THE LAKES DISTRICT.

Dunstan Times, Issue 587, 18 July 1873, Page 2

THE LAKES DISTRICT.

—o— our correspondent.) Aurowtown, July 15. Tlie Arrow District Mining Association held their usual annual meeting in the j Library Hall on Saturday evening last: i Mr. John A. Miller, the President of the 1 Association, occupied the chair. i The accustomed yearly statement having i been read, everything was deemed to be : satisfactory, excepting the financial affairs, i which showed a balance of 95/. on the i s rung side of the ledger, together with a ■ falling oil’ in subscriptions to the amount i of one-half. This might bo accounted for not so much from the apathy of the miners, ; but from the want of a proper organisation \ in the system of collecting; and, at the ( same time, the annual subscription of mem- . hers (half-a-crown) is much too low. A ] sum of ten shillings would be little enough, , anil if miners cannot pay this for looking j after their interests, they itic certainly not j worth looking after. ' The formalities of the evening having ( been gone through by the retiring members t and officers of Committee placing themselves r in their constituents, hands Mr. H. J. Cope e was elected to the chair, when the real 1 business of the evening commenced. 1 The candidates for the Presidentship were * Mr. John A. Miller, Mr. Louis Harris, and ( Mr. Robert Clarke (the member for the * district). A ballot having been taken, Mr. Louis Harris was returned by a considerable ' majority. Mr. Clarke would have un- 1 doubtcdly been returned, but it transpired * that ho was not likely to bo able to pro- * perly fulfil the [duties of the office, having plenty of other matters to attend to ;so ho ( was let off, his mining colleagues having come to the conclusion of the impolicy of ] “ riding a willing horse to death.” Mr. ' Whelan was elected to the Secretaryship, * and other gentlemen, whose names I can- * not remember, officers of Committee. 1 Several subjects of local importance came ' under discussion ; that of a grant of five ( hundred acres of land on the Crown Ter- [ race, for the Library. A motion was 1 unanimously carried that the selection be 1 made on Messrs. Boycs Brothers’ run, ’in lieu of the Crown Terraco. 1 The meeting did not separate till after I midnight. ( 1 The Arrow River Water Race Company J received a portion of their subsidy from the Government on Thursday last. Hungry * storekeepers, butchers, and bakers came c down upon them like carion crows arc wont 1 to do when a poor bullock toiling upon the plains of Australia gives up the ghost. * There was, however, no necessity for this, ' as those members of the Company who * owed little “ tucker bills”-distributed unto * each a fair proportion, with promises to pay 1 the remainder when the balance of subsidy * came. This appeared to give satisfaction ; ( but 1 hope the members of the Company ' will no more have occasion to run up long * scores in the books of the tradesmen. To * do the business people of the Arrow credit, f they are usually pretty liberal, and they cannot be blamed if they look out sharp 1 for payment when the proper time arrives. At the same time the system of long credits 1 on the gold fields is objectionable, as it 1 places the really bona-fide working man at ’ a disadvantage, the schemer and less in- j dustrious having an equal start, which is ] not fair, I