The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1868.

Dunstan Times, Issue 337, 9 October 1868, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1868.

Beneath the Rule of Men entirely oust the pen is mightier than heswOHD.

The necessity of a Flouv Mill for the Dunstan District has awakened at last the energies of the hitherto slumbering people of the District. A new company intituled the Dunstan Flour Mill Company was organised only on Tuesday last, and have already set themselves to the work of carrying out their object, the erection of a Flour Mill in this District. Yesterday they purchased the water-race of the unfortunate Pioneer Sluicing Company and we are sure that no letter motive power or position could be found for the erection of their mill, it is about equi-distanfc between Clyde and Cromwell, so that it will be easily availa-

ble for the cultivators of land in either

the valleys of the Clutha or Manuherikia. The people of the Lakes' District will also be able to avail themselves of the advantages of the Dunstan as a market for their produce, and from which to draw their supplies, and we can look upon the erection of the intended Flour Mill as one of the greatest benefits that could possibly be conferred upon the agricultural and trading communities ; the miners will also be advaDtaged, as from the stimulus given to agricultural pursuits, the prices of the necessaries of life will become much chtaper, which is an equivalent to an addition to their gains. Now that the Government have opened up land for occupation, notwithstanding that the quantity is limited in extent, the field for labor is considerably extended, aud instead of witnessingpeople leaving the Province lor the Fijis and Queensland we shall see them settling down where they had acquired the means to start them m life. The peculiarities of the climate in many parts of this district, render the pursuit of mining for gold impracticable during many months of the year, and many whose emp'oyment is of this nature, can now devote their spare time to the tilling of the soil, and find a ready market for their produce. We believe that with every prospect of success, the Company might add a Brewery to that of grind, ing wheat. The consumption of male liquors in this district is very large and, instead of sen ding money to Dun. edin for Porter and Ale, it might just as well be kept at home. For the growth of Barley the soil and climate of the Dunstan is peculiarly suitable, aud what with the growth of this grain and its conversion into the suitable beverages, a still farther field of emyloyment would be available. The names of the provisional Pirectors and Manager which appear in another portion of our columns, is, by their known energy and successful application to business, a sufficient guarantee that the object will be speedily carried out, and ere another season passes, the people of the Dunstan will be in the position of producers of the the food they consume. With the previous abortive attempt at a Flour j Mill we have nothing to say; the affair was greatly mismanaged, and, like all hastily and illmanaged schemes, it to the ground, but we can well afford to console ourselves with the fact, that in the management of the present Company, " The right men are in the right place."

The Escort on Monday last took clown the following quantities of gold : Cromwell ... 6040z. Odwt. Dunstan ... 8240z.13dwt. Alexandra ... 9830z. Odwt. Blacks 4040z. Odwt. Dunstan Creek... 8390z. 7dwt. Mount Ida ... 11420z. Bdwt. Total 47970z Bdwt. We have to record the occurrence of an accident at the Great Extended Qi.r.:-tz Reef, Rough Ridge, whereby a miner named Chailes Harrison was killed ; it appears whilst working, a quantity of earth fell on the unfortunate man and before he was extricated life was extinct. Messrs. Cope and Facho report that on Saturday last they held an auction sale of horses, cattle, spring-carts, &c, at Cromwell: a clearing-out of stock belonging to Mr. "VV. J. Barry. Spring cart horses and hacks realised 16Z. to 2b1.; a small pony, suitable for a child to ride, 51.; second-hand spring carts, 71. 10s. to 22^.; milch cows, with calves at foot or in calf, 13J. to 16£.; steers, in middling condition and some fit for the butcher, Ml.; geese, 9s. each. The attendance was not so large as could have been desired. The weather was very unfavorable ; a strong wind, accompanied by clouds of dust, tended to keep people within doors. While Mr. T. L. Shepherd, M.P.C. for Goldfields was addressing his constituents at the Town Hall, Queens town, a donkey ridden by.a man enveloped in a white sheet strode into the room up to the speaker. Great confusion arose. The affair ended by the rider of the donkey being Cried 40s and co.its.

In the General Assembly Mr. C, O'Neill presented a petition from the Mayor (Whetter) and Town Council of Cromwell, Otago, praying for the extension of the Goldfields over that large area of well known auriferous country extending from the present northern boundary of the Goldfields to the Canterbury province, in which a considerable population was now located and carrying ou mining operations without any legal protection what" ever; and from the chairman (Clarke) and the Committee of the " Miners' Association," representing 270 men residing in the Cardrona, Cromwell, and Upper Clutha districts, praying for the extension of the Goldfields to the boundary of the Province of Canterbury, showing that several thousand pounds had already been expenddd in the construction of water-races and reservoirs, without any legal protection. The Water-race and Claims of the n tago Pioneer Sluicing Company were sold yesterday by Mr. John Fraser, Bailiff to the Supreme Court under a writ of Fi. Fa. at the Dunstan Hotel, for the sum of one hundred and one pounds. The pui chaser was Mr. George Fache, on behalf of the Dunstan Flour Mill Company, a Company formed at Clyde on Tuesday last. Mess's. M'Kerzie and Co., the proprietors of the A lexandra Ferry, have just received from Dunedin two large iron boats of twelve ar d a half tons burthen each for the construction of their new self acting punt which is to be placed on the Molyneux to facilitate the traffic on the new line of road now in completion to connect Alexandra with the Teviot, via the west bank of the Molyneux. The punt, when completed, will be the largest of its kind in New Zealand. The Daily Times says :—" Sheep farmers and others, who cannot always ascertain the sate of wages ruling in Dunedin forshepherds and ploughmen, will be glad to learn that, at the present time, there are many shepherds, with good dogs, seeking engagements for six or twelve months, at 50/. to 52?. a year. Ploughmen are getting i from 50/. to 60/. We are requested to intimate to the Brethren of the Court Star of the Dunstan, Ancient Order of Foresters, that a Summons Meeting for the transaction of important business will be held in the Lodge Room this evening, j the 9th inst. A Mr. Kerferd has introduced into | the Victorian Assembly a bill for the j better protection of mining tenement?, with a view of effectually stopping the systematic thieving by which so many companies aresuchserious sufferers. The bill at present provides for the infliction of corporal punishment, which it i* supposed would have a salutary effect upon the Chinese. A case has occurred at Westport which ought to make publicans very careful of what they keep it their bars. A digger, named William Olsen, called at Mr. Shehan's Nelson Hotel, and asked for a glass of brandy and bitters. What then happened is thus related by Oisen:—"Mrs. Shehan was in the bar, and handed me a bottle for me to help myself. When I was taking the bitters the stopper came out, and I got more than 1 wanted. I drank the mixture and then I felt a burning in my throat, and fell down—l became insensible. Ido not remember anything till dinner-time next day, when I found myself in the hospital. At that time I felt a burning pain inside, and for nine days I felt it. I remained in the hospital for twelve days, and during that time subsisted on maizena chiefly and bread soaked in tea. I was not able to work when I left the h«s. pital, and have not been since. I have tried to lift an axe and found that I could not. Yesterday morning I took some solid food, beefsteak, but my stomach resisted it, and I threw it up immediately, I have been idle three weeks next Wednesday 6ince this occurrence." Olsen brought an action against Mr. Shean for 501. damages, when it was proved that although negligence for which Mr. Shehan was • legally liable had been shown, there could not be the slightest atom of actual blame attributable to him. The stuff had been got from thegingcrbeer maker for cleaningthe counteraudwas put by him into a bitter bottle and stowed away in a comer, where it was unfortunately taken from by mistake, with the results previouslyreferred to. The Magistrate gave a verdict for 30/. damages, but the plaintiff, after the verdict, compromised the matter tor 20/., in order to get it settled at i once.

A West Coast paper, writing on the Auckland Gold fields, says: "The population of the Thames goldfields is said now to number fifteen thousand, and, although several reefs are yielding well, yet, as no alluvial diggings have been found, a large proportion of the miners are earning nothing, and when their means are exhausted, un. less alluvial gold is discovered, they will have to leave for fields. On the sth of September upwards of one thousand ounces of gold was brought into Auckland. A sample of quartz tested at the Bank of New Zealmd, from the Marquis of Hastings Claim, Tapu Creek, yielded at the rate of hundred and two ounces to the ton. ™ This claim has only been taken up six weeks. A crushing at Gibbon's machine, from another leader, yielded seven ounces to the ton. Many similar yields are received, showing the exceeding richness of some of the reefs." The New Orleans Gas Company seems likely to find a formidable ccm. petition in the sources of natural gas which have been discovered in several places near the city. It is only necessary to sink an iron tube to the depth of forty feet, when the gas begins to flow out with great steadiness at the rate of five feet per hour, and is accumulated in suitable reservoirs. The natural gas burns with a clear, white flame, equal, it is said, to the bes purified coal gas. Lord Burleigh, accompanied by Mr. Inman, arrived in Clyde yeiterday evening; they had walkek all the distance from Queenstown by way of the Gentle Annie track. They left Queenstown on Wed esdoy miming, visited the Btation of Messrs. Eoys, Brothers, at Frankton Falls, and arrived at the Roaring Meg Hotel, where they remained for the nigh\ Yesterday they contined their walk to Clyde, having visited the Natural Bridge on the Kawarau River, and other places of interest on their way dowof They leave to-day for Dunedin. On Saturday last October 3. at the Resident Magistrate's Court, Clyde, before V. Pyke, Esq., Hugh Christo pher Macdonald was charged ou the information of Samuel Harman with horse stealing at Linburn Creek. Sergeant M'Cluskey proved the arrest at the Raggedy Ridge Hotel with the horse in his posession, and adduced in evidence that the prisoner before his arrest remarked that, he the constable j had come just too soon, or he would not have caught him. The prisoner I was committed for trial. Writing on the subject of .the late disastrous encounters with the Maoris; the Australasian remarks:—•' Major Von Tempsky was one of those gallant soldiers of fortune that one readg about in romance or poem, or sees upon the stoge, but existence unpoetic souls cannot easily comprehend. His whole life was an exciting drama, and it is hoped some competent biographer will give it to the world. It is a national loss when such men die, and New Zealand may well be proud of having numbered such a hero among her colonists, and she will but do her duty in perpetuating his memory a standing monument- The brave fellows who fell with him— Buck, Palmer, and Hastings—though less conspicuously known than Von Tempsky, will have an enduring place in the hearts of those who survive them. If the colonists of New Zealand do not avenge the death of these noble fellows, by stamping out at once the unprovoked rebellion, they are no true men, and do not deserve Von Tempsky should have lived and died among them. The mandate lately issued from tne Warden's office to the owners of water-races, requiring that, wherever a race crosses the main road, should be covtred over by a culvert, is, we notice, being octed upon. Many races are already bridged over, steuMk arc being taken to do the rest. TlflT improvement may bo beneficial to some, but we doubt if many will not feel the inconvenience of not being enabled to water their horses as they travel along the road. Fltiko Machine.—W. S. Hutchingt, of St. Louis, has invented a flying machine, with which he expects to navigate the air at his pleasure. He has a model complete', which works satisfactorily, and he is now getting up a full-sized apparatus, which is to he twenty-eight feet in height, to weigh two hundred and eighty-five pounds, and be capable of carrying one hundred and fifty pounds. There is a calorie engine on a new principle attached, with a quantity of wings, large and small, operated by the engine, and all other arrangements to make the affair theoretically perfect. A parachute, sixty feet in circumference, accompanies the machine. The inventor has so much faith in it that he proposes to \A make an ascension in a bnloon at St. Louis, an • jump out at the height of two thousand I feet

Considerable excitement has been caused in Adelaid by the discovery of valuable silver ores at the shaft of the old Wheal Maria, at Scott's Creek, near to Cbromandel Valley. The assays of the ores have given a result of from 50 to 500 ounces of silver per ton of ore, and the discoverers have already reaped rich harvests, In the mining share market the properly is worth several thousands of pound*, and there is every prospect of silver being one of the staple productions of the colony. It will be remembered that the Talisker Mine has long been quietly exporting some thousands of ounces of silver per annuir, and the colony is to be congratulated if such operations can be profitably carried out on an extended sphere. The Saturday Review of the 20 th June last, in a notice of a work en titled " Gleanings from French Gar. dens," makes the following allusion to the subject:—" But the plant of which our author would have us borrow the out-door use from the French is the phormium tenax or New Zealand FlaxThey grow it by thousands for the de corations of rooms, and in the great nursery of the city of Paris, at Passy, there are ten-thousand plants of it* chiefly used for the embellishment o the Hotel des Ville. It does well ou* of doors in the southern and western districts, and looks best plunged in the grass, or for the centre of a bed But all these require a green-house, more or less. Mr. Robinson has made his notes of comparison among the herbaceous plants at the Jardin des Plantes, and at our Botanical Gardens, to meet the needs of those who have not this luxury " Our leaders will be surprised to hear that the phormium tenax has become popular in France. The next thing we may expect to hear about it is, that the market for the raw material as well as the manufactured article is forestalled by French agriculturalists, while New Zealand growers are puzzling their intellects as to what they should do with their native plant.