FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 1875.

Dunstan Times, Issue 672, 5 March 1875, Page 2

FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 1875.

Whatever may be the attractions put forward by the new goldfields at Ohinemuri and the Palmer, we honestly believe that our raining population have a far more promising field of enterprise open to them a t home. All those that have remained in the district, and have kept steadily plodding on, have considerably improved in their circumstances. The amalgamation of mining claims and interests in water-races has produced quite a new system of working, so that we may now say gold mining has been reduced to a system, and may be pursued with as much certainty as tilling the soil, growing wool, or any other employment where Dame Nature exercises a beneficial and directing influence. If we look at the homes of the mining population a vast improvement has taken place in them elutingthe last few years, the small, lowroofed, squat, dingy hut lias given place to the airy, pleasant looking cottage, with its surroundings of a well kept garden, and, as is often times the case, a small paddock, where the year’s supply for the saddle horse, and in some instances the buggy horse, is grown. There will of course be rich finds made at the Palmer, and possibly a lai’ger return may result as the average daily earnings for every miner employed, but the drawbacks of living in a tropical climate are sufficient to set aside any advantage gained Looking upon it in the most favorable light possible, the heat in a climate like that of the Palmer is unfitted for Europeans to labor under, and those that do so, whatever may be their gains, only acquire them at a sacrifice of health and animal, vitality, the loss of which no gold can ever compensate, for. No European can, even if his health is not immediately and perceptably afflicted, remain long there, more especially should he have resided in the cooler portions of New Zealand. He would, as a matter of necessity, be compelled to return again, and when we take into consideration the lost time and expenses of the voyage to and fro, the chances are upon the side that, it would have been better had it never been made. With respect to the rush to Ohinmsuri every resident in Otago knows the value of an Auckland rush, how repeatedly the public mind has been disturbed by reported finds of gold in that Province, and how as oftentimes those delusive expectations have resulted in bitter disappointment. The Auckland people, like our neighbors at Queenstown, are great at the blowing of wind-bags—in both eases there is always far too much cry, torso very little wool. Auckland has tasted the sweets of a large mining population assembled nn the Thames, and consequently with the falling off of the yield of the quartz reefs she is losing them, and to attract them hack again the most glowing accounts of the gold contained in the Ohinemuri country are published by means of exciting telegrams to the Dunedin newspapers, which blazon them forth as the accepted trnth, instead as of very doubtful reliability The Auckland correspondents of the Daily Times and Guardian and Evening Star, the three journals vepresentingthe daily press of Dunedin, are doubtless anxious to attract population from Otago to their favorite Province, and they use these newspapers to further those - ends. Turning to a Wellington telegram we find all the colour de rose stripped from off this Auckland “blowing,” and the plain unvarnished story remains that, a certain miner rejoicing under the sobriquet of “ Long Tom,” of 23 years experience, three years being on the Thames, and a man who was chosen with other delegates by 10,000 miners to report upon the gold bearing capabilities of the Ohinemuri country, declares it to be very unfavorable. This said “ Long Tom,” with other two experienced miners, prospected the country for twelve days, between To Hira’s hut and the Waihce, and discovered absolutely nothing, as only upon one occasion did they succeed in obtaining a fine speck of gold The party tried both alluvial and quartz, but failed in either case, the latter they described as exceedingly hungry looking stone, and from twenty pounds weight of the most promising sort, which they carried home with them and carefully crushed, it did not yield the ghost of the precious metal, Possibly (here

may bo payable gold still at Ohinoruuri, but there is plenty of time to go and search for it.- If the country is as rich as is said to bo, there need be no rush. To all appearances the charm of the Ohinemuri goldfield is, that it is a country which has hitherto been closed by the Maoris against Europeans, upon whom judiciously circulating rumors of its containing gold have acted as a charm, and caused people to believe it to be true, for no other reason than that they wish it so It is very clear to us, especially as Ohinemuri is a wild rugged country, that beforeany great quantity of gold is obtained there, it will require a considerable amount of finding, while if the country is as extensive as represented, experience teaches us that we shall lose nothing by first satisfying ourselves that there is some tiuth in all that we have heard about it; and before making ourselves uncomfortable respecting what may really have no existence, except in the fertile brains of some interested people in Auckland, who desire to increase the value of their properties there, by enticing population from Otago, who should first be assured thatthe promised goldfield is a genuine one, ore they make a move. The prospects of gold mining in the Dunstan district arc decidedly improving, there exists plenty of employment for labor, and those who desire to settle down, taking things as they come, and not t'onbl'ng themselves, further, if wiling to work, can depend upon making a comfortable living, while there still remains ample opportunities of taking advantage of one of those fortuitous circumstances which now and then present themselves to everybody, it only turned to account at tire right moment. The chances of doing well at the Dnnstan are considerably in excess of what might result from a trip to Ohinremttri or the Palmer.

Otna friends at Queenstown have acquired considerable notoriety of late what with exceeding dull times, incendiary fires and a wholesaleclearing out, accompanied with sales by auctions, compulsory and otherwise, the fine district of which we have heard so much about is almost, as the local knight of the hammer would say, going, going, gone. What can he the meaning of all this, we are scarcely able to divine, and can only attribute this unsatisfactory state of affairs to the fact that, from its isolated position together with the want of an infusion of new blood into it, Queenstown has outlived its dav. Great in their own estimation, the public men of Queens town have scarcely heen successful in any of their undertakings entered intoon behalf of the body politic for some long time past, while there exists an almost unheard of want of unanimity of opinion, and judgingfrom the tone of its local newspaper, it may pretty plainly be distinguished that a little clique exists there, who desire everything their own way. Men are like plants, they are better for being shifted ; it is impossible to preserve a garden of choice flowers without exchanging with one’s neighbors, and thus it is with a large proportion of the people of Queenstown. They have lived in that pleasant little place too long, it has become all and all to them, and persuading themselves that they are the people of Otago, other districts of less premise, less natural beauty and resources, as well as inferior means of making them available have left them far in the rear, and the purging out which the district appears to be undergoing promises to provide the only cure for this unsatisfactory state of affairs. The Wakatip Mail of the 2Gth ultimo discloses in its advertising columns a still more unfavorable trait in the regulation and management of matters pertaining to public and private interests. In a column of that paper we perceive that the Lake’s District Building Society, as mortgagees of the property of some poorunfortunate farmer are idealising upon their security, which moans, perhaps, turning an unfortunate hard working man, with his wife and family into the street, whose only fault has been that, he suffered himself to be induced by some wheedling and persuasive storekeeper to grow wheat, when there was no market for It, and whose successful selfishness has made him rich in this world’s goods, while, with his dupe, the industrious tiller of the soil, the more he labored, the . poorer he grew. Would it not have been more wise and politic for the Lake’s Distiict Building Society to have adopted a more Christian proceeding, and have retained their security until more prosperous times, or better fitting opportunity. In another portion of the same paper, we find a person signing himself “Richmond Beetham,” whom we should hope is not the Distviofc Warden and Resident Magistrate, notifying that, “ in consequence of his fruit garden having heen robbed, lie has poisoned with strychnine one piece of fruit on every one of his trees.” While regretting that our Queenstown neighbors suffer equally with ourselves, by thus Ksing their summer dainties, we nevertheless very much deprecate the use of a deadly poison as a preventative for the evil, nor do we think that anyone at Clyde would he so heartless and cruel as to render T. possible that some unthinking little boy or girl should suffer the I frightful contortions of a death by poisoning with strychnine, merely be-

! cause it appropriated to itself an apple, peach, or a plum from a neighbor’s garden. Poisoning by strychnine produces the most horrible of deaths, it causes extreme rigidity or tetanus of the whole muscular system, the body being almost as rigid as an iron bar, and bent like a bow with the heels drawn to the back of the head. Shoidd Mr Richmond Beetham knowingly be the cause of any unfortunate budding man or woman, living at Queenstown, thus parting with its poor little life for a mere childish offence, we only desire to leave him to the quiet solitude of his own reflec tions. It is to be hoped that such a man lias no children oflris own. There is nothing left us now to admire in Queenstown, hut its beautiful scenery and climate, of its moral, social, and political aspect, the less said about it the better. The mineral, pastoral and agricultural resources of the Queenstown District are very considerable, and it is also a place where persons tired of the toils and heat and dust of a life in the down-country goldfields will resort to, to enjoy tire bracing fresh breezes of its magnificent lakes and mountains, and there exists no doubt but that every venr, and especially as the means of travelling become facilitated by railway communication, tourists from Australia will flock there in largely increased numbers. As hitherto the district of Queenstown has made its leading men, but times have changed, and in the new order of things, and the keen competition which is everywhere growing daily, the people of Queens town will be required to learn that it is themselves that must make the district. A happy combination of these two circumstances, together with a little self-sacrifice, will restore to our friends their old wonted prosperity again, leaving them perhaps all the better for a slight scorching.

We regret to learn that Mrs hi. IT. Macandrew, the beloved wife of His Honor the Superintendent, expired at her residence, Macandrew’s Bay, on the 28th ult,, after a long and painful illness. Mr Barnes’ Derby Sweep will, we understand, be drawn shortly. Applications for the few remaining tickets are necessary. It will be seen by our advertising colums that a branch of the Colonial Bank of Hew Zealand has been opened at Cromwell. This to persons transacting banking business—and we feel quite assured that the bank will be liberally patronised—is a very great convenience, as any matters of monetary' importance can be transacted on the spot, without the delay of referring them to Dunedin managers to be dealt with. For a specimen of up-country journalism, commend us to the Arrow Observer of the 27th ultimo. From a perusal of its columns we should imagine that the Editor had never heen to school, or was in a state of “ fog ” when he compiled his reading matter. We hope to see an improvement in the next issue.

Thu spire of the First Church was finally completed on Saturday last. The effect this gives to that magnificent edifice is a commanding one The Church of the good old Dr Burns, is now like the Gospel that he preached, a land mark both on sea and shore.

Mr William Grant, of Cromwell, the contractor for building the new Corporation Bridge, crossing the M olynenx at Clyde, has already commenced operations. A quantity of material is already on the ground, while more is on the way from Dunedin. The workmen are employed preparing and blasting out stone for the foundations of the piers, also, in building dwelling places and workshops. A social dance was held at the Town Hall, Clyde, on Wednesday evening last, when the attendance of the votaries of Terpsichore was very numerous. The hand played some exceedingly well executed dance music, Messrs Wilde and Nettlefold on their favorite instruments the cornet particularly distinguished themselves. The whole of the members are in first-rate training, and a better drilled company of amateur musicians it is impossible to find in the province. The hand is really a credit to any town, and is deserving of a’l the support the inhabitants of Clyde cr.n give it. There was only one case heard in the R.M. Court, Clyde, yesterday. Tt was an information laid by the police against Archibald Blue, proprietor of the Old Bendigo Hotel, for having a drunken man in his house on the night of the 27th nit. Defendant alleged that the man was a lodger, hut did not deny that he avas drunk. The police failing to prove otheavise the ca«e was dismissed. At the same time the Bench cautioned the defendant, who had previously been in Court for a similar offence, that his license might he endangered. Frontages to Melraore Terrace, Gromwell, said by Mr George Fache on behalf of the Corporation of that town, on Friday last, realised very high prices. One section adjoining the town hall brought an annual rental of L2 per foot frontage for a term of 21 years Another section similarly well situated realised 23s per foot frontage for the same period. Other sections, suburban anil otherwise, found purchasers at highly satisfactory prices, although the leases had only fourteen years to run.

We find from tlic Dunedin Share Market report that legal proceedings arc being enforced to compel defaulting shareholders in the Shotover Terrace Company to pay their calls, the non-payment of which has led to the suspension of work at the mine. The same report shows that the Daily Times and Witness Company have declared another dividend of 12.1 per cent. Newspaper property appears to be tiring in the market.

Where is “Timon?” The echoes answer, “Gone!” What, sold out to Mr Pavelitch, of the Dunedin Mnfjjno Store and Piggery Company ? The echoes again answer, “Ho sale could be effected, jokes too old, and tub scarcely sound enough for a “swine home." Is ho gone to America for fresh material? The echoes for the third time answer: Resolved into the “lounging reporter” for the “Twopenny Daily Swaggerer” and “Weekly Sixpenny Muekheap,” taking “Sketches in the Street” under the “Post Office Clock.” In his new billet “ Timon” appears to be getting along pretty comfortable, being evidently more at home moralising than punning. Only one circumstance appears to have disturbed his equanimity of mind, and that was, according to his own account of himself, when a well known Dunedin celebrity, learned in legal loro, suddenly runs up against him, and ho ejaculates, “a bill of costs for some poor devil." This apparition made poor “ Timon’s” heart go “pit-a-pat,” and commiserating his forlorn appearance, he is feelingly taken in charge by some literary Bohemian, enjoying a short respite from the dreary regions of “ old identity land,’’ who duly revives, and comforts him with a liberal potation of the best and strongest decoction of the mountain dews of Gleulevit.

The case of Garrick v. Pyke was concluded in the District Court, Dunedin, on Wednesday last. His Honor, Judge Bathgate reserved his judgment. The report of the case by the Dunedin newspapers is a pretty full one, but in the case of either of them, they appear to give the greatest prominence to those facts which most interest themselves, or which most damaging to their opponents. Thus, when the defendant in one portion of his cross-examination refers to the Daily Times not being quite so dreary as at the time when Mr G. B. Barton was editor, we find it printed in the Guardian and suppressed in the Times, and when witnesses assert that what is known, and, we believs, only to Duneein journalists, as transferring, i.e., pira'ing some one odse’s writing has been resorted to by the Mercury, that of course appsars in the Times. The Evening Star adopts a more middle course, it only persistently sticks up for the truthfulness of its own report?, when assailed by the Guardian reporter. Upon the whole the case of Garrick v. Pyke is highly amusing, while it does not leave the business of journalism in Dunedin enjoying that pleasant sunshiny aspect residents in up-country districts were fainto believe it preserved—a happy, cheerful existence.

A wedding, attended with rather remarkable circumstances, occurred at Queenstown at the early part of the present week. It appears that a well known young lady got up very ' early one morning with the ostensible purpose of gathering mushrooms,' but instead of doing so she found her way to the Registrar’s office, where, together with a certain well known young gentleman, in presence ot a female friend, they entered into the bonds of matrimony. On board the Antrim steamer at C.30 a.m. the next morning they were surprised, by the father of the young lady, whose consent to their union they had forgotten to obtain, and at the bursting out cf whose pent up wrath a scene ensued. Paterfamalias threatened the life of the partner ot her choice, and proceeded to put his resolve into practice when the bride fainted, and peace was only restored by the production of the registrar’s certificate of marriage, whence followed mutual and satisfactory explanations, and a paternal forgiveness—and the harpy couple left in the steamer on their wedding tour to Southland. The distribution of pines male by the Government in the Oamaru district, has proved as unsuccessful as elsewhere, none having grown. The salaries of Legal Managers arc by no means high in the Tokomairiro district. The Bruce Herald says :—“ The Directors of ths Bruce Coal Company have, we lorn appointed Mr William Marshall, Legal Manager, at a salary of LlO a year, the remuneration asked for by himself. A leading director says—“ Damn it, ye ken, the body took it cheap.

We learn from the Mount Ida Chronicle that, —The Marowhenua Pass bridle track is just completed. It is eighteen miles long, five feet broad, and has forty-five culverts in its construction. It has been formed under the supervision of the Provincial district officers. The cost is T. 200, and is an earnest of the future Govern ment outlay in this direction. It has greatly facilitated the means of transport to and fr-m Naseby. We take the following from the Dunedin Guardian :—Mr W. A. Lowe, of Manbuerikia, has sold his interest in the Galloway and Benmore stations to his partner, the Hon. R. Campbell, and both gentlemen are shortly about to pay a visit to the old country. The Guardian says :—“ Wc learn that tho Hon. Robert Campbell has successfully negoeiated a portion of the Oamaru Loan— Mr W. A. Lowe having purchased debentures to the extent of L 20.000, at L9O, bearing intrrest at the rate of 7 per cent. We take it that this is a good bargain for both parties. A Daily Times telegram supplies the following from its Nasaby correspondent : “ Thomas Turnbull, a well-known farmer at Blackstono Hill, died on Friday last. Turnbull and another man named Clyde were fighting tho night before, and it is said, renewed tho fight in tho morning, but before any effectual blows were struck Turnbull dropped down dead (it is conjectured from heart disease.)

Mr Arthur, the Provincial Engineer, will shortly inspect tho Public Works at Nasoby, and lay off the beat lino of railway from Waihemo to Clyde.

Water mams for the supply of Lawrence Lave lieen laid very nearly all through that town. The Town Hall ia fast verging towards completion.

A rather remarkable old woman,. named Margaret M‘Donald, was charged before the Melbourne Bench, the other day, with being drunk and disorderly. She stated to the Bench that she had witnessed the battle of Waterloo, and had been a close spectator of the final charge of the Guards. A man mimed Wm Balsillo at Bendigo, Victoria, for a bet of L7O recently drove his horso 700 miles in fourteen days—at the rate of fifty miles a day between Sandhurst and Newbridge. The horse was as fresh and spirited at the finish as when ho started on his journey. A correspondent in the Evening Star writes A party in Dunedin lost a horse a few days ago, and advertised the same in the Evening Star. [am informed by the owner that the horso called at his place of business yesterday, having tbo Star, with the particular of its being missed, in its mouth.

The Now Zealand Loan and Agency C m pany have determined upon opening a branch of their Agency in Melbourne. The Cady Times says in a local t 1 at Messrs Morton and King, Coachbuilders, of Dunedin, have just constructed by the order of the Corporation, what it pleases the writer to designate as a “hydrostatic van,” which means an iron tank, 7ft long, by 2ft, Ciu in depth, to hold 400 gallons of wa er, placed upon a wooden frame with four wheels, and to lie drawn by one horse. The most wonderful part of the invention being that, a valve placed near the driver’s seat governs the discharge pipe, which distributes the water over an area of 12 feet. As 4.00011)3 of water will weigh 35cwt 2qrs 141b, this increased by an iron tank, and the conductor, artcled to the weight of the four-wheeled vehicle itself, would be a pretty tolerable load for any unfortunate Dunedin horse to drag along the streets of a hilly town, we would suggest that the Mayor and Corporation should lay their heads together to invent a horse to draw it. We desire at the same time to inform the writer of the local that primitive water barrels for watering the streets of London have been dispensed with for nearly half a century.

Mr Richard Lancaster, says the Tuapeka Times, met with a serious buggy accident while descending the Beaumont Hill, towards the Molyneux. Mr Lancaster had one of the small bones of his arm broken, and the buggy was seriously damage I. The same paper says the price of oits is rapid y falling down country—good samples are offering at 2s 6d per bushel at the Teviot. Ihe price at Tokom iiriro is a trifle over 3s.

The Burrangong Argus, N.S.W., states that a person living at a place called Sawpit Gully, has succeeded in dis mvering a beautiful spring of water by means of a “ divining rod.”

Mr-J. P. Armstrong, M.P.C. has been star, iug it amongst his constituents in the Mount Ida district. The extreme originality of his ideas are exceedingly amusing ; healvooates Provincialism against Centralism, and admires the amalgamation of Southland with Otago. Including politics, Mr Armstrong’s other travelling lines at c “ Teeth and Good Templary.” He says, if a better system than Provincialism could bo defined beforehand, he would go in for it. Ho would do away with all State aid to schools ; but, if continued, was a Denomnationalist.

The young woman. Margaret Collins, convicted hy a Coroner’s jury at Toknmairiro for the murder of her infant chi d, has been received into the Dunedin gaol. The young man referred to in tho inqusst as being the father of the chi'd has visited her, and does not deny the parentage. Tho girl is in a very weak condition.

Concrete buildings are all the rage at Palmerston. The Shag River supplies an unlimited supply of shingle highly suitable for this purpose, and which may be had for carting away. The Shag River is said to be swarming with trout, many of the fish being of great size. In one small hole eight were counted,

Gardiner, the once dreaded New South Wales bushranger, if said to bo keeping first class pnblic-bouse in San Francisco, which has been fitted up for him hy a number of persons designated as a “ Ring.” The presence of the redoubtable highway robber, dispensing drinks, is a great draw. This example might perhaps cause some of the youth of the Golden City to emulate the exploits of the worthy host of the establishment.

The Hon. S. D. Hastings, tho representative of the highest Lodge of the Good Templar Order, arrived in Dunedin on Saturday afternoon last overland from Canterbury. In tne evening he attended a Tea Meeting, and delivered an address at the Temperance Hall, when he remarked ho was surprised temperance meetings were not held in this Colony on Sabbath. In the United States tho Sabbath was considered a very appropriate day for tho holding of mootings for tho advancement o the temperance cause. A firebrand Editoress, a Mrs Vincent, wife to tho Editor of the L«amington Chronicle, England, who officiated one day iu hor husband’s absence in February, 1872, claims from her management upon that particular occasion to have been the eause of the revolution of farm laborers, and which so much has benefitted tho condition of these oppressed people, thinks there are serious grounds for fearing that “the English revolution of 1895 may rival in atrocity, as well as in beneficence, that of tho French 100 years oarlior. The border duties are so strictly enforced in Victoria that upon a corpse being brought across tho Murray from Albury to Wo longs, an entry was required to bo passed, and duty paid upon the coffin. Sir George Arney, Chief Justice of New Zealand, may be expected at Clyde shortly oa his way from Nelson to Dunedin, having made the trip, tna the West Coast to the Bluff, thence to tho Lake Wakatip.

MrDargavillo has announced his determination.to contest the Superintendenoy of Auckland with Sir George Grey. A Victorian Engineer resident at Euchuca has invented a syphon funnel by which the exhaust steam from a high pressure engine may be used as a motive power. The invention has been successfully applied on board one of the Murray steamers.