WAYSIDE NOTES.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2714, 28 October 1871, Page 2

WAYSIDE NOTES.

(By our Special Beporter out for a Holiday.)

They are catering well ia Roxburgh fpr the religious welfare of the people. One hundred pounds is to be spent in enlarging the Catholic Ghapol; the Church of England in going to build a stone ohuroh at the cost of L 450 ; the Wesb-yans spend half this amount in a suitable structure. While descending to things temporal, the Odd Fellows are going to build a stone hall at a cost of L4oD—and two new stone hotels are in course of erection. I like to sea those stone erections ; it augurs well for the permanence and stability of the place. The Moa Cold Dredging Co, on the river

are attracting considerable attention. The scene of their operations is Moa Flat, bat what is peculiar about the arrangement is that the dredge is the first built in the Colony on the b>nd and bucket principle, like an ordinary dredge used in harbors and docks. It has been working seven weeks—it cost LI 200 ; there are three shifts of three men in the twenty-four hours ; wages L 3 10s per nu.n per week; it is computed tdat it lifts as much dirt as six men can shovel into boxes ; it can work whether the river is high or low ; and, lastly, it has paid a per cent, per week on outlay—net—since it has been working. Mr Norton, the designer and a shareholder, informed me that this success has impressed on his mind the fact that dredging is yet in its infancy, aud that with proper appliances ground can be found to pay in the river Molyueux almost anywhere.

I went into the Chinese store at Roxburgh, and found the Mongolian visitors there talking about the influx of their brethren. They disapprove as strongly of their coming in such hordes as “ Smiler ” himself declares he does and exclaimed that if many more cargoes were imported, hy-aud-bye “ Chinamen all starve in Otago, ” Chinese storekeepers in Untied n bring all the new chums. “No good those storekeepers,” quoth John. What there is of Roxburgh is compact. It does nob straggle all over the country like I'okornairiro or Waitahuna ; the inhabitants are evidently centralists, as I aas informed they never intend taking any more notice of Provincial Governments. They had sent many horse-loads of petitions to the Provincial Council without benefit and without response, and were wondering and anxious to know how they could get their soiled sheets back again to uso for waste paper themselves, instead of providing so abundantly this material for the use of a clodoci acy. Have you noticed the Times of Lawrence has adopted this designation for the Reid Government, when speaking of Clarke’s small lien on Moa Flat, Donald has certainly lost his lead when his friends thus abuse him. Not having been resident on the goldfields for many years, I notice with much interest the change in the habits of miners generally. They almost all appear to go in for the double event. They combine cultivation with mining. The days of calico touts and sudden emigration are past; the horde of young men who came to the Colonies IS or 20 years since are growing old, and begin to think of rest as well as enterprise. In the Teviot this is plainly shown. The wellfenced gardens, the well-built houses, the well-cultivated lands, all proclaim the fact. And what will ensure the future prosperity of the district is that, along with the unfailing supply of auriferious grouud it possesses, a large area at the back! well adapted for agricultural and pastoral pursuits. An abundance of excellent lignite is found four miles north of the township—its thickness as yes is unknown—but the supply is practically inexhaustible. Highly resinous, it ignites easily, and forms another item of interest, comfort, and advantage to the inhabitants of this shonld-be happy valley. I leave writing on Roxburgh with regret—afraid that I have not done it justice—knowing that i shall find when I re-read what I have written how unlike the impression I shall leave on my readers’ mind will be the. impression Roxburgh left on my own.