WAYSIDE MUSINGS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 751, 8 September 1876, Page 2

WAYSIDE MUSINGS.

‘; i J, J; Fathers of families, mothers, andtnoWiers-■in-law, lot not your faces become blanched, or your lips pallid at the rumors now In Circulation of Avar being imminent between England and Russia, for have wo not a rampart close at hand that will safely hedge us around in the hour of ■peril and ddng«r, behind whose shield we can - bid defiance ’to any enemy? What said the Inspecting Commander the “galliant Capting ” Mackay (a veteran dt a hundred fights) the other day, in his report on the Cromwell Volunteers? “ that there was not a better drilled corps out of Dunedin,” nor a finer body of men, although they had been only a few weeks in existence. When the Bannockburn contingent beedtaes incorporated with the Cromwell tire-eaters, what an army will we then have to gladden onr hearts and feast our eyes upon ! ““ HeaVings l” what carnage will ensue if any foreign foe should be rash enough to invade these shores, and advance upon our treasures here 1 Why, the bloody field of “ Shenandoah,” or that of ancient “ Marathon ” would be nothing in comparison, as every back premise, underground cellar, and lumber loft would become a citadel in which one of those noble defenders would be found lurking, ready for the fray, but not eager to precipitate it Will no one, mercifully, for the sake of humanity, warn Europe of the fate that inevitably awaits invaders here ? I think I shall muse with the editor of the Dunstan Times to send a cablegram; he is just the sort of soft hearted foolof-a-man that would be reckless of expense in the hope of stoppiig the wholesale bloodshed that would ensue in the event of so dreadful an encounter as the one thought of. I shudderingly close my eyes, and will think no more “ on’t.”

Will no one patronize the Athenteum Have the blandishments of the pleasant fiie and agreeable lights no effect that ye will not participate in the comforts so invitingly offered ; and, last of all, has literature lost its charms that ye will not stoop to drink thereof? If naught of these will move ye, think of the fate of the poor librarian, doomed do sit and keep his lonely watch on public nights with no one near to cheer him. How is he to squander those dull hours in his melancholy vigil. Were it not for his trumpet, which I heard him tootling the other night as I passed, he would be a candidate for the “ As3’lum.‘’ Lotus save him from so dreadful a contingency, and resume once more the habits of earlier and happier times.

Could the calculation be made, I feel safe in averring that every blade of grass, and every stalk of oats grown or reared in the Wai 'Keri Keri Valley must have cost the Government a coin of the realm. The whole area of this fertile though unhappy speck in the surrounding wilderness does not exceed about three square miles ; and, yet what a turbulent career has the faithful historian to chronicle since the dawn of its existence. Snarled about and fought over, the subject of eternal correspondence, bringing into play the worst passions of mankind—malice, hatred, envy, and jealousy—so has it been till this day. Is it not written on the official records ; and does not each successive Warden and Goldfields Secretary bear an impress of Us wretched story on their hearts, where, after death has claimed them as its own, will not the words “WiaKeri Keri ” be found engraven thereon ? It is the Schleswig-Holstein of Otago. And nr w the (piestion of compensation is agitating Government, eviction having been determined upon ; so that once more the geni of the desert are to step in and resume their swav over this little nasis rescued by the labor of a few pioneers, who have done at their own cost what the great immigration scheme, with all its costly expenditure has, in a great measure, failed to accomplish. How are these men to be compensated ? It is to be hoped that in weighing their claims in the balance of justice the mere assessment of intrinsic property will not influence arbitrators ; but that due consideration will be given to the fact of homes being broken up, the sacrifices entailed thereby, and the difficulties insuperable from the quest of new ones. All these matters should be carefully considered, and judgment given accordingly.

The Lake Ohati murder, like the one of Miller's Flat Celebrity, seems to have - baffled the vigilance of the Police, despite their strenuous'exertions to run the offender to earth. Hotv can we account for this ? for at first sight it seems almost a physical impossibility that any one could escape in this Province, where there is no hiish, no open country, nor atiy means of sustaining li r e without recourse to settled localities. In travelling one is confined to main-roads, bridges, and punts, added to this our system of telegraphic communication is uni .airsal, no place being too remote for its electric messages. Musing on this, it has occurred to me that manv individuals escape through the blundering description given as to their personal appearances. Indeed, I have met with but few members of the “Force ” who are capable of accurately describing “ one that is wantedand I am not altogether surprised at this, because it is an art in itself, and one that is not sufficiently studied and valued. A good word painting is a faithful photograph, and may he received as such. The other day the Police were scouring Ihe country in every direction, from Lawrence to Clyde, in search of a man supposed to be the murderer Martin Cunning, ham, who was eventually tracked to Blacks or Dryhread, and when found proved to he as much like Cunningham's description as my grandmother, poor soul, who rests in peace many thousands of miles from hero. 1 Twelve months have now nearly elapsed since the commission of this crime, and we arc as far off as over from the thread of this terrible story. Is it not possible that in the fearful struggle that evidently took place in the boat, that Cunningham may have fallen overboard, and tha deep waters of the Lake

Ohau, while avenging the crime, may have concealed for ever the author of the tragedy. There is a revival movement afloat in this 'Omntry ; and in a neighboring town a sturdy honest Cornishman—whom we will call for the "nonce "John Trecothick”—given somewhat, previously, in his conversation to profuse adjjeotivc cxplotives, more forcible than "illigant." Well, lately he has dropped all this sinfulne o 8, and taken to speaking at meetings:; and, 'the rither evening, while so engaged, ho was interrupted several times. He twice paused and 'mildly expostulated with the unknown offending'individual, but apparently without avail. A third time ho paused, and on'this‘Occasion discovered tho delinquent to be none other ‘tfhrtti 'his own son. In his wrath—forgetting that he had put away, more than a fortnight ago, tho "Old Adam”—ho thus addressed John Junior: " Look y’ here, Jack-, it thou does’nt stop thy infernal clatter, t’l'l wring thy by head off.” Momus.