ST. BATHANS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 132, 8 September 1871, Page 3

ST. BATHANS.

Sept. 3, 1871. It was rather premature of me to cause, in my last letter, that little bird to sing of the snow's departure. The snow has returned this time in "greater force." It commenced falling at six o'clock a.m. on Tuesday, and continued without intermission until six o'clock on Wednesday evening. It was thawing rapidly all the time, notwithstand-

ing which there was a depth of fifteen to eighteen inches of snow on the hills within the vicinity of the village on Thursday morning, and of course much deeper higher up on the ranges. A mild thaw continues up to the present time, and the snow has pretty well disappeared from the low grounds; but miners are sanguine that on the ranges the deposit is sufficient to keep up a steady supply of water until Christmas.

It has been said by some one that " promises are sometimes made to be broken." The St. Bathans Progress Committee expended odds of £4O on drainage and repairing the road through the village some four months ago, and in so doing effected a very necessary improvement. They did so, however, on the strength of a " promise " given them by the Provincial Secretary, that the Government would pay £2O towards the work. Is that promise to be broken ? If not, why so long defer payment of this paltry £2O, so disproportionate to what might reasonably be expected by the residents of this place for so good a purpose. This is a very small affair to speak of, but it is just one of hundreds of instances (widely distributed) which go to prove the amount of attention, or rather the total want of attention, bestowed by Government on the Goldfields populations, and demonstrates the necessity which exists for all those populations to join in adopting the admirable programme of the Arrow Miners' Association.—• A.B.C.