Original Correspondence.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 133, 6 August 1864, Page 2

Original Correspondence.

* # * Our columns being impartially open, we do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our correspondents. THE MEAT QUESTION. To the Editor of the Lake Wakatip Mail. Sir,—The Dunstan correspondent of the Daily Times tells us that the inhabitants of the Kawarau have almost rendered homage to a Mr Kelly for having brought down the price of meat there, to within reasonable limits. That gentleman in reply stated he was satisfied with the price, and the increased consumption attained therebj'. Let the reader remember this for a moment. The Dunstan Times advertises the price of meat at 7d. to 9d. Queenstown rejoices in Is. to Is. 3d. Given a distance of forty miles, an inland township of no great extent, and possessing no advantages of cattle trade, and on the other haud given an almost seaport town of considerable extent, and possessing enormous advantages for cattle trade. Can any of your readers tell me why K, minus the advantages of Q, can yet equal D, which has cattle and sheep runs surrounding it. I confess 1 am not up to the system of inverse ratio, and hence the public exposure of my ignorance. If the humble Kawarau man can return thanks for 6d. to Bd., what should the lordly Queenstown man do 1 Sir, I am fairly puzzled, and pray your relief from my temporary difficulty as I happen to be a Father of a Family. P.S —I have left Southland out of the questien, as it is an evil district.

An accident attended with fatal results occurred to a miner named Uriah James, at Arthur's Point, on Thursday last. Sergeant Fleming has placed us in possession of particulars by which it appears that the deceased had, with another miner named Smith, sunk a hole in a terrace claim close to the Rose, Thistle, and Shamrock Hotel, at that place. The hole was sunk to the depth of twenty feet, and two drives had been put in at the bottom, from which the party were obtainiug payable gold. Smith heard the ground cracking, and came out of his drive to the mouth of the shafts, and informed James that the earth was caving in. The deceased only turned round and laughed at the alarm of his mate, and that was the last seen of him. Smith reached the top before the ground fell in, and had the deceased taken the advice of his mate, all might have been well, but he selected to pursue a more fool-hardy cause, and, unfortunately, lost his life thereby. Almost immediately a hundred men were at work, but it was two hours and ten minutes before the deceased body was recovered. It was quite warm, and some believed it was alive. Dr Evison was on the spot, and pronounced the course of death to be suffocation. The body was not crushed. High praise is said to be due to a miner named Bartholomew, who twice risked his life unnecessarily in his endeavors to extricate the deceased at an earlier peiiod than was actually safe. The shaft was sunk in very sandy ground, and was close to old worked ground, and the deceased was driving under the hotel lately owned and tenanted by Miss Fitzroy. The inquest will be held this afternoon, when fuller details will be ascertained. A very satisfactory increase of 1000 ounces in the escort that left here yesterday, has taken place. It took down, despite hard frosts, a diminished population, and other drawbacks? 3,600 ounces, as against 2,600 for the previous one. These facts speak for themselves, and there is no occasion to draw comparisons which are always disagreeable to some district or another except the fortunate one. The escort which left Queenstown at four o'clock yesterday, received an unexpected, but not an unaccountable check in its progress. Considerable delay occurred at Frankton in unloading the escort boat in consequence of the low state of the Lake, and after this had been overcome it had only travelled a couple of miles further when they found a more serious obstacle at that wretched fording passage on the Shotover, in consequence of the high state of the nver. It has been hitherto crossed at some risk, but this tine the danger was too great to be encountered ; nothing was therefore left but to return through Frankton and then to march on to Queenstown. The gold thus had to make a long and hazardous journey before returning again to the place which it had left. The escort started a second time shortly afterwards, but this time by the Gorge, crossing the Shotover by Ryan and Bond's fine suspension bridge, which is available at all times and all seasons for crossing the treacherous Shotover in safety and comfort. While speaking of this bridge, we may mention that it has done valuable service since its erection in keeping open the communication with the Arrow, Upper Shotover and other places, and that its public importance and advantage canuot be over estimated. The Times says —" A few days ago we published a statement extracted from a northern paper, that gold had been discovered at Waikato. This appears not to be correct as will be seen from the following letter which was addressed to the editor of the Southern Cross :—' Sir--I beg to inform your readers that the information contained in your paper of Tuesday, that "go.d had been discovered at Port Waikato," is not correct. I left the Heads on the afternoon of that day, and heard nothing of such a discovery. The only approximation to the truth in the paragraph is, " that the gold is of a very dark color ;" for the truth is. that the coast survey party had come upon a seam of coal, about three miles from the Port. The coal has not, however, been examined, and the value of the discovery cannot yet be affirmed. It is highly probable that the whole of the rough country lying between the left bank of the Waikato (from Ngaruawahia downwards) to the seacoast is an extensive and rich coalfield. Dr Hochstetter said there was no appearance of gold throughout that extensive district.—l am, &c, R. O. Stewart.'