HAWKS AND TELEPHONES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 931, 26 September 1910, Page 10

HAWKS AND TELEPHONES.

GOOD GRASS AND GOOD PROSPECTS. / I ani: a great lover of Nature, and always keep m.v eyes opeii for anything out.of tho usual, (writes .'our travel-' ..ling •; correspondent). :f; ' riding past Tokorangi the other day, on my way to i'eilding, I saw a thing which I had; never, seen .before in my. thirty years in Now Zealand.' Many a tiriio 1./havo vwatehed .hawks 'flying about hunting for, prey: I have seon them, perch' on posts and on- stacks, but never had 1 seen one perch .on a big tree till this'.time.. I 'don't/know whether .this is ari ..unusual thing. Other 'observers' niay have seen it, but it is the first iimo it lias; come under my notice. ' • //'// ■ ' ■

X Still, the. telephone - grows. A new Hue- has just . been - erected •■. between; Halcombe and Onepulii. The/first 1 farm to boconnected,;is;not :far out- of Halcombe.' Then/ come .Messrs. Corpc, Pleasants,'-aJid Morrison, and then,ends •with- the -Maoris at 'the Onepulii pa.. Already -they./.feel the /great. convenience,' and are;how'. woudering why.they, did not'.'haye it' sooner.,'■.;.. The reproach of 'so niany west co'ast fanners, that •tliey are// all/behind,,their, bfethrpii/ iii. 'the AVairara'pa. with-respect ;to the telephone, is; now...becoming a 'thing' of . the past./ New lines; are/ being/ put up ,by/ -farmer- syndicates-Va;ll;.oyer/the - country,.Aind:<; at/ a'" minimum of tho cost w&ich the' Telegraph Department; usually, .charges/'//.lt, all linearis /extra■ busiuess for tho Dcpartmcnt., ~ /, '; 1 / After'.wandering .about .for. a while,I found myself at last in what seemed a new. country.. .I. had got to Wcodyille. / '/.I .was /simply-/astonished.-to'.see, the.niaryellqns/growth; of gra'ss ."all oyer, the from the west sido of tho ranges/;' ;, Maijiy./ farmers told me tliey had not known a: winter kit -free of frost .for many- years, •; and then'.fthe./'spleiidid;. September ./weather" .had'-beeh : .so;;fayburable;-t]iat, grass/had coiue.on very well. , . , ■ ,// /•./■l'hear/splenrlid('accounts -of the good, lambing ivliieh/has taken plate. On some farmsv-.tKey/:ara/no^/.'pretty/well .through;. with; very. few■'-.deaths,,' 'though it'- is .to be feafedr the./later rough, wet. •Voather will have reduced, the percentages-,: On / some. l^'farms/ a /few/, death's | /have/taken :,placei ;chielly among the big- ■ ger lambs.'( These in/most cases are attributed? to apoplexy,. though one, man ; Jsaid'-." lieXth'puglit'^tlie" ; /troublo;;. isj balled •wool, but the' argument is in favour of the former. -. -'//-' / / .-//"'X Tho dairymen.' aro in high'-feather.-In most/cases-cows have; come in iii good .'coiiditiohj-, thanks, to/thefiriei-.open winter and plenty of grass. ' All are" .looking,forward/to a /.record'/season', -andJ if,, present 1 /indications'; ,'drei'/ realised, therd/is no-'/'dpubt'-that; 1910 will bo a' bumper year. . / ' ", / ' ': ; -/: X : ■ There ./seems to be an impression that wool may 'ease down a bit •'this year, but v iiot'.to/any;-seri<3u's /extent.How-' 'ever/ /as/)yith r : , all-;'farming/operations/ you can.never tell. ;