SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 52

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES

(Fboh Oub Own Cobbespohdent.) INVEJROARGrILL, August 21. No oat sales of sny consequence have been mad; by merchants during the week, and business has been very quiet. Nothing tresh has eventuated with the London market, and there are spill a good many thousand sacks to be shipped during the next ■ fortnight. The quantity offering from . the country is very small, and prices are i ruling at Is 6d to Is 6£d for B grade, with I'd mo/« for A grade, on trucks at country stations. None cf the merchants holds any 'stocks wcith speaking of, and any business that will be don-8 between ; now and the spring threshing will be from hand to mouth. . Most ol the mills hay«» stopped, and, considering-- tha small quantity left in the country, it is not likely that these will bs offering till very late in the season. . Chaff is offering ir fairly large quaati- ■ ties, and the best price ruling is H2, on trucks a.t couitry staitdons, for tip ton quality. There is no business doing outside of what is wanted for local require- . meints. A few odd lots of l-yegrass are offering, and are readiiy sold,- as meschants hold no more than what is wanted for their own retail trade. Prices for heavy seed rule at up to 2s od from the mil!. Nothing has been doing: in potatoes dur- ( my: the week". ■ Buyers are declining to , operate at any price,. - The cattle market is firm, and prime ' beef is quoted -at 23s pen- 1001b, and for 1 this olasb ihere is a good demand. There . j is also a very good inquiry, for iorw*r<dI conditioned cattle, and- also -Cor young ; sorts. Good forward-conditioned bullocks i are selling at up to, £7. 105, whale young -cattle are making up to £4 10s. Several I northern' buyers nave-, been operating, and " a good many hundreds .will go out of I Southland - during she next fortnight. j Tbe/e is good business doing m young sheep. Ewe hoggets are selling at from 12s to 18s. -Thsre is very little doing in 1 fat wethers outeide of butchers' requirei ments. Prioes^rule from 14s to 16s. Young , ewes are quoted at from 15s 6d to 17s 6d, I sound-mouthed ewes up to 14s, and indifferent mouths from 8s od to 10s fy\. Owing to th& plen'tafumess of turnips holders, bobh of cattle and sheep, are by I means keen to sell. Ac far as holders of f sheep are concerned most of them will ! be able to' carry over what they have in { hand till after shearing. The improvement recorded in last week's J fibre report continues, and a good disal fof inquiry is* coming forward from various j oenitTCß for " fair " and " good fair " , quality fibre. The sudden rise in price . saeme. to -have upset millers' notions, and I some are holding firm for a still further , increase. The wisdom of this attitude is doubtful; as it is hard to see how the price of New Zealand fibre can increase 1 considering the large quantity of Manila 1 that is still being shipped to English and i American markets, and in view of the report from Eng-lish manufacturers that I Manila is much superior to the New Zea- ! laml article. *There are 10 mills in Southland that have either commenced, or will commence, during the n-sxt week or two, and their outputs ehoukl materially increase the exports from Southland. Thero is no inquiry for tow for export. This I artit-ie &aem& to have lost favour in tha : big manufacturing centres, and I under1 stand thai, die grreot bulk of the tow is j finding its way into the paper mills and into othei local manufactures. August 23. The progress of the Town of Invercargill is indicated by the fact of the appointment of a town engineer. Hitherto th* work has been" done by an engineer in general ! practice on a moderate" yearly payment, 1 but it has for fome time past, been felt that it would pay the borough better to have | an engineer giving the whole of his time . to the interests of the town, especially in , view of the fact tl.at in the near future ' some extensive public wo.-ks will be undpr- ' taken, municipal trams at lea«t, if not also I big water supply and drainage undertakI ings. For some time past tho borousrh ha- ■ been advertising- for an engineer jh van- j 1 ous New Zealand papers, and pot a very ' large number of applications from ail o\ er . the Dominion. These have been \ery fully ■ considered and voted on, the final vote reI suiting in the appointment of Mr John Sturrock, who has had pretty varied experience in Scotland, as well as in flic office of the city engineer, Wellington. The ■ next in favour was Mr R. J. M'Kay, a son of Mr It B. MKay, of this town. The movement for the installation of municipal trains has been advanced a stage by resolutions passed by the various suburl>an boroughs authorising a poll on the ■' question of raising a loan for the purpose, and it is confidently anticipated that the poll in each of the suburbs and in the town j will be in favour of the enterpiise; that 1 there will be no difficulty in getting the * money, and that c. start will be made I within a year from date. There is a slight improvement in business in Invercargill. Money is much more plentiful than for a long time past, and 1 the general tone is distinctly better. Retail business is improving gradually, and in

' view of the coming tramways, there begins m bo a little more life in land-dealing. The timber trade is also improved slightly, ai 1 some of the suiplus labour is being abrorbed by the starting of the flaxmills. A great deal of has been caused amongst ex-contingenters and others through a statement made by Mr G. B. Nirholls regarding' continq enters and the liquor traffic. Mr Nicholls is understood to have stated that the returned troopers became the centres of drinking- circles, and increased the drink bill of the Dominion, , but Mr Nicholls strenuously asserts that j he had no intention of reflecting on the ' troopers, but only wanted to point out that th§ excitement caused by the late war and the return of the various contingents led to an ; ncrease of dri&fcing". The ex-Contin-genters of. Southland are not, however, satisfied with this explanation, and at a meeting 1 held on Friday night to consider | the matter it was decided to instruct a I solicitor to writs Mr Nicholls demanding j an unqualified apology to be piblished in the leading papers of the Dominion and the Vanguard- within seven days ■ The- Inveroargili competitions were brought to a close by a demonstration conj cert, held on Friday night, in which all ' the prize-winners took place. There was I a very large attendance, and the programme was a very varied one, witn a I high standard of merit Two of the most 1 attractive items were recitations by Mr i 08born, the judge of the elocution items !in the competitions. Mr Osborn's selections were, "In the Signal-box" and Bret i Hatte's "Jim," which were rendered in a style seldom heard in Inveraargill. Notwithstanding that there has been" no choir contest thi3 year, the competitions have been very successful in the standard of the work undertaken and in the attendance. Mr J. G. Price fljrice and Bulleid) returned from a tour of the Austrlaian States on Monday last, and was entertained by his staff at a velcome home in Ashley s Hall in the evening. . A Glasgow and West of Scotland Society has been formed in Invercargiii for the purpose of holding out the hand of friendship to persons coming from that part of the Land of Cakes. It is a pity that the membership of the society is not wider, or that other societies of a like character are not brought into existence, as a helping hand is badly needed by many coming to the colony. A case in point was that of a man with a large family who arrived in Invercargiii some months ago with £2 in his pocket, an utter stranger, the family being reduced almost to starvation before the needs of the cass became known. No one need btarve in Southland if he will only make his wants known, as the people are, generally speaking, very prosperous and very sympathetic and generous. The funeral of the late Mr Trist Seare.ll on Tuesday last was well attended. The Municipal Band, of which, he was conductor, tinned out in force, the Methodist 'Church, the Society of Musicians, the Masonic craft were also well represented, and there was a large number of wreaths not only from local friends, but from the Masonic Lodge in Christchurch with which Mr Soarelt had been associated, from the Invercargul Competitions Society, the Municipal JJand, the Xadies' Hockey Association, etc. »,»»«. The Association football match Bluff v^ Jnrercargill attracted a good numbsr or •^importers to the Queen's P&rk on Wednesday afterooop. The ground was extremely muddy, And th* play was spoiled in consequence. The Bluff team has -some very fino- pl*yer3 r and their combination was much better than that of the town team, who were beafen in every point of the game. The order for the Cup is now— Bluff 9 points, Celtic 8, Nightcaps 4, Underwood 3,' Inveroargill 2. The game has caught on in the schools, which now provide seven teams. The study of Esperanto in InvercargLll is receiving valuable- help from the advent in this town of Mr P. Ap-tein, who has had et» great deal to do with the propagation of this International language in Tondon and in Wellington. An Esperanto Olub, which has been in exi--.ter.ee here for some years, has had additions to -.ts membership; a class is being formed in connection with the V.M.C.A., and also a c!a*e for ladies. There are several verj, proficient E-;perantists in Inveroargill, and conversation at the meetings of the club is carried on in Esperanto. < Some of the members of the South Invercargiii Ratepayers' Association have de.olared themselves es opposed to both amalgamation and tramways. Fortunately for the future of the fcoroug-h the ratepayers are not quite so short-sighted, and even if amalgamation is not carried in that suburb at present, they are not foolish enough to oppose tlia installation of trams, which will immensely increase the valus of tbeii properties. Mr Norman Churton, who has ban prominent in musical cirrlps in Invevcargitl for the past few years, left for Melbourne by last Monday's steamer. Mr Churton. was farswelled at the railway station by a number of musical friend;, and prosenfrd with a purse of sovereigns got up by public subscription. E'even entries have been received for tho bras band contest, which is fo be hold here in October— namely. Bluff. Winton, Gore. Mornin>gton, Wallaceto-.vn, Oamar.i Garrison, Port Chalmers, and ths four Inverrar?ill bands. It is probab'e that Mr A. Wide, of Wanganui, will be the judge. At a meeting of the Southland Acclimatisation Society, held la t wctk, it was tlecided to recommend- <o thp next conference that the protection should be removed from stoats, wear's, and ferrets, which are <loins- a prr-eat deal towards killing out nativa birds in tho Dominion. The report, of the Invercarg!!l SlarrBowkett Society -hows steady progress and the amount to V>e distributed among members in Group 1 at tho end of tha sor-iely now totals £8825, or £8 8s Bel per sharp, and in Group 2, £5810, or £4 19=, 3d por share. The wc.ath.3r in Inverca.rgill during the past week luas been worse then any experienced during the winter, there havki£ been slight falls of a-,ow tore. There was a heavy fall at Gore on Tuesday night, and also at Nightcaps, the snow falling sufficiently long to give a real wintry feei. A feature of tha Invercargiii Competitions hold last week was a. drawing room entertainment, for which four eets of competitors entered. •This form of entertainment, won by A. S. Wallace and party, was new to the Inverca-rgill Competitions, and attracted a very good atfcen<2a.nce. The o^her entries were A. Sutherland and pa.i'ty, Invercargiii Orphans Olub, and Mrs Haotio and party. The breakdown of the Waratah recal's a number of similar mishaps, one of which,

nearly 30 years ago, appears to have been forgotten by newspaper correspondents. In the- year 1880 or 1881 the mail steamer City of New York — Auckland to San Francisco — broke down through the snapping of a. crank pin (a mass of steal 14-in thick) when four days out, and drifted about within sight of Upolo far about a fortnight. Great anxiety prevailed, and a tnan-o'-wair was sent out from San Francisco to search for the missing steamer, and came as far as Honolulu and then turned back. The passengers themselves were not greatly concerned, the weather being perfect and the sea like a mill pond, but put in t&eir time very agreeably catching aharts, the total catch numbering 57, and the 6ailor6 doing well out of the passengers by making- walking sticks and draughtsmen out of the sharks' backbones.

At a public meietlng held on Tuesday evening to consider the matter of joining Otago in sending a rifle team fco Sydney, a resolution was passed affirming the desirability of taking part in the movement, and steps taken to endeavour to raise; tbe necessary funds.

The United Friendly Societies are about to erect a brick building in Tay street to take tbe_ place of the old wooden structure which has so long been the quarters of the Oddfellows. The cost of the new Oddfellows' Hall will be £2490.

Mr James King (Clifden) has been nominated for the office- of president of the Southland A. and P. Association/and M<r James Cailender, " of Invercarpill, for the office of .vice-president. Both are unoppesed. Mr Frank Young, Town Clerk of Gore, has been appointed town clerk of Momington (Dunodin).