ARROWTOWN.

Dunstan Times, Issue 720, 4 February 1876, Page 3

ARROWTOWN.

—o—(from our correspondent.) Harvest operations have now begun in earnest, and I never saw the crops look so better or the yield so heavy. The wheat this year is splendid and we should be able to send you flour this season quite equal to Adelaide. The fruit harvest is not so satisfactory ; excepting plums the gardens make a poor show, the long, cold winter proving very disastrous amongst the orchards. The volunteer movement still continues to be as attractive as ever, and now that our men have firearms placed in their hands the exercise is not only amusing but very instructive. The younger portion of the population should go into it heart and soul, it is not only what they may leam in the shape of how to defend themselves and their country if called upon, but to acquire the habits of discipline and obedience as well as to act in consort with others, will prove most valuable in after life. Mr J. F. acklin, our drill-instructor from Queenstown, is exceedingly well up in his duties, and it was astonishing to see the evolutions he put the company through on Saturday evening last, with scarcely any previous preparation. Under such tuition as this the Arrow Volunteers cannot help proving a great success. It is a well-known fact, all the world over, that good officers make good men. I would strongly advise your people at the Dunstan to adopt the volunteer movement. The mining companies on the flat have i; b commenced pumping operations yet, Mt will, however, bo able to do so in the ■course of a very few days. Everything is now in their favor for a prosperous start, and it is almost a sin to see the fine weather passing away and nothing being done. QUEENSTOWN. -—O (from our correspondent.) The death of Mr J. W. Robertson leaves a void which will not be readily filled up again, and I think I may, with much truth, say that in losing him Queenstown and the Wakatip district in general suffers a very severe loss. Large-minded public spirited men are not to be found every day, their counsels are always valuable and welcome, and when such are missed from their accustomed place it takes a long while to accommodate one’s self to the loss. The life of Mr J. W. Robertson is almost a history in itself. He was only fifty years of age when he died, was born at St John’s, New Brunswick, British North America, whence he went to California, thence to New South Wales and Victoria, residing in the Ballarat district. From Bullarook Forest, where he was engaged saw-milling, he came to Otago soon after the opening of Gabriel’s Gully, from whence he found his way to the Wakatip, settling down at Queenstown as a carpenter in the very early days of its formation. Mr Robertson, in company with some seven others, the brothers M‘Bride, and Messrs Hicks, Patterson, and Whitbourne, commenced their present saw-mill at Lake Wakatip, which, with numerous improvements added, they have carried on ever since. They also are owners of the Antrim steamer ; own half an interest in the Brunswick Flour Mills, Frankton, besides numerous jetties, wharves, and goods’ sheds on the shores of Lake Wakatip. Their premises at Kingston being upon an extensive scale and especially constructed to meet the large traffic in goods and passengers which the opening of the railway will necessitate. They also own several large farms at Frankton. As a rule, Messrs J. W. Robertson and Co have adopted the principle of anticipating events rather than permitting events to overtake them. One of their latest ventures has been the construction of a wharf and jetty at Kinloch, at the head of Lake Wakatip, connecting the jetty with a tramway nearly three miles in length, penetrating right into the heart of the dense forest there. Mr Robertson j was a man of very large ideas, and in / liberal-mindedness possessed no equal in ' the district; he was always at the head of every measure designed for the public benefit, and his ready assistance either in person or in pocket was ungrudgingly bestowed, in fact, to his liberality and farsightedness the Wakatip district owes much ■of its present prosperity. Many a farmer attributes the possession of his comfortable home to him, and there is no mistake about it that he has given numbers of prosperous settlers their first start in life. The miners he also largely befriended, many a hard delver in the soil was able to obtain timber from him to secure his claim or erect diming, or a dwelling place with, when, lacking his assistance, he would have possessed neither one nor the other, and had Mr Robertson only been permitted to have his own way, and not have been interfered ■with by a parcel of obstructionists, Queens ■ stown would have been able to boast .amongst its local industries of a cloth mill, and extensive planing, sawing, and morticing machinery, enabling us to produce on the spot many articles we now send away to Dunedin for, as well as turn our many colored and beautiful native woods to good and profitable account. Mr Robertson was the first Mayor of Queenstown, and with the assistance of Mr Henry Manders, ns Town Clerk, occupied that position for three consecutive years, realising as it were the enviable position of a New Zealand Whittington, so well was ho respected by the citizens of the Lake City. His Mayoral reign was a great success, in fact, almost all that w T e see in the shape of improvements was effected during the term of his office, and notwithstanding all thr t he accomplished he left the Town free from debt. Since Mr Robertson left office the quality of our Mayors appears to have suffered a gradual decade, or somehow or another they seems to have become less efficient. The cause of death is attributed to what is known as Bright’s disease, an affection of the liver and kidneys, brought on possibly through cold or exposure during his early years. He expired rather suddenly although not unexpectedly.

Tno Municipal balance shoot for the six months ending 31st December last appears in the Wakatip Mail—it shows the state of our civid affairs to bo in a by no means satisfactory position. The expenditure is set down at L 282 10 2, out of which sura only Ll9 15 6 has been expended upon public improvements and repairs in connection with the streets of the Town. To expend this little sum, L 36 0 4 (has been expended in salaries ; I/i 4 0 in elections ; Ll4 8 0 in law costs ; Ll7 4 0 in printing ; L 5 I 0 in sundries ; L 9 7 4 in interest; Trout, L2 ; Arbitration foes, Water-works, LI 7, and LI 55 10 0, Engineer’s commission, brings up theJSamount. The overdraft at the Bank is represented) as L2lO 15 11. But this is not all, our model Civic functionaries have plunged us L2OOO into debt for the purchase of the water rights and privilegos of the late Mr J. W. Eobeitson, At first the amount was LI7OO, the being made up in interest and law costs, while to discharge this liability the Corporation are endeavoring to float debentures. This matter is not shown in the Balance Sheet at all, the Corporation contenting themselves to hoodwink the ratepayers by charging the liability to Loan authorised by the Governmentlfor construction of Waterworks, but no money is forthcoming as yet on this account. The'total receipts for the year are given as L 920 15 s,’’ out of which L 46 3 10 goes for streets, and L 34 1 0 for purchase of Section for widening a street ; LlO2 10 0 goes for salaries ; L 43 1 3 for printing, (lucky newspaper, the Wakatip Mail); and L 57 3 10, legal expenses—L37s 19 9is however brought forward as overdraft on previous year. This is the way they manage things at Queenstown, and is it not a very promising state of affairs for the ratepayers ? Several of ray|friends tell me theyjrshall decline (paying any more taxes. DUNEDIN. —o—(prom our correspondent.) January 30, 1876. The Elections being'near’[over, and the Cook Strait’s Cable having been caught at last, there has[been[nothing of importance to exercise the public mind, hence a general dulness hasjbeen prevailing. Ex M.H.R’s, and what may be called defunct M. P. C’s are as plentiful as gooseberries —1 dropped on a patch in Princesstreet consoling one another (on the situation no doubt, and possibly regretting that they had played their Abolition cards so badly that, they had been euchred by their several constituencies who had doled out retributive justice and [consigned them to their political graves, but [I suppose we must be charitable and say requiescat in pace. We frequently see paragraphs in the papers detailing the troubles and trials of that wonderful biped the Cockatoo, setting forth the[treatment some of the new chums are wont to regale them with, the lament is trulyfawful, (and the ingratitude of the employe ought to be sufficient to make the whole tribe bow their gaudy top feathers. Only fancy a new chum turning up his nose at a beautiful kind of hybrid, between a pigstye and a cowshed to ■ sleep in, and rations supplied after the[forecastle fashion of twenty years ago, and an occasional nip of rum that is in most cases warranted to kill at forty yards, added to this, the sum of eight shillings a day, commencing at sun-rise and terminating at dark. Mr Campbell, late of the firm of Calvert and Campbell, who, some months since, disappeared with the suddenness of a meteor, though it is said traces of his previous course were visible, has coma to grief. After a short sojourn in China he essayed a trip towards the scene of his former operations, and this has been most unceremoniously cut short by the myrmidons of the law, being arrested on a charge of forgery—to wit, altering a cheque from L4l to Ll4l. Mr John Bames, once a councillor, and an aspirant to the honor of the mayoral chair, now Inspector of Works for the City Corporation, was charged before their worships with using naughty language, unfit for ears polite, especially the fair sex, towards a gentleman named Brenohly. He pleaded not guilty, and defended his own case, proving the old axiom that, a man is a fool who is his own lawyer. After a little floundering about he evidently got out of his depth, pleaded guilty, but regretted he had not pulled plaintiff’s - nose, and asked the Bench to make the fine what they liked They fixed it at 40s and costs. As an act of bravado the defendant said he would give another forty shillings to the Benevolent Institution. The fire bell rang out on Friday, the cause being a fire at the stables at the residence of Mr Chaplin, of Cobb and Co, in Maitland-street. The stables, some sets of harness, and a quantity of bats and chaff were destroyed. lam told that some time since the stabling on the same ground was destroyed by fire. The origin of the present fire is unknown. Mrs Kidd, the wife of Mr R. Kidd, late of Cromwell, died on Thursday morning, and was interred in the Southern Cemetery. A number of old residents of the Dunstan district were amongst the followers to the grave.