THE LAKES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 402, 31 December 1869, Page 3

THE LAKES.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Queenstown, Dee. 2s. Christmas ! what has not been said and written about Christmas, its time-honored festivities, its meeting of friends around the social board, the longed for jovial season of our schoolboy days, with its pleasant anticipations of plum pudding and pantomimes. Right we'como close of a passing year, associated with pWsant memories by young and old, where for th.e nonce around the blazing fire on the hospitable hearth the difference! of rank and station are forgotten, and friends meet upon equal terms, where the old watching the gambols of the young fn-get the ravages of their increasing age, and the young become grave listening to the stories of the old in recounting their experiences of days gone bye. Each pledges himself over the ruby cup, and drains it in peace and good will to all men. We have mi great bells here, booming forth from ancient steeples glad tidings of joy that Christmas is come, while the waits and the carol singers only ilwellinthe recollections of the past. We possess, nevertheless, many agreeable substitutes, and we can find pleasure equally as well at the Antipodes as in the old country, and there is also this consolation that, no one need go without a Christmas dinner in Otago unless it is his own fault. The means of enjoyment is within the reach of all. Th ; miner far back i" the ranges or the dwellers in the pleasant valleys below are alike able to make merry, be happy themselves, an! make happy those whose happiness depends upon them. On Thursday night last the Wakatip was v A ry nigh the scene of a terrible casualty, and it was only by a miracle that throe persons escaped front a watery grave. Early in the eveirng the schooner Lady of the Like left the heal of the lake with a fair but fight breeze, fully laden with a cargo of timber for Kingston. She appears to have sailed pleasantly but slowly along, while at times the wind qniie died away and the schooner lay upon the waters in

the broiling sun. Soon after sundown the calm was disturbed by occasional bursts of wind from the southwar • which died aim. st as suddenly as they arose, but no danger whatever was apprehended for the safety of the vessel by the master, Mr. Williams, a man of considerable experience and who had been sailing on the Wakatip for more tlian six years past. Shortly after 10 p.m., when the schooner was off Table Bay, she was struck by a tremendous rush of wind, so sudden and unexpected that before sail crald be lowered she heeled over on her beam ends. Her deck load prevented her from righting. The crew betook themselves to the dingy, and before they had got well away the vessel gradually settled down in about two hundred fathoms of water. When the dingy reached Queenstown and the news of the disaster got spread about it naturally can sed considerable excitement. Every available boat was manned and repaired to the scene of the accident. Steam was got up in the Antrim, and shortly after 11 o’clock she. was on her way to lend assistance, for it was surmised that the schooner might only bo entangled after ell, and that even if she had sunk a deal of the deck cargo would be found floating upon the surface. The moon about this

time was just sufficiently high to shod a sombre light over the lake and the steamer slowly made her way for the scene of the wreck. Search was kept up for some three hours and nothing but a few logs of split timber floating about gave any indication of the loss. Great oommisscration is felt for Mr. Williams, whoso loss is a severe one.

The trout experiment did not prove a success, and after all the trouble and expense, only one out of sixty-four of the little strangers arrived safely at Queenstown Everything possible was done fo ensure success. An excellent pond, with about fifty yards of a quick running, race and the most perfect measures wore adopted to convey them from Invercargill, hut to no purpose. It appears that the ova will be the correct plan after all. The process of stocking the streams here may ho slower but the risk will be very much less. The two attempts made by the Corporation of Queenstown to stock the waters of the Wakatip with fish were certainly most laudable. It is a subject in which the lower goldfields are interested equally with this as there is every reason to believe that trout, once successfully introduced into the Wakatip, will soon find their way elsewhere, and the Kawarau, Molynenx, and Manuhorikia Rivers will soon find themselves teeming alive with this delicious fish. The Te Anau Lake, or at least one of its important tributaries, has trout swimming about it. Out of ninety-six fish sent from Invercargill ninety arrived there safe and well.

Chritmas passed off pleasantly. Tho Knights of the Cleaver, considering tho unfavorable state of the weather, madp capital displays. Evergreens wore in profusion almost everywhere. Tho variety of beautiful plant# growing on tho phono of*

the lake furnishes ample supplies for decorative purposes. On Christmas eve the Amateur Dramatic Society gave a representation at the British Lion Theatre. The pieces selected were the “Marty to Science,” “Cherry Bounce.” and “ Diamond cut Diamond.” All these were done ample justice to. The house was well filled and everyone seemed fully t ’ enjoy themselves. On Monday there was a regatta, in which sailing and rowing boats competed for prizes varying from £2 to £7. This attracted a considerable number of people and is to bo made an annual affair of.

The weather is excessively hot and dry. Such a season of drought has not been experienced for years past. The crops will, consequently, be very light and I question if the total yioll will he more than half of what it was last. High prices are, therefore, inevitable.