MOUNT BENGER.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2628, 20 July 1871, Page 3

MOUNT BENGER.

(From our own Correspondent.) Almost the only topic worth noticing is the weather. For the last fortnight the whole valley of the Molyncux has been made vocal by anathemas, only broken by the barkings of universal influenza. First we had frost so intense as to freeze all the water races, and so effectually put a stop to all mining operations ; then we had wind, rain, and snow, with the barometer at 27'50, and the mercury of the thermometer down somewhere in the bulb ; and now we are enjoying a kind of infernal hot-.hpotch of all these diverse weathers, to the sore affliction of all whose lungs are a little the worse of wear. Fortunately the river continues low, and “ the bit of gold ” serves to act in some degree as a consolation. Were the river to fall about a foot lower, the yield of gold would be very largely increased, but I fear that the bed has been so much raised by tailings that this consummation is hardly to be expected. From the same cause, some of the beaches well known to be highly auriferous cannot be profitably worked, the golden drift being buried under a mass of grey sand. bo the new brooms—or rather the old brooms new hafted—are sweeping clean. Retrenchment appears the order of the day, and this district, in spite of furnishing the Province with an able (?), eloquent (?), and disinterested (?) Treasurer, has to be content with the expenditure of a beggarly 150 of public money. Mr Bradshaw will undoubtedly receive a welcome more warm than pleasant when he next honors us with a visit. 1 cannot help admiring the sacrificing sphit displayed by our economists. They will actually—noble fellows- be content with a miserable L4OO a year for signing the documents prepared by permanent officials, while that bloated villain the Superintendent, for devoting his whole time and attention to the. affairs of the Province, a duty rendered doubly arduous by the annexation of Southland, is actually to luxuriate on an income of twice the amount. Well done, Donald the disinterested, that shows the benighted electors who persisted in returning your opponent. Of a verity, Time hath its revenges. 1 observed a paragraph in a recent issue of your paper referring to the introduction of scarlet fever to Tapanui. There is so much superstition to be combated in reference to contagious diseases, that I am not surprised an innocent person should be accused of spreading the disease. I happen, however, to be acquainted with all the circumstances of this case, and know that not only was every precaution used that experience could suggest, but also that all danger of infection from the cases at Aloa Flat had ceased at least three weeks before the man in question we.-.t to Tapanui. In proof of the absurdity of the accusation, the man’s own family have as yet escaped scot free. Others, lam sorry to say, have not enjoyed the same immunity. One of victims was the eldest daughter of Mrs Buntiuc, whose husband died suddenly only a few weeks ago. A subscription was raised on her behalf, amounting to something like LI 50, and I believe she was just on the eve of departing for Victoria when her children were taken ill. I believe great good would result from the establishment of dispensaries and receiving-houses in the upcountry districts. When disease attacks a man he requires many little conveniences which the digger’s hut or tent cannot furnish and often is condemned to pass his last hours iu a state of misery which the generous sympathy and genuine if rough kindness of mates and acquaintaiutances cannot alleviate. But I forgot, w'e have a retrenching Government to whom the public health is a small matter compared with a favorable balance-sheet. By the way, I observe from the ad\ e tisiug columns of a contemporary that Lawrence ranks as a city. 1 presume it has n-eeived brevet rank since it became the head-quarters of the great Illiberal party. Two deaths have occurred in the district since my last—one an infant; cause of death, scrofula —the other, a man of about 35 who fell a victim to inflammation of the brain.