SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES (From Own Correspondent.) INVERCARGILL, February 29.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 52

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES (Fr om Own Correspondent.) INVERCARGILL, February 29.

As yet only a very small quantity of oats has been offering from the country, and -the market has not changed to any great extent since last report. A few of the merchants have been buying to ©over sales made some time back to the North Island, and it is expected that when these orders are filled prices will ease somewhat. At present values are from Is lid to 2s on trucks at country stations, but it is aaiticipat-ed that they will ease off to about" Is lOd. The area sown in oata in Southland this year appears to be fully up \o that of former years, but the yields are, for the moat part, somewhat disappointing to the growers. ' The continued dry weather has caused the crops to ripen somewhat too quickly, with the re»ult that threshings are not up to expectation*, though the quality of the oats is all that could be desired. No business is being done in the local chaff market. Old chaff is worth £3 5s to £3 7a 6d on trucks, but practically none is offering. A few samples of ryegrass have been offering during the week, prices ruling at from 2a lOd to 3a for farmers' seed on trucks. Dunedin merchant* are still buying decent sized lines at a very small profit on Invercargill quotations. Farmer* nave not yet forgotten last year's high prices for this cornmodify, and many, I understand, are holding off for higher rates. / The recent rains have greatly helped winter feed in Southland, and the sheep market is in a sounder condition than it has been for some time. As buyers at the present time have feed to- .eat off, *nd, axe not simply speculating, lambs suitable for finishing off an rap» are- in moat demand, and are freely changing bond* at up to 13s. Smaller and more backward: sorts are selling at from 11s to 13s 6d. The fat lamb market seems to have improved to some extent, and I understand that about 14s 6d is. now the ruling rate for decent lambs fit to freeze. There are indications that young ewes- will be good property within the next month, or two. and it is fully expected that last year's high prices for this class of sheep will be equalled, if not exceeded, this season. Two and fourtooths are changing hands at from 16s to 18*, and - several " lines of eound-mouthed station ewes Have been sold at up ft> 16s 6d for delivery in March. The mutton market does not appear to have improved greatly, and in coasequecce ' fat wethers are still somewhat dull of sale. As the price of lamb goes up it is fully expected that- " forward " wethers will be better property, but at present they are very hard to sell. • Beef can still be quoted- at from 21s to 22s 6d per 1001b, but butchers' business at the present time is of a " hand to mouth " order, owing to the hot weather. Good forward cattle can be sojd «t SS JB6 10s, according to condition, but it is rather early at present for this class of stock, as unless they are very nearly fat there is feed to be provided during the winter. Good start*' of yearlings and two-year-old steers /con be sold at the preaent time, but are rather lfaxd to get hold of. . ' Business in land" a-t present is very small, though a few northern meet have been down spying out the country, and have, I understand, |«rohaeed one or two «n*ll properties. The drop in. wool ha* made sheep stations depresiote oousidwrably in value from .the high prices that were paid last year. The fibre market ha* experienced a, still further setback during the week, and prices have dropped to the very low level of £21 6s (f.0.b,, T3r3fl) for fair average quality, which is the lowest price it has reached for a good many years past. London buyers seem quite indifferent to our product, and do not seem to- w«n.'t it at any price. The position, comr pared with lost year's highest prices, shows a drop of £12 10s per ton on " fair " quality fibre, which is quite unique in the fibre market on one year's transactions. Fortunately very httlm is held by merchants at Bluff, and roe drop in prices will not- be a very serious thing foi 4feexn, but the millers are in the position of having to cease manufacture or keep on working at a considerable loss. These low prices will have -the effect of bringing flax royalties down to a very low figure in co-mparision with what ~wws paid last year. Tow* is also neglected, and parcel* offered to London during the week were declined at equal to £5 per. ton. This latest drop will have the effect of closing up the balance of the mills in Southland for this season at anyrate. March 2. The sittings of the Supreme Court here .last week had only two criminal cases to dispose of. In the case of a number of young men charged with stealing from a Chinaman's hut, "William Forde was admitted to probation on condition of paying part of the costs of. the prosecution and part of the damage done to the property, and a prohibition order was issued! against him. James Forde was fined £5, and' ordered to pay £3 3s towards the cost of the prosecution and 10s for injury done to the property. The manslaughter v case against John Lloyd, of Nightcaps^ occupied the best part of the week, and resulted in a disagreement of the jury, 11 being in favour of acquittal and one against. The case is at an end so far as the present sittings are concerned, and it is unlikely that the prosecution wjll be persisted in. Mr Reginald Day, at last meeting of the Southland Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards; resigned the position of secretary, which he has held for the last seven years, and asked to be relieved of duty as soon as possible after the end of March. In accepti ing Mr Day's resignation, the chairman said ! members of tiie board took the opportunity of referring to the very satisfactory way in which be had discharged his duties as secretary, and wished him. success in his new sphere. Applications are now being invited for the position at £200 a year. Mr Capper, ■•Chief Postmaster, Invercargfll, has received notice of his transfer to Thnaru,. Mr M'Cutcheon, of Timaru, and formerly of -the Chief Post Office, Dunedin, taking hm.^ place. From April 1 the Chief Pest Office, Invercargill, is elevated to the nzst grade of post offices. At the last meeting of the Bluff Harbour Board Mr I. W. Raymond, who is about to leave for England, resigned! from the board. Mr Ttarmond has been a most- useful public man, not only on the Bluff Harbour Board, baft dn other bodies, having been at one and the* same time chairman of five of the moat impoztmit public bodies of Southland. Members of the Harbour Board took advantage of this parting meeting to give expression to their sense of the great services rendered to Southland by Mr Raymond during many years past, and hoped that on his return from Jhe Mother Country he would again take *n active put in public affairs. Th& mining industry in Southland! is suffering greatly from wa.nl of water. At Orepuki mining operations are completely stopped, excepting in the case of the Tewaewae Gold Mining Co., which has a lease of the bee* water supply in the district, and is I working the sea beach by hydraulickine with

suction, pipes. The same complaint of scarcity of waxer comes from Preservation, where gold mining ventures, of which great things are expected, are at a standstill, and will have to expend a good deal of money in bringing in sin ad-equate supply from a distance. The last scene in the Presbyterian Bible Class Union's Summer School was enacted at the Fresh Food and loe Co.'s refreshment roomsr'Esk street, on Thursday night, when the Fresh Food Co. entertained theexecutive at a banquet. The balance sheet submitted showed a surplus of £15, which is to be devoted to the Youth of the Church work. A resolution was passed expressive of the executive's gratification at the appointment 'of the Rev. G-. H. Jupp, of Kelso, to succeed Mr Jamieson as travelling secretary, and Mr W. A. M'Caw, secretary of the Summer School, who did an enormous amount of work in connection with it> was presented with a silver cake basket in recognition of hia splendid services. The local V.M.C.A. held a meeting on Tuesday evening la.»t to make arrangements for their scheme to raise £6000 for an association building, to be erected on a site which the association recently acquired in Tajr street. It is intexuled/ that tlae building will comprise a public hall, gymnasium, reading room, writing room, office, reception room, games room, kitchen, committee rooms, smoking room, billiard room, etc. Canvassing teams were chosen, and the work of getting in the funds has already begun. A Mokoreta settler named M'Laren was attacked by a wild hoar on his own property on Sunday week and. had his leg b&dly ripped and was disabled, lying out until Monday morning, when he was discovered by a search party. Mr J. E. Wataon has been re-elected chairman of the Bluff Harbour Board unopposed. The Hospital Saturday Association is pushing on with its arrangements, and has already got the district mapped out, and a Ladies' Committee .will be formed to-night. It is expected that about 170 collectors' will be employed in town, and about 200 in the country. * Charles Herriot, charged at the Police Court last week with stealing a bag of wool and a sttfepskfrt from Darling's store, was convicted and admitted to probation on paying the value of the 'stolen property. On Wednesday last a number of annual picnics were got off in glorious weather. The Catholic School picnic attracted about 700 people to Ocean Beach, while the Bluff people had a picnic at Otautau. The local bakers and -their hands went in drags to Waiajoiwa, and two country schools — Kingston and Lumsden — spent the ctoy at Coiac. Before leaving for Christchurch last week, Mr F. A. Joynt, who has been vice-presi-dieni of the local Cyoling Club for the last two years, was presented by the club with a case of pipes in token of the esteem, in which he h&a been held. Mushrooms axe again exceedingly plentiful throughout the Southland district this y«ar,and on' any evening the paddocks in th» vicinity of Invercargill may be seen dotted with children and adults filling their baskets and kits. The work of lifting the present tramway line to Waikiwi, with a view to introducing an improved service, is to be gone on with at once, and arrangements have been made to put on a 'bus Bervice until the new line is completed and the cars running. The Invercargill prohibitionists have been collecting evidence acr to the effect of bolicenee on Che town, and publish in the /Southland Times statement* made by a number of -business people, all of whom express themselves, as entirely satisfied that from a business point of view the town has greatly benefited from the change. One point brought forward in support of this conclusion is the fact that far fewer bad debts are made than formerly.