SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 52

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES

>- (Fbom Ova Own Cokeespondest.) I INVERCARGILL, August 28. Daring the past week there has been % rery little business passing' in the local " oat market, and practically none has been j -* offering from ths country- Reports from t the Home market show a decidedly easier ■ feeling, and there is not likely to be more • business done from that quarter. As far ( ', as the North Island is concerned, several * merchants thorp who were lucky enough to ■• buy in oats for spread delivery at Is 5d to ls 6d (sacks included) are now offering j these back in Southland, as prices are de- I cidedly lower than those that have been j ' going to farmers duiing the past few I weeks. Present values are still quoted at ls 5d to Is sid for B grade, with Id more " for A grade, but none of the local merchants seems at all keen to buy. Practically all the mills have pulled in for *he ' season, and from reports Irom the country j ►- jt does not appear that there are a great number of oats left to be threshed in the • spring. Chaff is exceedingly dull, and .a large ;* .quantity has been offering, but apart from local requirements no business has been * done. Present quotations rule at £2 for prime quality. . Potatoes are at a standstill, though £2 is being paid for prime quality. I There is fair business doing in ryegrass, - nnd good heavy aeed is being sold at from - 2s to 2s 6d on trucks at country stations. Thirre j? a fair amount of lighter seed abo'it, but merchants are not keen to buy it. The i'iain stock business done during the 7 week has bosn in cattle, in which several " northern buyers are ojjerating. The prin- . ripal inquiry is for good-cmi-litioncd bullocks, and these are quoted at £7 10s. - "younger cattle (two and three-year-olds) ■ are making up to £5, while ralves and yfcarlings are selling from 35s to 50s. ' Prime beef is quoted at 25s par 1001b, and there is a good demand. There are, hows ever, few holders of this class of cattle in Southland, and they Bre inclined to sit tight, expecting a rise in the near future. The sheep market is very easy, but ■with the plentiful supply of winter feed there are not likely to be many sheep ' offering till the New Year. Good store C wethers are quoted at 12s 6d; hoggets, from 10s to 12s; and ewe hoggets, 13s. Fat wethers are commanding very little , 6 attention outside of butchers' require- , ments, and present values rule from 15s to 16s 6d. There has been a fair amount of inquiry for fibre during the week, and I understand lhat one or two small parcels have i, neon sold at prices which must be con- *~ sidered very satisfactory in -view of the recent «iump in our flax. London merchnnti haia beou inquiring fairly freely for "forward" pa r cels, but so far as 1 ■ can learn millers don't appear inclined to sell their outputs at present, thinking no ; doubt that prices may improve still further in the near future This, as I have already pointed out. i<* not an altogether k wise position to take up, and the lat" London advices show that the present spurt has been unreasonable, in view of tne current prices of Manila. A shortage of New Zealand litre in the London markets was no doubt responsible for the firming tendency and increased pri?es, but once that demand is satisfied I don't see anvtHnj; to indicate a rise or even a Ountinuance of the piesetit prices. Tow is very dull of sale in the English markets, and buyers are not. at all keen to operate in this article. L " August 30. , Sir Joseph Ward has accepted the offer of £1100 made to him by the Invercargill Corporation for his tramway rights, Order in Council, etc., and the Invercargill ( Council have billed the suburban boroughs for their proportions of this amount, and ' are moving to have a poll taken n all the municipalities on the question of raising a loam of £75,000 at 4£ pe. cent. ! to construct the tramways. There is some \ opposition to the scheme, not only in the ' suburbs, but aJsc in Invercargill ; but it is anticipated that the proposal will be \ carried in Invercargill, Avenal, Gladstone, j East Invercargill, and North Lnvercargill, and if it is carried in these L" is almost , certain that South Invercargill will come ' in if a satisfactory route is decided on. ; . There are a number of ratepayer.- in South Invercargill who are strongly op- -. $06ed to tbe scheme, and would prevent [

it being carried through if they could do | so ; but even they will not be foolish enough to continue their opposition to ' the extension of trams to South InvercaT- ' pll after the other suburbs have been supplied, as the result, "would certainly be that, while 'and values would go up in those districts to which the trams were extended, they would not only not rise in the remaining suburb, but would certainly fall. A suggestion was made at last meeting of the Invereargill Borough Council which has a most important bearing on the question of trams. The Wynd- j ham River, a couple of mi leg above the j juction with the Mataura is a very fine body of water, flowing through a gorge with precipitous rocks running up to Dunaluster on the one side and fairly *teep grazing land on the oth-er. The . river is here confined to a pretty narrow ' channel, and could be very easily dammed to a height which would give a pressure I at a power-house situated half a mile away of 180 ft. The attention of Mr \ Johnston, engineer, was called to this fact by Mr Ays on, of Glenliam, and Mr Johnston, accompanied by Mr YV. A. Ott, one of the Invercargill Borough Councillors, went out to have a look at the place, and was so impressed with the value ' of the water power for the generation of electricity that he put the suggestion before tho Invercargill Borough Council at j its last meeting. It is anticipated that the whole scheme couid be carried out for £20,000 or £30.000, and that sufficient power could be -generated and delivered in Tnvercargill to not only electrify the trams and light the town, but supply power foi manufacturing far beyond the town'--, present needs. It is supposed that this would be by a long way the cheapest j way of workincr the trams, enabling them to run at a profit at the start, and that I the surplus power could be supplied at sac!] a low rate as to lead to the establishment of industrial enterprise*, which would afford a gieat deal of employment. ! The proposal is exciting a good deaJ of , attention, and it is intended that as soon as ihe new borough engineer lakes up hie ' duties next wonth the matter will be ; submitted to him for expert consideration. ' Another matter for congratulation' is ! the fact that the Cabinst have approved of the reclamation scheme — a scheme to ' reclaim the upper part of the Estuaiy by prison labour, the Government to provide the labour in return for 650 acres of the reclaimed land, the Invercargill Borough • Council supplying the plant and material, j If these various schemes can oe carried out, there can be no question that Inver- ' cargill will jump forward and make such progress as she has nevei shown ir the pa.=t. | The first men's interprovincial hockey ' match ever played in Southland was fought j out betAveen Auckland and Southland ' teams en the Queen's Park on Wednesday j afternoon. The game was a very fast one, j and the standard of play was astonish- ; « J gly good, and the result — in view of the } very recent advent of the game here — was \ rather surprising the northerners only beating Southland by 2 goals to 1. i A good gam* of Association football j was pkiyed on another part of the Queen's ' Park on the rame afternoon, between < Bluff ard Celtic. On the previous Wednes- ' day Bluff ran over Invercargill to the tune of 5 goals to nil, and it was anticipated that the\ would at least hold their own I against Celtic. Celtic, however, managed to beat them by 2 goals to one. the Bluff play being of rather a wild order, while ! tlie Celtic men kept their places and placed the ball more accurately to each ' other. ! At the annual meeting of the Invercar- i gill Starr-Bowkett Society, held on Tiiee- ! day evening last, the ballot for £500 free i loan in Group 1 fell to Clu.«rter 146, and ; in Group 2, to 168. Mr G. N. Barns, who has been for some ] time past in the service of the N.Z. Ship- ; ping Co. here, and is now being trans- j ferred to Wellington, was farewelled by j ■ his rowing club and football club friends ' \ last week, and presented with a handsome j gold watch, suitably inscribed. 1 The <a.nnual business and social meeting of th? First Church congregation was held ' on Thursday evening last, when a most ' gratifying report was submitted, which ] showed that there had been a considerable increase in the collections and in the Sus- ■, tentarion Fund. The meeting was charac- i terised by a spirit of hopefulness and a. ' feeling of great cordiality towards the new j ' minister (Mr Ryburn) w hich augurs well , for the future of the congregation. | The Southland Highland Society held i its annual gathering in the Victoria Hall, j i Invercargill, on Friday evening, when | there was a very large attendance, and a , ' programme of good Scotch music was submitted and was highly appreciated. The West of Scotland Association, re- ] i erred to in last week's notes, has been formed \inder the name of " The Glasgow ; and West of Scotland Association.'' the ' i object being to hold out the hand of ■ fellowship and welcome to persons coming , ] from that part of the Home country. Mr Thomas Fleming, the well-known flour- ' ' miller, har= bean appointed president, and I ' Messrs J. D. M'Gruei- and W. Tcdd, vicepresidents, while Mr M'Xarey, a recent < arrival from Glasgow, h'u* been appointed secretary ' ' , A man named John Scott was tost week fined £5 and costs at the Wynd ham Police ' Court for illegally taking trout from the Marairua stream, Ranger Friend having ' watched him shooting into the stream and j afterwards finding 'inn with a 61b trout | ia his possession. : , The Rev. A. Mitchell, of St. Paul's , Methodist Church, who has been suffering . from insomnia for some time past, left hst week for a holiday at Rotorua for the ' purpose of recuperation. ' ' Trouble frequently arises at railwaj - : stations between rival farmers who want ' to rail their grain to port and cannot ] get eno-.igh trucks. At last week's meeting j of the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce, a lettei wr>s received from the Dunedfn ■ Chamber of Commerce to the effect that ; they had applied to the Minister for Kail- (

ways to have trucks definitely consigned to _ applicants so as to avoid trouble of this kind.

The ballot for sections in the Alton Block, Waiau, was held in the Crown L"nds office. Invercargill, on Friday morning, when the ballot resulted as follows : —Sec. 29, block 111. J. H. Couo-h-lan; sac. 11, block VI, A. G. M'Donald ; sec. 6, block X. W. J. M'Bride ; sec. 8, block X. Neil R. M'Kay ,- sec, 9, block X. S. J. Racz ; sec. 1, block XI, Emily 0. Cro\t ; sec. 3, block XI, J. A. M'Donald • sec. 5, block XI, D. A. Campbell ; sec. 7, block XI, E. Broomhall; sec. 9, block XI, Harry Moffett ; ez-z. 10. block XI, A. Perkins ; sec. 13, block XI, W«i Morris, jun. ; sec. 14, block XI, C R. Otte. -In view of the approach of the tourist season a syndicate has bought up a block of land at Stewart Island with a view to cutting it up into sections, and these ore now offered for sale. The syndicate also offers to erect small house* for wouldbe purchasers at c reasonable cost, and as there is always a great demand for houses at Halfmoon Bay richt throuehout the Mamner. it is probable that there will be a good demand for the sections. A great deal of rain has fallen in Southland during the pa3t week, and the rivers have been very 'high. At Otautau, the water from the Otautau stream spread plong the main street and into a number of the business places.