DRUMMOND NOTES.

Western Star, 23 March 1920, Page 2

DRUMMOND NOTES.

(Own Correspondent.) In this district since the beginning of the year it has been the dryest season that has been experienced for many years, and the crops and .grass have suffered accordingly. After the wet and cold of spring and) the early part of summer the land has baked badly, and the turnip crops will be very patchy, and it is wonderful to see them looking so well with so little moisture. On several occasions the outlook for rain looked promising, but it failed to reach us, and the country further south is looking 'much better, and the grass more plentiful. The output from the factory was expected to show a large increase this season, owing to the increase in the cows that are being milked, 'but- for the whole of Southland the increase will not be very great, if there is any, as some of the smaller factories will soon be taking in milk every alternate day only, and this is only March, a month earlier than usual. ■ Farms still continue to ohano-c hands. Mr James Woodhead has disposed of his property at a very satisfactory price. We are sorry to lose such a good neighbour, but our loss will be some other district’s gain, as wo are sure Mr Woodhead would be welcomed to any community, and he takes the good wishes of all from this district.

Harvest operations are well forward, and the threshing mills are going steadily, "ulit there is not the work for these machines! to do now' as there was a few years ago. Instead of counting the days it will take,to thresh each farmer’s crop it is nSw calculated in hours, and the consequence is a great deal of time is lost moving from place to place, which accounts a good deal for the high wages that have to he paid. On Saturday next the poll is to he taken for the Hydro-Electric Power loan, and the proposal will be supported by nearly every ratepayer in tins community, as all will welcome the conveniences that will accrue to the individual by the adoption of the scheme. Then there is the community at large; what a benefit it will be to onr townships and the cities. Trade and maim factories are bound to increase, and yet a writer to the press the other day said it was a luxury. Ho should be written down as an ass with long oars.

A movement is on foot to erect a memorial to our fallen soldiers in the late war, and several meetings have been held, but it seems hard to get the people to take the interest in the proposal that they should do, seeing what our gallant lads have saved us from, and th© conditions w© enjoy, compared with other countries.