WAYSIDE MUSINGS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 746, 4 August 1876, Page 3

WAYSIDE MUSINGS.

Have you ever been to Speargrass Flat, or Bald Hill?—for like all other places in New Zealand, this locality also rejoices in a redundancy of names, which has the natural effect of producing a delightful feeling of doubt and perplexity as to whether your letters will be safely delivered when addressed to this quarter. Well, my friend, touching my first question, from which I find myself wandering, if you have not accept my assurance that it is the coldest, clammiest place in all the country round; even on a summer’s day the air has a chilling effect, and a feeling of depression insensibly steals over one on approaching it : hut now, at this season, its aspect is truly Siberian, the towering mountain range which hems in Uie valley being covered with a vast winding sheet of snow, which reaches far down to the base of its slopes; while the “ Old Man ” himself stands gauntly erect, black and grim, keeping for ever his solitary watch upon all around, as if guarding nature while she takes her periodic nap, slumbering in the icy stillness of simulated death. Thus mused 1, until the friendly roof and ornamented gables of the Cape Broom Hotel came in view, when cheered at the sight I shook off these fancies, for 1 knew that the cup which cheers and inebriates would soon be mine, This expectation was certainly realized; but, a’as, I felt no better, for the individual that served me was possessed of a most lugubrious \ untenance ; he eyed me in a frozen stony w’ay, that had a most depressing effect, and the glass that should have been accompanied with a hearty welcome was handed to me with a tearful melancholy that quite robbed it of all pleasure. I sighed involuntarily ; he responded naturally with a world of sighs. 1 said to myself, this will never do ; I can see that the shadow of the “ Old Man ” is upon him, and in' a moment more I was in the saddle, feeling at every stride my heart petting lighter, and my breathing easier. by do not the licensing laws—so stringent in all other respects—enact that none but men of the Piilstaff typo shall receive licenses ? 1 would not give a license to any man unless ho had a pleasant cheerful face, w sort of guarantee for the goodness of his liquors and the' fatness of his larder. Skating is the chief amusement that holds sway amongst us at present, and never had the votaries of this delightful art better opportunities for indulging in the pastime, for it is agreed this has been the severest winter experienced. A friend of mine informed me that ho has been enabled to skate for thirty-one days continuously; and the rule heretofore has been that a week is the most that can bo accomplished ; and therefore, Neophytes have had hut little chance in past seasons of learning, no matter how high their enthusiasm, and the consequence has been that Young New Zealand was obto look placidly on., whilst those who had acquired the art at Home skimmed the frozen surface, darting , hither and thither with all those graceful movements known to the accomplished skater. But this season has induced numbers to risk their precious persons on the ice, and any day this momh past, a number of young “ Old Boys” might have been seen struggling manfully and scarcely gracefully, on Mr MTherson’s dam. Even I became infected with the desire to shine in this accomplishment, procured a pair of skates, and confidently made all preparations for a signal triumph. It seemed to me so easy that I could not tin.

flerstand why eUohA' fust was made about tuch a simple tiling f and .all, the nonsense I have heard Qgtsulh /edge and the mmth),pd^e t me as preposterous. I sal; for a few minutes looking on taking inental notes and watching-carefully the Cqsywfiyiiv which t}iCl' skaters moved; and £hile I was strapping on.the skates laughed 1 myqqlf: >ak tho I would create at my, qqicki, proficiency. I got on the ice, when suddenly:*— * To this moment ’I I km’ unconscious of the method. All I know-it| that home 1 other person’s legs, and tome othbP'’pe^ba’s could not have been mine—shot qui) in different direcbecame involved; in some marvellous Confused entanglement; ''and i-without any preliminary iutrbilufc’tiin lj |buijd myself engaged in an ustronomioal -problem, scanning the Heavens, plotting .-out the Southern Cross ahd MilkjMWay, and wondering how it was that the stars should bp so plainly visible before the sun kafi set.; In these Newtonian reflections I , was rudely interrupted by some one asking meif I was hurt. I was hurt .by the question, andwent home. I have not been on the ice since,.

Is it, not- remarkable , that wherever a selcction'-is ! made ■’ for' agricultural purposes that that is the very spbt'which is claimed |o be teeming , yvith ; auriferous deposits. The land fori years may remain . unnoticed and untouched in all its pristine virginity; but, yet P Venture ta.sayj let hilt an application be made fo convert it from a howling waste into a waving cornfield and a happy homestead—when, enough !—opposition at once is made,- on the ground that the previous metal is enclosed within tho confines (|f the land marked out for agricultural purposes. The Fates have ordained, tor some unknown purpose, l that’ the'interests of mining and agricnltiire; shall not go hand in hand, but rather that they shall battle in a sort of internecine warfare with an animosity terminating only, in the death of one dr the other.. We have now thrust upon us this Wai Keri Keri business. Settled upon in January, 1864, it was the first land occupied in the, D.tfnfctan district under the agricultural lease system, and ; therefore, for years the only cultivation we could boast of was this pleasant valley, where a few men had endeavored to create their homes in the land of .their- adoption ; and now, on the termination of their leases by the effluxion of time, naturally they seek to secure the land as freehold property. Bnt.no, the spirit.of contrariness steps in, and says you shall not : the land is auriferous. Meetings are held ; Government is interviewed by special’ deputations; ahd every possible effort-is made to prevent a few acres of land being occupied hybond fde settlers. If this is the system by which a young country can become a'narion prosperous and happy, then teach me the way in which it is to be accomplished, for,of a verity I fail to see the modus operandi. Now, the fact is—and I say -it deferentially—thit a too' paternal Government has so petted and caressed its mining population with special legislation and all sorts (if-1 concessions that 1 no other interest can be entertained but theirs. Aspirants for political honors have so bedazed our miners with inflated importance that, in short, it is,heresy not to conceive that the whole country is theirs, and that no other interest or undertaking can stand beside it and live. The time has arrived for the abandonment of these ideas, and for the establishment of a more healthy frame of government, The, airy , vaporings of a few garrulous individuals should not be taken as the opinion of tho whole body of the people ; but our riders should act with firmness and decision, looking not to the prejudiced interests of the few, but to the interests of generations yet to come. 1 T'l/

A public lecture on Tuesday night,’ followed by a long diluted Concert and Dance on the following evening is coming it rather too fast for one’s weak nerves and pocket. What means this rampant cohvivialty ? Is it to be taken as a symptom of the decline and fall of Cl do that, like ancient Rome our fair city of the plain, feeling a prescient knowledge of her impending fate, recklessly launches, herself into the modern orgies of lectures and concerts, and amidst a flourish of trumpets perish“ 3 in the Insolvent Court ? Arouse ye, my fellow citizens, from such wanton licentiousness ! and- let its, while there is yet time, hasten hack to our normal state of placidity and peace. i out Moiius.