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Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2516, 1 June 1909, Page 2

The necessity for continued vigilance on the (part of the farmers in regard to (resistance against further attacks on the freehold tenure was referred to by Mr Allen Bell in his presidential address before the Farmers’ Union Conference at Auckland last week. He said: —“It will not do for us to rest on our oars; the attack on the freehold will be renewed, and the utmost vigilance is required to prevent the land nationaliser from attaining his desired end. It is also necessary for us, as the representatives of the iarming community, to put forth renewed efforts to have the large area of land set aside as national endowments thrown open on the optional system ,and also ij» assist the land for settlement tenants to obtain the right to acquire the. freehold should they so desire.” The Levin Times states that a very curious phenomenon has occurred m that district which will probably be interesting to .scientific observers and others. A windmill at the north end of Levin' having to be repaired recently, it was found that the water m the well beneath had' lowered to the depth of about six feet, leaving the pipe high and dry. The well, which ,is over seventy feet cl eon. had been in use for the last twenty years without anything of the kind happening before. Un making inquiries in the vicinity our contemporary found that two other wells within a few hundred yards had dried up. one completely and the othei pai trally, but to such an extent as to render it useless. It is remai kable tin wells of such a depth should lose water at this season of the year, and it would be interesting to know wliat caused the subsidence. 1 ossibly it ma> have some connection with volcanic disturbances in the country further north. A Forty-mile Bush dairy farmer informed a" representative of the W airarapa “Age” that at the present time although he was milking 10 per cent, less cows than at this tune last jeai, hk> lied was yielding 20 per cent, more milk. He attributed tins to the exceptionally good autumn season experienced this year m the Bush clistr . . Parasitic diseases that afl eet the pi oducts of the fields and orchards (says an Ashburton paper) appear to be .yea 1ly on the increase, despite the vigilan .0 of the Department of Agriculture, liecentlv Mr. Urquhart, of Hampstead, discovered that his fruit trees were covered with a species oi scaly aphis, the size of butter beans. This was the first occasion on Which he has noticed the insects in the district.