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Mataura Ensign, Volume VI, Issue 257, 22 May 1883, Page 2

With this issue we send out a supplement containing some interesting Toi Tois notes, a sketch of Mr Henry (Wynduara), and general intelligence. We also print a couple of column? of reading matter on our fourth page, the principal item being a report of the last meeting of the Southland Farmers' Oo» operative Association. This will open the eyes of some of oar farming friends. It is undoratood thai; Mr Henry Driver M.H.R. will pay this district a visit during next week. The Birthday Ball which was to have been held at Morris' Hal), Chatton, on Thursday evening, has been indefinitely postponed. It will be seen from an adve»-tis3ment in arother column that Mr F. S. Canning will sell in the Auction Mart on Saturday next, Mr Woo. Costello's C^m nercial Hotel, Gordon. This is a good opportunity for [-\ very lucrative investment for a good man. At the luveroargill PJice Court yesterday, Thomas Allon, the man arrested some daya ago in a state of nudity near Oteramika, was charged with being of unsound miud. The accused bad been in the hospital for the last week, suffering from frost-bit^. He said he was all right now, and if sent to prison would lose the chance of a job. Hia Wur .hip thought it was not right t5 let him go just yet, and remanded the caae till to-day. On Friday evaning a large number of guests assembled at Mataura, at the invitation of Mr and Mrs Oimeron, to celebrate the opening of new premises lately erected by Mr Cameron for Mes^B Shanks and Barr. There could not have been fewer than 150 present from all parts of Sjuthland, and the affair was the most brilliant and successful we remember in this disttict. The large room was very Di-.-ely decorated with buit'ng and evergreens, and the floor was in a capital 4 condition for dancing. Accommodation was fouad for the musicians upon a raised plat • form ait o«g end of the room. To first-class music provided byMefprs Sinclair andDitkson I and seyer.il lady amateurs Jbhe enthusiastic votaries of Terpsichore gcs through a well" arranged programme of 2$ dances, and" so keen wbß tha enjoyment fchafc even, after tie programme was concluded nearly all de» rnanded • more ' in the shape of extras, and continued to whirl in the mazy until the ar rjval of the morning trains which were to take theni borne. Altogether the affair was a great Buccess and Mr and M<s Cameron cannot but have experienced much gratfica-

tion at the pleasure their hospitality gave t j their guests on Friday evening. j The • Oamaru Mail' has it that Mr ' Bob*. Stout will probably come forward for the Bruce seat. The Q-overnmen t intend proposing next session that provision be made for a Minister of Agriculture. • The Wellington correspondent of the ' Ofcago Times ' hints ah the probability of Mr Bryee proceeding to England for the purpose of prosecuting M> Eusden, author of the " History of New Zealand," in which Mr Bryce is so badly slandered, for cviminal libel. /At the last meeting of the Southland Land Board, Mr Lutneden asked if any steps were being taken to open the Ardlvusa block. Several enquiries he knew, had been made in regard to it. Mr Mitchell said that various peopb had been asking him about the same matter. Mr Lumactaa stated that those who had spoken to him were anxious to secure land in the block, but werd determined that they would have nothing to do with it should it be offered under the perpetual leasing system. The Chief Commissioner said he had, that morning, telegraphed io ascertain the Governments intention in regard to-the block. S The Mataura School Committee, at a meeting held on the 15th instant, unanimously resolved to recommend Mr J". Anderson, now hr charge, to the Board for appointment to the post of headmaster of the Mataura school. Mr Anderson it may be mentioned, formerly had charge of the Winton school. „' Knapdale was the scene of a Berioua accident last week. A man named Michael Walsh was at work in a gravel pit about five miles from Gore, when unexpectedly a fall of the face took place. A mass of gravel fell on the lower part of the back, and buried him up to the hips. On being extricated, it was fou nd that he had sustained, a severe injury. He was promptly conveyed to G-ore and taken on to the Invercargill Hospital, where on examin ation it was found that the hip joint was dislocated. Dr Oloss performed the necessary operation, and the patient is now doing well. An adjourned meeting of the Gore Town Board wag held on Friday evening, there be" ing present Commissioners Green (Chairman), Filler and Heherr. After reading correspondence bearing on the subject, the Board agreed that the Government valuation for rating purposes be accepted, ib being pointed out that the rate at three farthings in the & on the capital value would come to a total of within £8 of the last Is rate. Satisfactory arrangements having been made for the conduct of the Board's legal business, and a letter having been read from Captain Mackenzie, M.H.E., agreeing to do whab he could to forward the Board's wishes re. the Town Belt and public gardens being vested in them instead of in a separate body, the meeting adjourned. Noticing some statements made by the G-ore correspondent of the 'Otago Daily Times' to tb.3 effect that the Agricultural Company and W&imea Railway Company were synonymous terms, a Queenetown resident writes to our contemporary : — "Same of the shareholders in the Eailway .Company may hajve held shares in the Agricultural Consgsiy, but that does not make the two companies ' synonymous terms.' Five hundred shares in the Waimea Railway Company are held byTrtsidents in this district, none of whom biave-'ever owned a single share in the Agricultural Company, while most of the i Dunedin^aihrre&olders are equally independent of the latter Company." . From advertisements in other columns this morning it will be seen that a very large area of Government land in various parts of Otago is now in the market, a considerable portion being in the Waikaia district. The land in that locality is of first-claBS character, and en* quiries concerning it have been numerous. Visitors have been and seen in large numbers, and as a sure sign of the interest taken in the matter it may be mentioned that the run on maps of the blocks at the Dunedin Land Office has been quite unprecedented. We confidently anticipate a successful sale, aad believe that the face of the Waikaia country will bef oio long assume an appearance very different from that of the present day. Well kept farms and neat homesteads will supersede sheep walks and sod huts, and the old saw, ' ' the greatest good for the greatest num. ber," will be verified once more. The lock* upednesß, to use a coinages of Waikaia land has been a great, insurmountable bar to the/ real prosperity of the district, and all its well-wishers will join with us in anticipate ing a bright future for those who through depressing time 3 have stuck to the township ofS.vitzjrs and the surrounding districts, Tneir reward seems to be at hand now. The action of the Government in placing such a large quantity of land in the nuikeb at ono time has had oue very marked effect : sales of land by private owners have for the nonce been nearly put an end to, as buyers are holding on in the expectation of getting a slice of good land cheap and improving it after their own f isbion, instead of buying farms that have already boen workei. It will be seen from an adv ertisement to ba found elsewhere that a meeting of the committee of tho recently formed Debating Society is to be held at the Eailway hotel, to-morrow (Wednesday) evening, at seven o'clock, sharp, for the disposal of preliminary matters of business. The committee is composed of the following gentlemen [and it is hoped all will make &n effort to be present Revs. J, y. Bxttle, J\ Holb3 and Father Fitzgerald, Dr Donaldson and Messrs A, Dohmor*, A, Fletcher, J. W. Kingj A. Martin and A. Symes. That enterprising firm of John MacGibboa and Sons is extending itß borders, and the latest additi n to its establishments is of no mean order. They are now fairly established in Gor?, in the sore lately occupied by Willcocks and Co., where they ord disposing of a Bankrupt Stook marrellvusly cheap, MenV suits. 20a : twec-d trousers, 6s. They now keep a full slock of Ladies' hits and dr«. j ss trimmings and fancj goods of all descriptions at Gore, Gordon, and Mataura.— Adv t.