INVERCARGILL.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 183, 11 January 1878, Page 6

INVERCARGILL.

fjFltOM AN badASIOiTATi CORRESPONOENT.] : , , I took advantage of the holiday cheap trains to gA to invercargill', 'and put a little money in my pocket with the,indention of 'supplying* a; few of' the many wants of -an' up7country settler, but funcy ;my'astp}jishment..on pricing; 'the ..different. articles': in ...numeroai; shops to find I, could purchase \ tha articles cheaper, in the up-country stores! I reflected that, tbey were very blind to their own- interests*'- -ns now that the .railway, is open to. • Clinton it 'struck me that they were losing, the opportunity of reaping* a harvest, ;and securing the custom' of the. Waikaka. Tapanui, Waipahi, and Clinton settlers ere the railway is completed to Balclntha, for once .that is finished • their -chance is g:one, even 'if .Captain "Mackenzie succeeds in diverting* the Waipahi- Tapanui railway to Waipahi. The inhabitants seem a sleepy lot, perfectly devoid of energy, which, 1 with their cold, ■ bleak, wet climate, is- quite unaccountable. There are very few' good buildings' in the town, which is laid out on an -unrivalled site for building, being almost.'n perfect level, with just enough rise arid fail for ' efficient drainage.^ '{'lie two imun strpe'ts. — Dee and. X-'*y— run at rurh.t angles .to each other, north and south and ea:-;t and west respectively, and are , two chains wide. The ' side- walks are covered with gravel, which rolls under the. foot a ucV renders 'walking- extremely fatiguing*. A few of the shopkeepers in _ Dee street are having asphalt j laid -in front of their premises, which wiil.be a great comfort, "to pedestrians. The town is now lighted with gas, and the quality is said to d>e superior to the much abu?ed Dunedin article. The Public Library is said not, to be as good as itoughr to be, as the Building Corn'mittee' took upon themselves to- send ii'otne for. a large bronze statue of 'Minerva, or gome other goddess, ot a ..cost of several hundred pounds, which ..ought to have been spent in books. This said status os/naments the summit of the parapet of the AtberuDum building, and would hi-'ver be noticed by a stranger unless point-ad our, to him. The Land Offic^ 'Telegraph Department, aud Post-office, have lately be-m removed to a fine large brick building e,on\ emendy sutuated near the railway station, but tbe appearance is greatly in a-' red .-'by lire desolate state of the ground surrounding the btiilding, which is v^>*y uneven a rid covered with. a rank : g-ruvth .of weeds. For the -benefit of j. t *'r*!>;g*ers, I may tell' them ' that,, although tbey might not think it, IVvcrcargill is a. corporate -town, and has' .a iive Mayor,. ''Joseph Match, i~> ; qv : and . eight- -Councillors, - but f cannot tell them why tlie town does 'not show more palpable signs of their ■existence. Tim-only article-that I found •reasonably 'cheap was sawri timber, tbe result of which 'cheapness is that the orders come in from far and near faster tliiin tlie- mills can' supply them. Three' separate line's of rail' centre in Invercargill —the ' Bluff,; ; Whiton,' arid •Mataura m line's— but' 'the' number of trains per day, is "..hot great. .'.Although the ]SI a I aura, line, is the, Dun.edin one, there are , only,' .-two- trams- hot li ways .every day,- that go as faras Clinton, which i.s .06, miles., They I^ave .Inyercargiil fit,,7.80 a.m.. and 4. 1*8 pan., and, take I four hours' tvventy-one. minutes' to do the, C 6 .miles,- which' .'could be 'greatly accelerated were,', the Government to run 'a good?; train once a day as far as Mataura, for, the,, time .lost" and the I annoyance' of ■ shunting*, not only - at' every station, 'but also at every sawmill on the route,* is most intolerable arid offensive to ; the' passengers, and -why the department 'should subject 'them' to it is more' 1 than' T can. conceive. I pre"suine it is on a' par with their general want of energy,' the, travellers' being tod indpleht ro remonstrate, which" the ;ea=y- ; going* ( m anager of coursH takes . .ad van - ; tage , of, .but, I must' s, ay that I would .rather.see .the latter's' wife and children -•knocked- about by 'the. shunting, than: mino;, : , ; Jf ..lovely "iittie, Nelson ; with. ita •delightful climate and. natural advantages*, dins sheen,*, nicknamed/ Hollow,'?; I think -* .< Sleepy Mat^' would •be' very* appropriate; for- Invercargill. ■-.-.-