NEVIS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1105, 6 July 1883, Page 3

NEVIS.

[OoM.UUNTC.VTED ] Winter has set in with its usual severity after a long spell of fine weather. Last Monday snow tell to the depth of twelve inches on the 11 it, while on the high ranges it was very heavy. The miners anticipating bad weather, fortunately haveall washed up. ami hearing no complaints it is to be conclud'd all are satisfied with the result of the pust summers work. A largely attended meeting was held here on the 26 .hj nil , for the purpose of asking the Governrnent for a some of money for the construction of a road from here to one or other of the railway stations on the Invercargill to Kingston line. It was advanced in favor of the request, the very large amount of revenue that had in times past been derived from the district, and the very considerable increase of revenue that would take place if direct communication was opened with the railway at its neaiest point, whereby timber and other necessaries could be landed on the ground at something like a reasonable rate. It was pointed out that to get goods and pi ovisious from Cromwell, the cost of carriage was £4 per ton over and above what it cost to get it there, a tax that was virtually driving the people away, whereas if a road as proposed was constructed, goods could he landed direct from either Dunedin or 1 nveroargili for less than the £4. Appeal after appeal has been made to the Vincent County Council for assistance in the direction indicated, but some excuse or other lias ever been advanced against it ; hut really nothing else was to ho expected, as the Nevis has for many years been a veritable milch cow to Cromwell, and it was hardly to bo expected while three ot the Cromwell townsmen held seats in the County Council they would by any act of theirs out the painter. Tuere is but little doubt that if the road were made, the commercial relations between Nevis and Cromwell would he at an end ; hut, admitting such to he the case, that is no reason why, for the sake of a few hundred pounds, the mining industry hero which positively is hut in its infancy, there being no limit to deep ground that would pay handsomely to work if but the necessary timber could he obtained at a reasonable price, and which the road would ensure as it would cut through a magnifieient bush. Our member, Mr Fergus, is spoken very highly of in certain quarters, I do not intend to extol him to the skies before 1 know if he is deserving. A deputation from here waited on him at the Bannockburn and talked to him about the road and other ■ of our little wants, when he promised to give each matter his earnest attention. For old acquaintance sake, onr old friend Vincent P. ke might put hia shoulder to our wheel of progress and give a hoist, and 1 think he would if you can manage to draw his attention to this letter. There is really no news here since the mines have been knocked off, the most of the miners are tackling bunny, and though that pest is not anything like so numerous as of yore, still they are in sufficient numbers to provide pood sport, and moreover to put a good few pounds into the pockets of the hunters. Fur and hides just now aie fetching good (fair) money, but I much question if as much is given as they are worth, the

j skins up here sro far weightier than are the low country ones ; hut from what I am told the price given is just the same. ( And so 1 see the Councillor’s, as a means ] of Bottling the Chairmanship difficulty, have ( taken the unheard of ionise of resigning. They might as well have kept their seats, as from what 1 can see of it, moat, if not all, will be again returned, and there is l ut little chance of one in either North or Sou'h giving way, the only true solution -of the difficulty was the reinstating of the Nevis Biding, and I know you know if one of you Southern men had come up and courted our suffrages, at the same time promising every support to the road, you would have gone in with flying colors. Yon may talk about the mistakes that have from time to time made by the individual members of the Council, but all sink into insignificance in comparison with the enormous folly of tailing our identity away fiom us ; the idea, doubtless, was to weaken the hands of the Northern party. It was a wretched mistake, and strange to say produced what did not previously exist, viz., partv feeling with its concomitant prejudices. You wid remember that Mr Maekellar was the first Councillor for the combined riding, and almost the first word ho uttered, or r.vher, (his first sentence) was. “that his pm ty were prepared &c.” Well it is no use lining over spilt milk, but it was really a frightful blunder, and one that will ever be remembered in Vincent County. To it I can trace the subdivision of the electorate, which Cromwell will yet find out is a mistake, and it deprived the country side of the services of a man who was ever to be found in the foremost rank of progress