SOUTHLAND.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2164, 13 April 1870, Page 2

SOUTHLAND.

(FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) 9th April, 1870. Things in general have become so duT down here, that really it is nn arduous task to fill a few sheets with readable matter. Fortunately, we have always that fruitful source of remark —verbal or epistolary—the weather, at command, and in Southland, probably more than anywhere else, it forms a moat convenient peg whereon to hang a tale, as it is perpetually changing. Wo did have a week or ton days of “ rattling ” harvest weather, after a prolonged deluge,, which was duly improved by the anxious farmers, so that our stubbles, I may say, are now all bare, and the “golden ears ” safely under thatch. Our soil, it has often been remarked, has a wonderful capacity for rbsorbing water, and it would seem as if the crops grown from it inherited some of its powers in resisting or overcoming the effects of storms, for notwithstanding no end of wind, hail, and rain, the average yield this year is quite up to the mark, and a great deal of the grain is an excellent condition. The root crops are also of fair weight and good quality, but potatoes, especially in damp soils, are largely infected with the disease. In spite of our heavy crops however and moderately easy access to ports of shipment, no great surplus of breadstuffs is

cultivated. Farming does not seem to pay over well. A good many settlers talk of soiling out, and a great many more begin to think their prospects sacrificed to a false political creed—free trade—and to wish for a little legitimate assistance in their struggle with a wild country, in the shape of wholesome protection. Indeed there is a growing disposition to believe that prohibitory duties on certain manufactures of which we possess the raw material in abundance would be the surest means of creating an artisan population, and that any enhancement in the price of articles thereby occasioned would be but temporary, to be speedily followed by a reduction through local competition, and thus achieve two good purposes at once. In mining matters there is absolutely nothing stirring. Orcpuki jogs on in the even tenor of its way, without discovering the hidden treasure believed to exist so largely in its neighborhood. The Lougwood reefs have ceased to ferment excitement. The great water race and sluicing company seems to have washed itself away. Its property has been advertised for sale by tender for a month past, but I don’t hear that any offers have been made. In the event of that method proving abortive in effecting a sale,’ public auction is to be tried, and it is to be hoped the ground may fall into the hands of some spirited persons who will put the matter to the test.

The railway works are still under way, but the line will not be finished nearly so soon as it was expected. As the work pregrasses, it is ever and anon found that things require doing over again which were not dreamt of in the philosophy of either the Government or Messrs Abbott and Co. at the time the contracts were entered into. New rascalities in the original construction are almost daily laid bare. Culverts which ought to have been perfectly sound at the present moment, and should have been service ible for many years to come, are found utterly rotten and useless, and have to be replaced with new material, so that the “ little bill ” likely to be brought in for “ extras” already looms in the distance with threatening aspect. It will be a first-rate line, though, when finished, which it now is for about 13 miles from town, or 33 from the port of Bluff Harbor. In flax mills we are waxing great. New establishments are being constantly added to those already iu operation. By the last trip of the Omeo fiom Melbourne, a newlyorganised firm brought over a fine, powerful engine for works erecting somewhere near Winton, and when all now contemplated are at work, a vast amount of fibre should be turned out weekly. The Harvest Home, now lying at the Bluff, is expected to stow away the balance of our season’s wool, and fill up with some hundreds of bales cf flax, which will be the first direct shipment of the material from this Province,

Tho Provincial Government—by courtesy so called—continues as inactive as ever. In* deed it seems to comprise within its limits a happy mixture of Mark Tapleyanism and Micawberism, which suits it exactly to the times—another instance that with the emer? gency will come the men to meet it. In the course of events a period in Southland’s varied history had arrived when it was necest sary to find an Executive competent to the task of doing nothing, and lo ! tlie men who were able to do it stood forward. In social matters the teetotallers and a Wesleyan parson have lately been dividing to some extent public attention. A branch of the former, the Sons of Temperance Society, have just celebrated with great eclat their first anniversary, and signs are no{i wanting to show that their principles arc becoming more popular. Two of our Presbyterian clergymen have joined their ranks, and one of them has already assumed the position of an able advocate of the cause, albeit somewhat enthusiastic, as becomes q young disciple. The Wesleyan gentleman to whom I have alluded, has jrsb complet-d his term of three years as a preacher in this town, aud in accordance with Methodistical custom, aud in ditto phrase, has gone to a new sphere of usefulness after bidding farewell to his late flock at a most successful soiree and concert, got up for the occasion.