Interprovincial News.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXVIII, Issue 5244, 9 April 1908, Page 1

Interprovincial News.

The price of butter is likely to experieuce a drop locally, says the New Plymouth JVciva. Whilst one or two factories are supplying grocers at Is per lb there are other concerns selling ut Is Id. A rapid drop has been made in the quantity of cream being supplied to the Masterton Butter Factory, reports the Age. Last week the output was GOOlb per day, while it is now barely 4001 b. It is only a question of a very short time when the factory will have t,o close, as dairy herds will bliow a still greater falling off as a result of tho present cold snap. A scourge in the form of blight of the ordinary type has overtaken practically tho whole of the turnip crops in the Tuieri Plain, and many acres of the crop have been absolutely ruined. {Should the coining winter be a severe one, it will go vsry hard with farmers, more especially those who have depended upon their turnip crops for the winter feeding of cattle. The growth of pasture in the district (remarks the Wunganui Herald ), as a result of the recent rains, and accompanying warm weather, has resulted in a welcome increase in the milk supply. The Waverley Dairy Company's creameries are daily receiving larger supplies of milk, and providing the weather does not become cold, it is expected the present quantities will be sustained for some time.

The annual meeting of the Timaru A. and P. Association was held in Timaru on Saturday, when Mr J. fc>. Rutherford was appointed president for the ensuing year, and Mr R. B. Rhodes vice-president. Mr William Priest was re-elected hon. treasurer for the seventeenth year in succession. Tho balance-sheet disclosed the fact that the association was in a healthy fmuncial condition, having a credit balance of a little over £SOO.

Farmers in Tapanui district who require to drain or irrigate to make their lands more productive, and raise two ears of corn where only one grew before, do the work at their own expense, without appealing to the public purse for assistance. If the lund of Central Otago will pay for irrigation, let the owners of the property have borrowing powers, and do the work themselves, advocates the Courier , which adds that this eternal appeal to the Government for every little work is becoming far too prevalent. The Shop Act of New Zealand is ruining our boys for working, writes a correspondent of the Taranaki Herald. The Act is only driving the youth into billiard saloons and pubs, of an evening, instead of taking an interest in his work. Not that business people want a youth to work every night, but there are busy times when an hour’s work of an ovening gives a lad an insight into office work and business that ho could not gain in a whole week. The English lads we have now are worth double the colonial ones.

It will bo generally admitted that the farm at Levin is not by any means a profitable investment for the Dominion, nor is it conducive to Levin’s prosperity to have 800 acres of valuable land locked up in its vicinity, says the Manawntu Standard. The annual report of the Department of Agriculture shows that a large amount of work is done at the farm each year, but it is certainly not sufficient to justify the continued expenditure of public money. The most important experiment last year was that intended to show the necessity for systematic culling of dairy herds. Beyond this it is doubtful whether the work, however conscientiously it may have been carriod out, was of any real benefit to the Dominion ut large or at all enlightening to the majority of farmers. The Levin poople themselves can see that the cutting up of the farm will mean closer settlement in their vicinity, the production of more wealth from the land than at present, and consequently a greater prosperity for the town and district.