THE LAKES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 568, 7 March 1873, Page 3

THE LAKES.

(PROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.) Tire hot dry weather appears interminable Emi ything expel ed to the suns rays, is well niph scratched up, and in the absence , of mi istnre the dust, even with what mLht ho termed a gentle breeze, is almost blinding rendering, travelling anything but p'easan^ 1 hat venerab'e and respected individual, the ‘oldest inhabitant ” knows of no precedent; sueh a c m inuous drought he never before experienced. The loss this absence of moistur- entails upon the miners is somethi ig considerable, numbers of them being in enforced idleness in consequence. The river Claims are, however, more readily workable and some very good linds have been made. The Upprr Sh >t >ver is attracting considerable attention; it has not been so low for many years. Its long deserted beaches, which have presented a painfully desolate appearance since the great flood in 1803, show considerable signs of animation and t‘-e re' or d of the w f c mat echo.-d only by the great grjy rocks, is now broken in upon by the noise of the pick and shovel as the various mining parti '3 ply their tools and B‘reng‘h in the removal of the debris which repeated floe Is have cast upon these golds n shores. Looking at some of the once famous beaches, the lines of “crates’ put in by the original workers some ten yea's ago remind one of the work of giants. These cunningly drvise I wooden frames, filled with stones, and placed so as it were to make a cofferdam, that the bed rock might her* ached tme inroirhel u >oa by the current, have defies! flood after flo id, anil are so firmly inbedde 1 that when removal is necessary, i ’ becomes a work of ranch difficulty A rid- up the Shntover nt the present moment is re dly interesting. Tee material that has been so long buiiel undewater is a most convincing p-oof of the untiring energy, and pet serverance of the miner and forcibly shows that imp ssibilitios in his bands va’nbh into thin air when gold is the reward. Or a' hopes an ent-r----tained that the coming winter wil lea busy one for the Shotove”, while many sanguine persons prophecy that with favorable w ather, and appearances ins'ify the asssumnlion, as nmch gold will he obtained this cemiog w : n f er from the bed of thin New Zea’and Onlconda as in ihe days nt the. great rush. The Shntover River was ne-or proiierlv worked only a glims j has been obtamed of : ts s'nr-s of treasure, and it’s quite un”eoessary for me to di'ato upon the ri-h finds which have here been made. There can bo n- question of doubt tha 1 -, if there exists such a place as the hea l quarter of the gold, nr where the gold came from.j t is the Upper Shntover. It is to be hoped that the time has arrived when the water pods have beer, prqusiated and the fabulous riches of this famous stream made available to the works of colonisation. That most ecentric individual, Mr. R. F. Field, o' ce Hold Receiver here, has done Arrowtnwn the honor of a visit these last few clays. In appearance, Mr. Field lev k= considerably the better, and we learn from him with pleasure that in Mount Ida he has found a place, which is an improvement upon the Arrow, and where there are no mo-e Wardens wanted, and the admirers of the redoubtable Fyke are few and far between. So long as Mr. Field is pleased we are pleased. His ill will towards those gcntl-men who procured h's removal, and a Warden substituted in bis place, barms them no more than “water on a duck's back,” they are satisfied with their work, and would recommend R. E. F. to be satisfied also. I will say no more about this most, eccentric of public servants, as 1 may bo treading upon dangerous ground, or the proprietor of the Dungtan Times or the writer of this might he threatened with the alternative of an ac(b n of libel, or a public apo’ogy in the co’umns of sixteen different newspapers. I must llureforesum up by saying that po tears will bo shed because Mr. Field finds Mount Ida a better plac e than the Arrow. That Rip Van Winkle like, and mysterious body, knovs n as the Arvowtown Improvement, t 'ommittee suddenly came to life as sin a few nights since, and inform'd the pub ic that they were about to expend the seventy six pounds said to have been in their hands but which was not (it was only avai'able) Upon repairing the streets of Arrowtown. This nnnonncerr.ent by the ncll-man (boy I mean) made people open their eyes, and they rushed in large numbers to the Library-hal', at the we’come dec’arod intelligence that this body had become resurrected, dug from the grave as it w-re by the “local horgan. The Committee appear none the worse for their immurement, they have entered upon their wn;k with renewed vigor, and the improvements so long needed, go on at once. Burying is good for many things. Mother earth is a cr-at restorer. Various ohjoctiouab’emen and things might be placed under the soil with advantage, provide 1 they couhl bo raised no again better than they were 1 cfore. The next time the Arrowtown Improvement Comraithe is buried we hope to rise th-m up again in the form of a Mayor and Town Council. That is the only body that will do ua good The state of the roads, streets, and approaches to tho town are. as every traveller well knows, much about the same as they were six years ago, while, io some places, all that nature provided, remains still At the present moment yon cannot approach Arrowtown with any degree of comfort or safe'y. Tha work of in .TO'aLir egress is beset with steep and danger* ous hills, while outside its boundaries tho dust is positively blinding, especially in tho direction of tho Kawarau, this is the summer programme, in tho winter it is mud-impassable mud—while, to add to onr dilemma, the road to Morvcn Ferry is in danger of being cut off altogether, by cockatoos fencing in tho only available track tor vehicles. fin Saturday aftemo.,n a most serious acciden 1 happens 1 to Mr. M. J. Mallighan. rike respoote 1M ay or of Q ae jus town, whereby ,

he sust 'lined a compound fracture of the leg. Mr. accompanied by three of the younger branches of his family, and Mr. Ross, manager of the Bank of New Zea’aud, was returning from Frankton in a buggy, when the horse shied at a waggon and precipitated the bugey and its occupantsdown asleep bank but who were happily prevented going into Lake Wakatip by the intervention of a friendly fence. None of the othrr occupants of the bnggy w p r« hurt. Many i f your readers, old Victorian miners, to whom Mr. Mallagban is wellknown will be sorry to bear of tbismishapon the same afterneon, a lad named Colville, residim; at Lake Ilayes, foil off the top of a drav laden with sheaves of wheat, and sustained a severe concussion on the back of the head, and for some time his life was despaired of. Since the New Year accidents have been as plentiful as blackbarrier in the Wakatip, our readers would almost imagine that some “ Pharaoh ’ had taken up his abode among us.