NEVIS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 184, 20 May 1873, Page 6

NEVIS.

(fro A our own correspondent.) In mining matters there is nothing hew to Record. Work is being carried on vigorously, and as there are no ’complaints heard, it may ho assumed that all are contented with their present earnings, or with the prospect? they have of doing well in the future. . It says •■something for this place that there is not an idle man on it, nor need there be, as there is plenty of ground to prospect, and the facilities for doing so are as great here as in any ether place so situated. The weather is singularly, mild for this time ef the year, and all of us fervently pray that we may be favoured with an open winter, as a repetition of the severe frosts we had during the last is anything but desirable. However, should we be again doomed to experience those severities, they will not take ns unawares, as I am happy to say that from the prosperous summer this district has enjoyed, we are all, or nearly all, pretty well prepared against them. The Commonage and Agricultural Block questions are attracting considerable attention. Indeed, public feeling seems. to be more agitated about them than it has been ■on any other subject that has come under consideration for years past. This is not to be wondered at, as the interests of some and the prosperity of the district generally are closely concerned. There are some among us who, instead of squandering their savings or earnings in folly, or lending them to a bank for a low rate of interest, have preferred to invest them in the purchase of cattle ; and it is pleasant to know that the results show that they have done wisely and well in doing so ; and, moreover, they have, in becoming possessed of a herd of a cattle, realised one of the objects that induced them to leave their native shores and become colonists. The succes that has attended on these parties will, without doubt, induce others to follow the good example set, them, if the same grazing facilities which have hitherto existed in this ■district are continued, and will also be a means of settling this place permanently ; for next to a wife and a large family, there’s nothing like the possession of flocks and herds for settling a man. If any one doubts this last Assertion, I have only to ask such an one to consider the wonderful tenacity with which the squatters have clung to the land, which is the people’s, and what dubious courses they have taken so that they may retain their flocks and herds. ' Having considered these things, I think he will agree with me as do the correctness of the assertion. The Agricultural Block.—When we reckon the many years that have elapsed since this valley was first inhabited, it is a matter for surprise that agriculture has not made more progress, and that land for that purpose has not been set apart long ago. Experience has proven that many or all of the ordinary products of the farm can be grown and it is well known that there is enough good agricultural land on which to grow an ample ■supply for..all our wants without in any considerable degree interfering with the pursuits of the miner. The cultivation of two or three hundred acres would be about- the greatest blessing that could come among us, and the man who first introduces practical farming will, besides benefiting himself, deserve well of this community, Ido not think there is a gold-field in the Province where the cost of living is so high ; many of what are elsewhere considered the commonest necessaries of life, command the price of veritable luxuries here. The ordinary products of the kitchen garden are considered Sunday fare ; and as for the productions of the dairy, they are almost unknown,. I state a fact when I say whisky is more plentiful than.milk. This state of affairs is highly unsatisfactory, and acts as a great drawback to progress and extension of mining pursuits, and will continue to do so until the price of living is assimilated to that of other gold-fields. The only remedy lies in the Government granting ns that Which we

so reasonably ask for. If the settlement of the people on the land be so earnestly desired by the Government as what we are led to believe it is, there will be little difficulty in the inhabitants of this district obtaining a piece of land for pastoral purposes, and an agricultural block.

In reference to the foregoing subjects, I am informed that the manager of the run, which embraces the ground about to be applied for, has ordered some of the parties who have cattle grazing on it, to remove them ; thereby putting these parties to expense and trouble. If the course be persisted in, it will inflict serious injury on the whole of the district. However, the procedure will not be an unmixed evil, for it will have the effect of arousing public feeling,. and. inciting those who might otherwise be indifferent, to exertion in obtaining their rights.

Six or seven years ago the necessity of a track being formed to connect the upper and lower Nevis, was brought into public notice ; and at various times during the intervening period the question has come to the surface. If my memory serves me rightly, on one occasion we exhibited such an amount of insane confidence in Government as to ask it to construct it for us. This calling upon Jupiter met with its usual reward. Our prayer was beard with contemptuous indifference ; and the track then and now in use retains all its pristine excitements of breakneck pinches and boggy gullies : horse and man struggle along at the risk of life and limb. There is some talk of again petitioning Government to put the track into something like passable condition ; but from former experience, and from the fact of our being all but unrepresented in the Provincial Council, I entertain but faint hopes of the. success of the petition.