NASEBY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 683, 21 May 1875, Page 2

NASEBY.

—o—(FROM CPU OWN CORRESPONDENT. May 17th. The meeting I apprised yon of in my last, took place in the Town Hall, on tho evening proposed (Tuesday). There wore from sixty to seventy persons present. Tho object of tho meeting was stated, viz., to form a company with 5000 shares, at LI each, to prospect for the deep leads supposed to exist near Naseby. A number of names of persons willing to bear a part of the expenses, should tho company fail, were taken. A share list was then opened, and 825 shares were instantly subscribed for, and since then the list has extended to over 1000. A Provisional Committee wore appointed, consisting of twenty experienced gentlemen. Tho Committee has since held meetings to arrange preliminaries, write to Government as to subsidy, &c. It was anticipated there would have been more concerning deep leads in the Report by Mr Ulrich than there is. But, as the introduction to the report shows, he was instructed by the Government to confine his examinations chiefly to quartz reefs. Captain Hutton, in the notification of his geological report, seems of opinion that deep leads do not exist in any number. However, wo have practical assurance that they do exist, and our Company will go a-head. A distressing case of suicide occurred at Macraes, in this district, on Thursday night last. Mr Hammond, a storekeeper of that town, went out on Thursday in depressed spirits, and not returning in the evening a search was made, and his hat and pipe were discovered near a water-hole. It was conjectured that he had drowned himself in the hole, and on search being made the body was discovered with a 241b weight tied round the neck. Pecuniary difficulties are ascribed to being the cause of this act. The coroner left yesterday to hold an inquest. It is a noticeable fact that if one suicide occurs another follows, until there are three or four shortly after one another. There have been four now within a month. I wonder if the Athenaeum Committee are going to hold any more meetings. It was about this time last year that the annual meeting was held. No monthly meeting has been convened for months past, and it seems doubtful, in the absence of any notification, whether the Committee intend to convene the annual meeting. If this Committee remain in office, and kill the Institution by mismanagement (as they evidently intend to), it will be a circumstance much to be deplored. No doubt a great many of the subscribers were to blame in not attending the last annual meeting, and appoint a Committee that would fill the offices creditably in which they Were placed ; but one would think the more honorable course for this Committee to have pursued would have been to work the more unwearyingly because of the apathy of the subscribers, and make the institution a success. By so doing they would have had a good annual meeting, been relieved of their charge, and received tho unanimous thanks of the community. If the time for the annual meeting has arrived, 1 hope they will call tho subscribers together and let them have a voice in tho matter, whether to close tho Athenaeum or appoint a more workable Committee. People are talking about it a good deal. Great surprise was expressed here at tho decision in tho Maerewhenua River pollution case. It really means the discontinuance of mining, if the squatters choose to wash their sheep below workings. Dozens of actions can thus be brought against mining Companies. The only way to pay tho squatters out (unless the law is altered) is to live below the site of sheep-wash, and sue the squatters for pollution. One would imagine that it was far worse to have tho water polluted by arsenic and the washings of sheep than to have it dirtied by the discharges from a tail-race. We have our share of bridges allotted to us in this years’ estimates, two or three being over the Kyeburn Creek at different places, one over the Manuherikia, and one over the main tail-race crossing the road into this place. Our people are highly delighted, and will be more so if all that is * promised by the Government is accomplished. Writing of “ old identities,” 1 may mention the departure from this district of Mr John Bremner some weeks ago ; and on Friday week of Mr James Thomson, both storekeepers of this town. Mr E, T. George also advertises his well-known hotel for sale, purposing shortly to leave the district. Mr Bremner was always to the fore when anything for the welfare of the district was on tho tapis, and it is intended to present him with somo substantial of respect and esteem, evoked from the inhabitants of the district. Of course it would’nt do to give all leaving the district a testimonial, it would appear too much like offering a premium for doing so. The weather is still remaining favorable, and mining operations are kept up with spirit. Rain continnally falls. The Hon, Sec. of the Athenaeum has written to you to refute statements in my report re that Institution, appearing in your issue of the 7th inst. I maintain that up to the time of writing the paragraph tho Athenaeum was in a disreputable state. On entering the porch you would see Chambers’ Book of Days on a chair, with the Otago Witness on the floor beside it ; and oftentimes more papers in a corner. In tho Reading Room you might find a part of tho Illustrated New Zealand Herald in tho middle of Harper’s Weekly, and so forth. On the table you would see papers piled ono upon another in disgraceful confusion. On tho back of one of the forms the Guardian, Ddnstan Times, Tuapeka Times, and other papers were to bo found, as if hung out to dry. Some subscribers one Sunday afternoon took advantage of the lax management to sit in the porch and stick their legs out of the windows, displaying to passers-by the soles of Hjorriug’s best made elastic sides. Since the appearance of the para-

graph in question in your columns, and tho writing of a suggestion in the hook kept for tho use of tho subscribers in the Athenaeum, tho order has been better. I did not write the suggestion, nor did I know it was written until I heard a subscriber casually mention it to another ; it is as follows : “ I would suggest that the papers in this room bo kept in better order. At tho present time they are not filed or sewn together, but lie about anywhere— a leaf here, and a leaf there—in fact, a perfect disgrace to tho management of the Athenaeum.” To all of my statements 1 strictly adhere, with the exception of the Secretary being a salaried officer, which I gladly retract, finding I was in error. I leave it to tho subscribers whether I was right or not. With respect to Mr George’s statement of being a frequent visitor, I may say that I am a frequenter of the Athenaeum, visiting it always three or four times a week at different hours. I have seen Mr George there on two occasions only during a period of some ton months, for which time I have been a subscriber ; and it is strange if he is what he states, that I have not seen him oftoner. As to suggestions, I would refer the Sec. to the address of Mr H. W. Robinson, at the opening of the Athenaeum. With regard to being “a lazy penny-a-liner,” I may add that I work for eight hours a day six days of the week, so I don’t see how the “llazy ” applies. I am very sorry to informalr George that 1 don’t get os much as Id a line. “Mud-throwing ”is generally considered the resort of a fool. If Mr George favors you with anything further f shall rest satisfied with this lengthy paragraph, and not take any further notice.