minimum fine.

A man not many miles fr Feildi g says tho Folding Slav, complained l> h party of 44 pick and shovel ” men that •* tie had no work to do ” They promptly put him on to cut up tobacc) at “ half pay uud tho run ot bis Dover.”

A woman of Florence, Montana, ro rcnlly threatened tier drunken hunband that s i" wouM go with him and get drunk every dine he d d. She kept her

word once, and her husband has not touched a drop since. The Hawke’s Bay Timber Company’s mill at Smith’s siding, Makotnkn, was destroyed by fire on Tuesday. The bush fires spread around it, and despite tbe efforts of the omplojes, tbe building was soon in flimes. The mill was insured for £SOO in the Norwich Union office. An attempt was made yesterday to fire the Wairarapa Dairy Company’s premises in Cuba street, Wellington, bat tho dam age done was only slight. A singular coincidence ia that about this time la6t year and ahout the same time in the morning a similar but unsuccessful attempt was made. We regret to record the death of Mrs H. Wright, of Papatu, who expired in tbe Waipawa District Hospital on Monday The deceased lady, who was a daughter of Mr O. Baines, was highly respected, and great sympathy wiil be felt for her sorrowing relatives. Tbe funeral took place yesterday, when a large number ot frieads followed the remains to their last resting place.

Tho present bush fires in the Wairarapa district are tho worst ever known there and the damage can as yet hardly be’ estimated. Fires are slill raging at Man gamahoo, Mikimiki, Hastwell, the Stirling settlement, To Weraiti. and other smaller places at Stirling. There is great danger of all tbe settlers’ homes being destroyed Every assistance possible is being rendered but it is feared that many will be rumed The fraitorop throughout New Zealand has boon seriously interfered with by the hot weather, particularly iu the South, whore tho hot winds have shrivelled gooseberries, ruepberrino and similar fruit* Throughout Hawke’s Bay the upple crop is practically worthless, owing to tbe ravages of the codlin moth. A return recently published by the Sydney Board of Health shows that in that city and district during November last the number of animals condemned totalled 3728, a great increaso on any previous month of tho year. The die eases :cr which these animals were condemned ware tuberculosis, cancer, pleuro, actinomycosis, and pneumonia. Tho effects of the dry hot woathor in Canterbury are sadly apparent. In some places, especially on shingly land and sidings exposed to the sun, the crops have been completely ruined. Tho average yield for the whole district will not reach the level of ordinary years. Near Ashburton and Rakaia hundreds of acres have been devastated by fire, and the land along tho railway line for miles has been ploughed on either side to prevent tbe spread of tho destructive element. A correspondent writes:—“l was an noypd with rats for years. I was always losing more or loss corn, apples, milk and potatoes until about a year ago. Having tried everything recommended for their extermination without success, the thought struck mo to try spirits of turpentine. I began this treatment in the cellar by using about one tablespoonful in each of their barrows. To my great satisfaction, I have □ot bad a rat about the plaoo from that day to this.” When the stoamer Oban, wbb loading at the lower stream crane in Greymoutb last week, the chain bearing a fall truok of oo&l snapped while it was being swung round to be lowered into the vessel’s hold. It fell on the wharf, and tho handle bars pierced the planking as if it had been bored by an auger. A few seconds’ delay and the track with its load of ei»;ht tons would probably have crushed through the bottom of the steamer and sunk her alongside the wharf, Rot a few Waipawa residents will remembor tho Btir caused by what wbb termed “ the phantom horseman,” a photo graph taken by a Waipawa resident at Bpringhill. Through an accident to the shutter of the camera, it appeared that a horseman leaping a fence was followed by a phantom horse and rider. A legond to suit the picture, was supplied by un imaginative individual, and was well circulated, much to the annoyance of the owner of Sprioghill. Tho story haa now reached England, and affords food for an article by Mr Stead in Borderland. “ The Boston Transcript " tells a good story about a consignment of goods made in Germany to a large Bjston china store. A represen'ative had ordered in that country a variety of goods, among them a lot of cups, which are beautifully labelled, 44 To My Brother,” To a Friend.’’ and so on through tbe list of human relationships He had ordered with the reßt a lot of moustache cups; they were well and duly made, bat great was bis astonishment whon the consignment arrived to find the greater number of tbe oops so contrived to protect the beverage against the masculine hirsute adornment labelled thus : 44 To My Sister,” “To My Wife,” “To My Betrothed !” Under the heading, 44 What Comes of Strikes,” a London paper has the following “ Captain Chaioner, tho member for one of tho Wiltshire divisions, and a brother of Mr Long (the President of the Board of Agriculture), has just related ao interesting fact in connection with the re cent visit to this country of Li Hung Chang. He declares that it ia within his knowledge that when Li Hung Chang came to England he was prepared to give orders for ships which would have amounted to millions of pounds. The English shipbuilders were, of course, ready to accept tbe orders ; but they felt they could not do so without inserting a danse in‘ the agreement protecting them selves against possible strikes delaying the contract. Li Hang Chang could not accept those terms, and thus it was that the orders wore never given.” A correspondent, writing from tbe North, sends some information as to what is being done iu the co operative settlements of Mangatu, Raogitira, and Katui The Government pay the men 27s per acre for felling the bash on their Own sections, find grass seed, and pay for sowing it. The men are also paid for putting up houses for themselves, and £8 for stumping and cultivating half an acre The bosh clearing, it seems, is done badly The kauri which growß eloße to tbe river is being felled, beoause it can be taken away by the freshes, but at the back it is left standing. The Crown lands ranger or inspector for the district objected to the way in which the work was being done, but the men told him that they did not care for the Crown Lands Commis sioner in Auckland, bnt would communicate direct with tbe Minister of Lands. We are familiar with this costly Bystem of promoting sottloment in tho South, and wo oonfoßS to being somewhat pleased to hear that we are having; a share of it id the North.— Auckland Herald.