NOTES FROM THE NEWS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 2, Issue 87, 11 July 1871, Page 6

NOTES FROM THE NEWS.

(From our own Correspondent.) July 4, 1871. The frost has put a stop to most of the work in this part of the world. It is only where the sun shines that the miner can get a few hours’ work in the day ; and what little can bo done is done at a great disadvantage. Some of the head-races have broken away through the accumulation of ice, and caused considerable loss to the owners, as fluming will have to be used to repair the damage. Although the weather is so severe, I understand there is still one man at work up in the snowy regions on the Carrick Ranges. Tli ore is a great contrast this winter to previous years in the description of houses built by the miners. It used to be the unsightly sod walls and bagging roofs ; now, well-built iron houses have superseded the old makeshift kennel, or stye. The miner himself is also undergoing a change : he is better dressed than formerly, and the old language is dying out.

Our road where the Chinese run the water across is a sheet of ice, and dangerous to travellers. I wrote some time ago .about its being perhaps in the Warden’s power to make the holders of races confine the water to a proper space, instead of allowing it to flood the road, as at present. If we cannot have a Visiting Warden, I think it is high time some kind of official, with power to settle our minor grievances, was appointed here. Messrs I. Hallenstein and Co. have made the right move to secure a share of the trade out here ; I have seen their team on this side of the range once or twice. It might be advisable in the Spring to continue the road to the Garrick Range reefs as far as the Nevis; the distance would be materially shortened, and many steep pinches would bo avoided. As there is no chance of a share of the subsidy for water supply being expended on the Nevis, it might be asked for to make the road in question.