LOCAL AND GENERAL,

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17552, 22 April 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL,

The Arbitration Court has filed tho award in the Dunedin flourmillers' dispute, including Oamaru employees. The hours of w»rk remain as at present. Wages were fixed in conformity with the rates recently arranged in Auckland.

Nominations for-the Mayoralty, . the Borough. Council and the Hospital antt Charitably Aid Board close at noon tomorrow. In order to facilitate the work of the returning officer it is asked that if possible nominations shou!d^be made io-day. The place for nominations is at' the Borough Chamber; ,

The Presbyterian Synod of Otago and Southland has sanctioned the appointment of a chaplain to work among the returned soldiers in Ot&go. The appointment is for one year, and the stipend was fixed at not less than £300, exclusive of house allowances and travelling expenses. The motion was brought before the Synod on Wednesday by the Rev A. Gray, who now in his capacity as a chaplain holds the rank of lieut.colonel.

Evidences of the damage that was Wrought by the recent floods in South Otago are stiU apparent in and around Kaitangat, and it is obvious that many of the settlers have suffered severely. In one place a property is pointed out where the erosion by the liver oaused the owner the loss of no fewer than fifteen acres of valuable land. All round Kaitangata and Stirling, says the " Otago Daily Times" there are padHocks covered with heavy deposits of silt destroying ail the winter feed m the way of grass and turnips and rendering them nfeele&i for cultivation for at least twelve months, 'i'lie compensating lactor in the situation consists of course in the fact that when this land a,gain comes under cultivation an unusually profitable return will be obtained. In other'oases, land which was under flood waters is now growing a plentiful crop of a certain pinic w&ed which has been known to follow former inundations and which also destroys the value of the land for a certain period, as it is said tt» thrive under cultivation in much the same way as the Canadian thistle, ia the direction of Port Molyneux, where there is some land cf good quality, great; devastation has been wrought, and in one instance a settler who had a fine crop ruined has been forced to cut it, and leave it lying in heaps until it dries sufficiently for the application of a match. A curious effect is to be observed in another crop which is at present being harvested in the district. The top portion of the grain bears the appearance of being perfectly ripe, but the stalks are still quite green, an effect due, no doubt, to the flooding of the paddock and the subsequent soakage of the groiind. The contrast between this district and the country surrounding Milton ; as well as the higher levels of the Taieri Plain, is very marked.