Local News and Notes.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 32, 19 August 1863, Page 4

Local News and Notes.

From the Nokomai we learn that the few miners there are doing tolerably well; a fresh terrace has been opened, and three or four parties are obtaining payable gold. There is a foot of snow on the low-lying lands, and when our informant left it was still su owing heavily, threatening to cut off all communication, which, as the stocks of flour held were very small, was creating no little alarm. The strenuous and noble efforts lately made by the residents of the Wakatip district for the purpose of establishing a Hospital, and which have been attended with such signal success, are about to be supplemented by Mr. Fawcett's dramatic company now performing in Queen stown. A benefit is announced to take place on Thursday night for that institution, and we trust that the disinterested and kindly conduct of Mr. Fawcett will meet with a cordial response from the residents of this township; and that an opportunity so rare of occurrence in this money-grubbing age will be properly appreciated, especially by those for whose chief use the hospital has been founded. It is also worthy of note that Mr. Livingstone, the widely-known musician and composer, has announced his intention of. bestowing his services gratis on this occasion; so that we may promise to all lovers of the '• divine art" a treat of no ordinary character. Miss Annie Beaumont and Messrs. Hull, Morgan, and Wright commenced their entertainment on Saturday evening last at Bracken's Hotel, with their usual success. Their voices and instruments are heard to much better advantage than formerly, and Miss Beaumont having discontinued the incidental appeals to the audience can now be heard with pleasure in many of the pleasing ballads she has made her own. The enormous advantages that will accrue to the miners and inhabitants of the Lake from the establishment of the means of rapid communication between Dunedin and Inver-

cargill are so patent that we make no apology for directing the attention of our readers to the following paragraph relating to the Southland Railway scheme, extracted from the " Invercargill Times" of August 11: The afternoon of Saturday last witnessed the experimental trip of the first locomotive which has ever snorted a!on# a New Zealand tramway. Wooden rails were laid the length of the Jetty, and from one o'clock till five the Lady Barkly was driven up and down, sometimes at a speed of 25 miles an hour, with the most complete success by Mr. J. It. Davies, the son of the projector of the Southland Railway scheme, recently placed before his Honor the Superintendent for acceptance. Crowds of spectators passed the afternoon at the Jetty in riding delightedly in the locomotive. The motion was found pleasant and quite free from that oscillation and concussion which distinguish travelling on iron rails with the usual engine. The Superintendent, the Railway Engineer, the Chief Surveyor, and a number of Government officers were present, and having observed narrowly the action of the engine, congratulated Mr. Davies, senr., upon the success of the experiment. The Lady Barkly differs from ordinary locomotives only in those particulars which are compelled by wooden instead of iron rails. The carrying wheels have no flanges, but are kept on the rails by means of guide wheels placed at an angle of 45 degrees. Each wheel of the engine—and the same may of course be said of the carriages to be used—acts upon its own axle, totally unconnected with the opposite wheel. Thus a certain amount of easy motion is induced. The engine weighs about 8 tons, was manufactured at Ballarat, by Messrs. Hunt and Opie, and has been employed for the last two years to great satisfaction on a line at Green Hills, near the Melbourne and Geelong Railway. It is to be hoped that the extremely gratifying issue of Saturday's experiment will induce the Provincial Government to at once close with Mr. Davies' offer to open up the Province with his wooden railway. There can be no doubt that if there is to be a Southland Railway, wood is in the meantime preferable to iron; first, because of its facilities for construction ; and, secondly, because of its economy. The mileage cost of an iron line for superstructure alone is estimated at L 2200, and that of wood may be put down at L 460, thus exhibiting a saving balance in favor of wood of L 1740. It will be seen from an advertisement in another column that an adjourned meeting of the A. 0. F. is called for Saturday next at the Camp Hotel. We beg to direct the attention of the members of the Order to this announcement.