LOCAL A A XT) P. NEWS

Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 20

LOCAL A A XT) P. NEWS

A case of interest to cattle-dealers was heaid at Palmerston on the 12th, when William Allan P-ater-on (for whom Mr Crisp appeared) sought to reco\er from John Dogue (represented by Mr L. T. Burnard) damages for breach of a guarantee that a truck of cows sold by him to Pater^on were '"spring caivers in «ound condition.'' The guarantee had not been put into writing, but the plaintiff stated that the defendant had at the sale told him that if the cows were not up to what he represented them to be he could «ell them at his (the defendant's) risk. The plaintiff. ] howc\er, took deli\ery of the cows and retained them for some months, and Mr Burnard contended that a« a matter of law the action would not stand, for the statement of cla-im was framed upon a breach of warranty in respect of cattle which ihe plaintiff: had accepted, while the agreement, according to the plaintiff himself, was that he should have the right to reject the cattle and sell them at defendant's ri&k. lla\ ing retained the cattle for some months, his right of action was gone. There was also some dispute about the fa<:ts. and his Worship reserved judgment It i« stated that turnip crops in several parrs of Otago are very .seriously affected by a form of blight. This is especially the case in the Taieri district and round about Milton and Balclutha. also in North Otago. With the present decided shortage of feed in almost every quarter this is a matter of more than ordinary seriousness. Threshing- out of ihe s.fook (=aye the Bruce Herald) is the order of the day with many farmers on the plain. The harvest has come on very quieklv latolv. and the machines ha\e had to be Uopt coin^ to get I ahead of ttie riponinp 1 grain. Si»:tv bushels ' will be a fair a\eragc of oat» this jear in j this district. The Wwidham Farmer sto-tre that harvesting is now pretty general all over Wyndham and Edendaie and sui rounding country; and in =ome" instance* leading-in I will commence this week. The crops are lighter in «=traw this season. but wellheaded nevertheless. As ohcwrtng what a dairy factory means to a district, it may be mentioned that land ha- doubled in vaiuo at Gummies Bush. Th.~ i« in consequence, of course, of the pood price ruling for cheese. Labour Npmg scarce, many dairymen are now putruig in milking machines. It appears that run lumour about the likelihood of the 'Ihornbiux ch^eap- factory —it was mad- « ertpntlv c.illod a. creamery- -clo-intr down for wart of water wa« unfounded There l- j -urfioicnt suiiph of water to keep the fjctoiv going — Western Star. The Spar Bush correspondent of the SiurMind News writes: — The rain we had has helped the j cuing turnips a lot. and we may now ha\f a fair supply for winter u-e. A lot of oats are now cut. and the -tookr. boar out mv prp\iouMv repressed opinion that tl 1^ crop will ha.rdlv be up to the a\ciage Tho pa->turp« — t ill keep veiv hard and drv — they would absorb a very heavy rainfall Writing 'on the 10th in«t. the Balfour correspondent of the Southland Times reports : This continued dry weather is burnrng up everything. The ground is very thirsty ; everything' 1 is thirsty— animate and inanimate. Stock are going back. The feed has got so dry that the- want of water is more severely felt. -There is plenty of roughness in the grass paddocks, but it is dry. Had the water supply been good there is no doubt 6tock would have done well, as the weather has been fine. All the creeks and rille have long ceased running, and paddocks that in former yeans had a good supply of running '

water have now none. The turnip crop liad a promising appearance at one time, , bat it has not made any headway. The swedes, the rape, and the kail all look to me to be taking the biighr. Unless rain ) comes soon. and come* in abundance, the > feed for fattening purpo-e^ will just wither ; anay. At pie^ent il.e outlook for winter i , f( ctl is disheartening, but with a good ram > (he paddock* -with the boat that is now in the ground would srrnw gia=s right ' ' through the winter, bo rhings may turn out much better than tlie present appearance would indicate. At any rate the grass seed crops lnue been good, and the pram crops aie also Rood. There aro pome of the finest crops of oats m what was called the black swamp that jou will see anvwhore in this Dominion. And not a few acres, but hundreds of acres. Of courso the swamp has come out ivell this year, but the crops are fairly good all over. There is always a little dealing in land going on. A block of land of~'looo acres, half a mile from Balfour. in three farms, belonging to Mr John Stiffens, Mr Crommie. and Mr Martin, has been purchased by Mr M'Cale, of Dunedin, for his 'ons. They have taken possession of the land now, and a-re cutting the crop. The harvesting operations arc now pretty general, and some of the early ones are starting to thresh out of the stook. The sample should be good if plump enough. The usual monthly meeting of the Southland A. and P. Association was held on the 7th in«t., Mr Dr^n (prevdent) in the chair. Before proceeding to the ordinary business, the president referred to the loss sustained by the association by the death of Mr James Holms. Mr Holms, he said, had "been one of the most prominent supporters of the association for many years, both as an exhibitor and a director, and latterly,a.s they all knew, ho had done invaluable work in connection with the drainage onerations at the new show ground, of which he had had full charge. Mr Drain closed by moving that a letter of sympathy be 6onr to the widow and family, and that a special minute he made recording the association's appreciation of tlie numerous ond valuable services rendered by the late Mr Holms to the association. Other directors having spoken in similar strain, the resolution was unamimouslv carried in silence. The secretary submitted a balance sheet of the recent show which revealed a small credit balance, which, of course, would have been much larger had the weather been more favourable on the second day. Under the circumstances it was considered quite satisfactory. It was decided to hold the ram fair early in April and ihe Winter show on Tuesday and Wednesday. June 16 and 17. which is about 10 •days after the Dunedin show. The 60guinea cheese trophy will be- competed for once more, and will, no doubt, be responsible for large entries in the cheese section. The question of altering the end of the financial year and the date of the annual meeting was also discussed. As was pointed out in the last annual report tlie present dates are not altogether suitable, and a motion was carried at the annual meeting recommending the incoming.commtttee to look into the matter. A" subcommittee was appointed to report to the March meeting as to what alterations were deemed to be desirable. After attending to various matters of routine business the meeting advourned. The following items are from the Falmersron Times : — "D-espite the dry summer the Waikouaiti Dairy Factory' Comnanv is ha\ ins- a \erv successful season. The ravments for milk last month amounted to £1365, a record in the history of the company —Excellent piogres* is being made with harvesting orjcration<s, and in the Dunbaek district the threshing mills are already at work. We understand that the crops r re thieshing out fairly well, but in come instances the yields have not been up to the expectations of growers. Mr Hill, the local representative of the A-rricultunil Department, who has just completed a tour of the Palmerston and Waikouaiti districts estimated the wheat -veld at 27 bu^iels per acie. while oats should run from 35 to 37 bi'"'ieK" At the Magistrate's Court Lawrence on the 10th inst.. before Mr Kenrick. S.M., soveral Clydeva-le settlers were charged with breaohe* of the Rabbit Nuisance Act as follows : —Stock Inspector Fletcher v. C. F Overton, charge of failing to destroy the rabbits on his property, comprising 5300 acres at Clvdevale. Defendant p 7 eaded guilts fined 40* and 11s costs.— Same v. A. J Keith (Mr Finlayson). Similar charge in rfspeel of 95 acres of land, Clydevale. Mr Finlayson said his instructions wore to plead guilt v, and mention, in mitigation of fine, that his client, who was not v resident on the land, had instructed his agents (Dalgety and Co.) to employ a man to destroy the rabbits; that rhev had done so, but that the man had fai'ed to do the work. His Worshop held that defendant had had amole notice to clear so small an area. Fined 40s and 7s posts — Bertram Bitnn and Ernest Bunn pleaded guihv to failing to destroy the rabbit* or> their pron^rries (10,051 acres nnd 920 acres re^nectively). Clydevale. The defendant Betram Bunn, who appeared in both cases. said they were new settlers in the district, and had scarcely had time to do anything beyond laying a' little poison. A fine of 40« and 7s costs was inflicted in each ca«e.— Same v. Robert Buttars. Similar charore in resooct of his property containing 410 acies. Tuapeka Mouth. In this case defencl-mt did not anppar. Fined £i and 7<= co=ts — Same v. W. J. Hopkins (Mr Vooie). Failine to destroy the rabbits on his nronTtv at Clvdevale. aroa 2350 acres "Ur Fletcher pointed out that the defendant wa» one of the syndicate that had purchased the Clydevale ?>tate. and the oropertv complained of was an unsold portion of the eofafe. Mr Moore said the defendant was virtually in the «anie position as the other Clydevale sott'ers: he was not vet fully cognisant of the condition- and circumstances of the district His Worship thoutrht defendant stood on a different footing to the other settlers from Clvdevale. in that be was merely holding the land awaiting an opportunity of transfer! tne his responsibility to somebody else. Fined £10 and 7s costs. Further prosecutions under the Rabbit Nuisance Act were dealt with by Mr Kenrick, S-M., at the sittinnr of the Gore Court on Thursday last. S. M. Taylor, rabbit inspector (Mr IncW) v. W J. Irwin, failing- to dctrov rabbits. There was no appearance of defendant. Evidence, was given by complainant, who stated that Irwin did not reside on his farm, but at Wyndham. The farm was badly infested with rabbits, and Irwin made no effort to abate the nuisance. The Magistrate said the defendant evidently took no notice of the inspector or of a summons from the court. Sined £5 and 7b coste.— Same T. '

J George Cameron (Mr Bowler), a similar charge. Mr Bowler pointed out that tho . summons was issued on February 3, and 1 the defendant had gi\en up possession of the property on February 1, and ho conI ter.ded that the ense should be dismissed. | His Worship pointed out that d- fondanb had been notified in November, wiien he. wa& occupier, and had not since taken steps to destroy the rabbit-, within a n...=onabJe tirpe After some further discussion Mr Bowler pleaded guilt} . and pointed out , what the defendant had done towards de- , stroMiiar the rabbits, and urged that a ; small fine would meet the case. Defendants wa.- fined 20s and costs.— Same v. R. G. Buchanan, a similar charge. Mr Inder said he had seen defendant in the morning He had promised to put a man on at oncelo poison. Fined 20s and costs.— Same v. Cr Ihompson (Mr Bowler), a similar charge. Mr Bowler entered a plea of guilty, and said defendant had only acquired the property in August la*t. and had done as much as he could since then. Fined 20h and costs. I The Te Tua Dairy Factory (-ays last , Saturday's Orepuki Advocate! is at pre- | sent receiving a daily supply of some 12 000 i gallons of milk. Though" a considerable falling off from the usual supply at this part of the season, it yet, considering th« long drought, places the district in a "ood light as regards its suitability for the dairy. ing industry. A start was made on Monday with the sinking of a well, which should place the company in an independent position in tho event of even a more contracted' dry sca?on than the present. With the object of securing an ample supply of water it has beer decided to sink the well a depth of 60ft.