ST. BATHANS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 2, Issue 79, 16 May 1871, Page 6

ST. BATHANS.

—0 ( From our own Correspondent.)

May 7, 1871

The weather the past month has been u strange contrast to that of April, 1870, which was remarkably severe. We have had twenty-six 'fine days out of thirty. Still more remarkable is the fact that we have had no high winds, except on the 30th.

The crops have been very fair, and in quantity sufficient to render all horseowners of the district almost independent of foreign supply. Not so with other produce. JSorrel and sow-thistle have spread rapidly over the cultivated ground, and have stunted and poisoned the growth of vegetables. Potatoes are small and watery, and will be scarce during the winter in this neighbourhood. The only other farming news -worth relating is that more gronud has been taken up at Beck's for agriculture since I last wrote. The increase has been from 150 to nearly 400 acres; and as a fine creek, with an average supply of twenty-five to thirty heads of water, runs down through the ground, we may expect to see a picturesque and flourishing farming settlement there in a few years.

-- - - __.. J My mining intelligence is limited, simply because there is nothing new to record. The water supply has been fair, considering the warm weather. No ground has been abandoned at St. Bathans proper. The population is the same as last month, and the gold escort a3 large as ever.

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. Acting upon the suggestion of Mr J. P. Armstrong, M.P.C., at a public meeting held on the Ist a Progress Committee was formed to look after the interests of the place. Their first act in office was to petition the Government to repair the roads leading to Hill's Creek and Beck's, —which petition, I understand, will be filed for future consideration, and I daresay will be attended to at the same time as the railway terminus and reserve are built and surveyed.

On the Bth, the Rev. C. S. Ross, of Alexandra, paid us a visit, preached on two successive evenings, baptised either five or six children, and, before leaving, united Mr N. Peacock to Mrs Williams, both of this place. On the 21st, we had a severe shock of an earthquake : by my watch the time was exactly four o'clock. There has been one since,—very slight. Another draper has commeuced business here, but I am unable to say whether it is a sign of increase of business or not. Competition in trade is considered, commercially speaking, healthy, and I may find it to my advantage the next time I purchase gum boots or moleskins. I am sorry to have to record some sad accidents, as well as deaths, that have occurred in our neighbourhood during April. On the 7th, Mr Hinchcliffe, blacksmith, Drybread, died very suddenly. On the 25th, Mr Barber, hotelkeeper and mail contractor, of Hamilton, was found dead under his buggy near the Linburn, with his head dented in as if by the axle tree. The last very sad case of death resulted from an accident on the 28th ult. Mrs Kermode (wife of John Kermode, hotelkeeper near Hill's Creek,) was in a cart with her three children and a Miss Clucas, who was driving. They were going to a friend's house between Hill's Creek and St. Bathans, and just as they reached the St. Bathans road a front board of the cart gave way and fell on the horse, which at once started off at a gallop. Mrs Kermode seized the reins out of Miss Chicas's hands with the intention of helping her to stop the horse, and caused the animal to swerve off' the road on to some very rough ground covered with boulders. The result was that the cart was upset, all the occupants thrown out, and Mrs Kermode, in her efforts to save her children, was pitched most violently on the ground. The coach arriving at that moment, the poor women and children were taken back home, and after two days' pain and misery, poor Mrs Kermode (on Saturday night) died. She was twenty-seven years of age,—much respected, and has left a widower and four little children to mourn her loss. A sub-scription-list on behalf of the childrens' support is being handed round, and I think already £IOO has been collected. There are only about thirty people residing at Hill's Creek, but I believe there were fully eighty persons at the funeral. The service was read by Mr Stratford of St. Bathans. It is a consolation for the poor widower to know that kind neighbours have taken the care of the children into their hands. [Tho above was unavoidably held over from our last week's issue]