CARTERTON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 April 1939, Page 9

CARTERTON

VITAL STATISTICS. • FIGURES FOR MARCH. (“Times-Age” Special.) The following are the vital statistics Tor March, 1939, the figures for the corresponding month last year being given in parentheses:—Births, 21 (21); deaths, 10 (12); marriages, 15 (5). Personal Items. Mr H. H. L. Meyrick, who has been laid aside, with illness for some time, has found it necessary to enter Braeburn Hospital, Wanganui, for treatment. Mr W. B. Allen, of Clareville, is an inmate of Wellington Hospital. Mr and Mrs R. H. Every, Garrison Street, have motored to Hamilton, and are staying with their daughter, Mrs G. S. Powell. Mrs L. E. Nix, Garrison Street, has returned from a holiday spent in the Marlborough Sounds. Clay Bird Shooting. At the weekend the concluding shoot of the season will be held by the local gun club, when it is expected there will be a very large attendance of shooters from all over the district. Keen competition is sure to result in the £lO match, which carries with it a cup donated by Mr J. Hadley. Gas Works Exhauster. Good progress is being made with the installation of the new exhauster at the local gas works, and the work should be completed next week. Methodist Harvest Festival. Unexpected support was given to the Methodist Harvest Festival services and sale at the beginning of this week. The Rev. E. B. Chambers preached at both services, and assisted the choir in the anthems, his son, Gordon, also rendering a solo.. The church was beautifully decorated and the special harvest music was well rendered. Prices at the sale on Monday .evening were well above market rates, and several donations were given. This means that the circuit fund will be kept out of debt. A quantity of goods were sent up to the Masterton Children’s Home. Dalefield harvest z services will be held next Sunday in the afternoon and evening. The Rev. R. B. Gosnell will preach in the afternoon and the Carterton choir will attend and help. The sale is to take place on Monday evening, and should be a success. Euchre Party & Dance.

The weekly euchre party and dance conducted by the Clareville Hall committee was largely attended last evening. The winners in the card tournament were: Ladies, Mrs P. Hodder 1, Mrs A. Patterson 2; men, Mr F. Jackson, junr, 1, Mr F. Daysh 2; consolation prizes, Mrs Edwards’and Mr W. Haste. The Monte Carlo was won by Mrs Mellish and Mr W. Haste. Mr J. Edwards supplied the music and Mr Sid Fisher acted as M.C. A feature of the gathering was the excellent supper supplied by the ladies. PLIGHT OF FARMERS. . OWING TO DRY WEATHER. The long spell of dry weather has become a very serious problem in so far as the dairy farmer of the Wairarapa is concerned. The excessively dry conditions have reduced the milk yield to a very low level the result of the pastures throughout the district being burnt up by continuous hot weather and high dry winds. It is now a problem for many farmers to feed thenstock and keep their milk yield going at the various,factories. Farmers who have in recent years had sufficient dry feed at this period of the year have fed their entire stock of hay to their cows already and are at a loss to know where feed for the winter is coming from. Grazing will be at a premium and many farmers who have regular localities for winter grazing for their herds will not this winter dare to take their stock to these localities, simply because there is no feed. If they are unable to secure other winter feed quarters they will just have to do the best on their own holdings to keep their cows going. Some districts are able to grow maize and others turnips; but even these sources of feed are becoming useless. In fact the whole business from a dairy supplier’s point of view is serious. This not only applies to the present time but will show itself next season owing to the stock being in poor condition, through bad wintering which must be inevitable.

The “Times-Age” representative was in touch with the various dairy factories in and around Carterton this morning with the following result which must show the serious plight dairy farmers must be experiencing at the moment and in months to come:—

Belvedere: The manager said that his supply was down to half of last year. Last season at this time of the year his factory was turning out 24 cheese, today it is 12 (that is for a 7-day week) which is approximately 3 tons a week decrease. They were not yet running every other day. Dalefield: At March 21, 1938, 83 cheese were being made: today it was 51; The decrease was approximately a ton a day and worked out at 50 per cent less. Dalefield expected to be 150 tons of cheese short on their output this season.

Parkvale: The factory is working two vats, but expects to be working only one next week. The factory is still going every day, but the supply is 50 per cent down on last season. Carrington's supply is half of that of last year and is fast decreasing. The factory is still working every day. Clareville: So serious has been the result of the dry season that the factory is only working every other clay. This condition of affairs has not happened for many years. The manager considers his output to be three-quar-ters lower than was the case last season. FIRE ON HILLS. LOSSES OF FENCES & MATERIAL. A fire was raging this morning on the hills beyond Dalefield and was reported to be spreading in the direction of the State Forest reserve. It is stated that although a lot of second growth has been cleaned up on settlers’ properties, some loss has been occasioned by the destruction of fences, fencing material and winter feed. It is not known how the fire started, a