CENTRAL BULLER NEWS NOTES.

Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 273, 15 May 1886, Page 2

CENTRAL BULLER NEWS NOTES.

(from our own correspondent.)

Fern Flat, May 12th, 1886.

Like every other locality throughous the Povince and beyond it, this district iat present remarkable chiefly in being ret naarkably slow. Those who are bess acquainted with it are aware that, at itt best, it is not particularly lively; wha, therefore can be expected of it at its worst i.e., in the depth of winter ? Whatever may be expected, it is certain that we have got a full supply of the compliments of the season, in the shape of colds amongst people of all ages; and whooping-cough amongst the j'oung, the consequence of the prevalence of the latter complaint being, I understand, that school matters may be quoted, in commercial phrase, as ver\ depressed. There is scarcely a household, I am told, in which will not be found one or two inmates placed hors de combat by Johnnie Frost, or whoever in these latitudes takes command of the weather during the winter solstice. The sun, however, continues to rise and shine and set, and the moon and stars to run their appointed courses, so that we may safely infer that time is still upou the wing, and that the happy season of blossom, and fruit, and flowers, is not far off, and is daily becoming nearer. " The time of the singing of birds is at hand."

There is little or nothing to report regarding gold mining. The patient and pleasant workers in the various alluvial claims upon the Buller, continue their daily labors, and are making, 1 understand, fair wages; in some cases rather more. When the day lengthens, and the weather becomes warmer, I intend to have a run round the claims, and if anything which it behoves the general public to know about them eventually, they will be informed of it through the local journal, of which I hope they are all subscribers, if they are not, I am sure they ought to be; for, knowing somewhat about newspapers on the goldfields and elsewhere, I have no hesitation in saying that I do not at present remember a more creditable or useful sheet than the Lyell Times. And in order that its status should be maintained, it is absolutely necessary that everybody who can should give it a friendly turn, either by subscribing, or advertising, or both. The outside public really do not know the constant expeutes connected with even a weekly newspaper; if they did, I believe they would not be found running down their paper so often and so mercilessly as they do. One is almost forced to conclude, sometimes, that a newspaper should make the news of a district, instead of merely recording it.

The East and West Coast and Nelson Railway scheme continues to cause considerable stir here, those who are fortunate enough to be landholders being in a state of great anxiety to know how the line is to affect their paternal acres. To all ot us,without exception, the turning of the first sod will be a red-letter day, marking, ?is it unquestionably will, a new departure and the beginning of a new era. If to tnv simple man, to the Colonial Treasurer, Sir Julius Vogel, is the country indebted, in my opinion for the present hopeful outlook: and if who are bound to

shave the benefits of the enterprise do not mark their sense of the services rendered

bv Sir Julius, in a substantial way, more shame to them ! This should be made a matter of common concern ; for, apart from local interests, there is little doubt but that the making of the railway will afford a satisfactory solution of the labor question in New Zealand, for the next decade at any rate. And who shall say. had Sir Julius Vogel not returned to the Colonv, and re-entered public life, we should at this moment be within a measurable distauca of possessing railway communication with the rest of the Colony ? Considering the material wealth of the Coast, in metals, minerals and timber, there can be no question but the railway will become amply remunerative; besides it will draw thousands and tens of thousands of tourists from every land to visit and explore the most beautiful and romantic scenes in the world. One gets lost when he comes to think of the grand possibilities of the West Coast of this Island; and the beauty of the thing is. that the whole colony will participate in our good fortune. A railway, Mr Editor, is the nearest human approximation to the attributes of divinitv: it is almost a new creation.