ST. BATHANS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 17, 9 March 1870, Page 5

ST. BATHANS.

(From our ovm Correspondent.) March 3rd, 1870. There appears to be a general complaint amongst the correspondents of the great dearth of news from their several districts. In this I must join, urging it as a reason for an uninteresting letter, for I do not intend disgracing your paper with tattle, and there is scarcely any other material for my epistle, i^|(|i Our popuTaHfiafemains steadily at 200 or thereabou'tsT&nd I do not hesitate to prophecy ft permanency of settlement to this number, and I think if you add up the escorts from St. Bathans as published in the Duneclin papers during the past year, you will find the average income per man (among 200) to be about £2 13s week, or £l4O per annum. The ill-feeling that has existed for some time about water rent has altogether subsided. At St. BathansJ&was caused, in a great measure, by the ifflpr sudden aud unexpected failure of some of the extended claims in the basin, which the proprietors were obliged to abandon in consequence of the water rents being equal to two-thirds of the reveuue. It is scarcely fair to call the ground a failure—except when spoken of in comparison to the quantity of water used, and its price—as the average yield I believe to be about £8 or £9 a week. The water companies have fair arguments on their side—l speak unbiassedly. They have (1) a most costly maintenance of works, as shown by the floods in Januaflgfe. which must have cost the shareholders nT less than £SOO ; (2) one of the companies has not yet recovered all its original expenditure ; and (3) —the best reason of all —that there are a great many claims that can well afford to pay the present rates ; and that the demand is greater than the supply. This subject reminds me that I promised to keep you posted up in good investments, aud if you wish to prescribe for patients in your district troubled with quartz-reef fever (of Corse it is no use you interfering if they have already received other medical advice) you may safely recommend them to purchase—if they can get them—shares in any of the St. Bathans races, which, I do not hesitate to aver, are as sound as any mining property in the Colony. , I have just heard that the Mount Ida water strike is likely to be settled in a few days, both parties having hoisted the flag of truce. Is it not singular that the strike did not affect the Escort—Mount Ida maintaining the head of the poll 1 Surely it is high time that Cromwell began to make a better score on the list—" Aurora's rays (raise) are spreading far and wide." I see you have been drawing attention to the many evils caused by the leniency of the Bankruptcy Act, I do not suppose you can find room in your columns for a criticising discussion on all the sections of the Act, or even to enter into a controversy generally. I will, therefore, not attempt it, but it is certainly a question whetlier the numerous easy escapes open to debtors are not of service to Imperial and Colonial commerce ; and also whether purification by bankruptcy has not a salutary effect on town and country trade. The loMg credit system, and money borrowed at high interest, are diseases which imperceptibly creep in, spreading their virus from the heart of the city to every small community fed by the city-trade ; and when an explosion takes place, the sound, honest trader, " who haa to compete fov a whilo with the

bubbles of unscrupulous adventurers," is rewarded for his patience and integrity by gaining unlimited confidence, which ia of itself good capital. Do not condemn the Bankruptcy Act, but rather the tradesmen who foster a love for ita conveniences. Far better encourage legitimate trading, more frequent auditing of short accounts or cash payments, and warn men without capital not to trust to chicanery, or to their wits, to force a trade on uiiwjotiable aooeptanaes. Let us heve competition, by all moans, among tradesmen—-it is tha best chock possible against extortion ; bub preserve us from the vultures who prey upon the unwary, ruin conlidenco and credit, and bring misery on families by their trickery and plunder. Bankruptcy has its work to do in this country—to sweep out all rubbish, disclose all rottenness, and prove honest tradesmen. The secret of the mischief is that Dunedin was built up as a city in too great a hurry. Merchants flocked in to supply a fast-increasing population, which went away again almost as suddenly as it arrived, leaving the merchants to battle it out who should remain. A crash was inevitable, and the Bankruptcy Act has materially hastened it. The merchants have, as a last i-esource, attempted to drive a trade by out-selling one another—to establish a custom up the country, even amongst small fry in whom they have but little confidence, and in the hopes that these men, who are nothing more than their agents, will again drive a trade amongst the mining communities and their surroundings, to enable them to take up their acceptances. ■ The Bankruptcy Act, I am of opinion, will prove as beneficial to the country as the sudden fall in sheep and wool did. It caused the development of new industries, and weeded out most effectually the unfortunate stragglers on hopes deferred and dishonoured bills ; and it has caused the discovery that there are othrr resources in this country besides sheep farming. There was a time when miners had no idea of the prices of groceries and liquors, and would submit to auy extortion as long as their claims would pay ; but, thanks to the Press, who have begun to quote the markets, the victims of extortion are beginning to open their eyes to the true state of affairs, and, assisted by total abstinence societies—which have done more good for the miners than all the " Oarpe diems" (I found this Latiu at the end of '■ an English dictionary: but pardon me, for I am not the only classical man who obtains assistance from the same source) in New Zealand. Miners are beginning to feel that they also have an interest at stake in the country, and that they will have themselves to blame if they do not assert a position of respectability and elective power. Contrary. I regret to confess, to the usual order of things, the St, Bathanites assume a friendly disposition to neighboring townships. As a proof of this, they are going to have a grand picnic on the banks of the Manuherikia on St. Patrick's Day, to which all the world are invited to celebrate the anniversary and partake of the feast. Again, the local minstrels proceed to Drybread on the 11th inst., to give an entertainment in aid of the Drybread school funds, and will travel the eighteen miles, pay their own expenses, and rig up, blacken their faces, and sing comic songs free of all charge upon the funds. ;. It i 3 of no use my attempting to report .changes of weather, unless you intend to devote a column to meteorology, as we "have to endure changes not only daily, but sometimes hourly, so capricious is the weather.

We find the following in the Australasian : —A remarkable luncheon was given on Saturday last, at R. TJ. Miller's dining rooms, in Collins-street, by Mr llobert Caldwell, managing partner in the Victoria Meat Preserving Company, whose process involves packing the rolled meat in tallow. The object was to give an entertainment which should exactly resemble—'being no no better and no worse—the famous Australian meifeljnner.s at Norton Folgate in London. ifAvas a happy thought, and the tables were crowded with guests who had evidently been invited not to give eclat to the entertainment, but with a strict eye to business. The bill of faro comprised—- " Joints—braised beef, boiled mutton and caper sauce, and boiled beef ami carrots. Entrees—potato pie, curried mutton and rice, haricot mutton, minced meat and mashed potatoes, croquet rolls and dry hash." The excellence of the various dishes was amply testified to by the rapidity of their disappearance. Mr Caldwell presided, and his explanations respecting the processes employed, the age of the meat, and other particulars illustrative of the object for which the luncheon was given, were listened to with great intei-est. Itoll6wa;/\i- Pills.—An unfailing romedy for Bile, Apoplexy, anil complaints arising from Impurity of the Blood.—Mr H. Berry, a master cooper, residing in the Oldhatn-road, Manchester, informs Brofcssor Holloway, by letter, dated May 12, 1834, that for four years he was a continual sulferer from bile, sick headache, loss of appetite, and dimness of sight, all originating from an impure state of blood. Ho had been under medical treatment of the fint eminence in Manchester, but received little or no relief. At length he tried Holloway's Bills, and in about' three mouths this extraordinary medicine so purified the blood that the disease totally disappeared »ud he ia restored to perfect health.