He said that this was the second wet successive season, and that the crops were suffering severely. Potatoes which had been pointing through the ground for the last month were no farther forward, the grass was beginning to wilt as a result of the excessive moisture, and other vegetation was also backward.
Twelve months ago the wet season, following a long period of drought, was justly regarded as a great blessing in many localities, but this year the farms were getting too much moisture.
The clay terraces were wetter and were holding the water more than the heavy land, but, taken all round, the condition of the soil was causing anxiety to the farmers owing to the advanced period of the season and the impossibility of getting on with the sowing of the crops. If the unbroken severity of the weather continues, stock will also have a bad time later on.
The state of the country at the present, continued the Taieri farmer, reminded him of the comment made by an American Congressman who was interviewed by some immigrants who had been deceived by specious advertisements in regard to land which they had purchased without first inspecting it.
He said: "I have bought land by the section, I have bought land by the acre, I have bought land by the foot; but I have never before seen land bought by the gallon!"
• The greasy pig-catching competition was to have been one of the features of the Waikawa sports meeting. The selection had been most carefully made by experts, and a long-nosed Captain Cooker, of well-rounded proportions, was after mature consideration selected. Four pounds of "anti-friction," better known as grease for trolley wheels, were rubbed into the well-fledged porker. Darkness was approaching when Captain Cook, all resplendent in the sunset glow and his suit of anti-friction, was let loose. He got off the mark like a running champion, slipped through the fingers of half a hundred prospective pig-farmers, and made for the bush. Latest reports fail to announce a capture, though it is said the pursuit is being prosecuted still.
• The president of the Southland Acclimatisation Society has received three petitions from farmers in the western districts of Southland, bearing 100 signatures, stating that opossums are harmless from a settler's point of view, and that, considering the value of opossums as fur-bearing animals, some restriction should be placed on their destruction.
- ODT, 15.11.1912
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