LAKE WAKATIP.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 267, 18 April 1874, Page 3

LAKE WAKATIP.

(From our own correspondent.}

April 13th. Death, for want of a pack bridge at Maori Point, on the Shotover River, on the night of Saturday, the sth inst.: John Thomas, miner and settler of the UpperShbtover, married, having a wife and two children, paid the awful penalty of his life to, the want of a bridge across the river at that place. I trust the Government may,. by having one erected, save the probable repetition of such a dire calamity, by which a brave, loyal, and inveterate pioneer has been snatched from his loving and admiring connections without a moments warning. When ! oh, when ! will revenue be spent equitably, in proportion, by being returned fairly, on a calculated, basis, to the districts in which it is raised, so that pet .districts "might not be. pam? pered, at the expense of thosewho were furnishing the money which feeds them. If one portion of Otago has ever been neglected more than another, it is that Upper Shotover, where, for thirty miles of the richest auriferous ground in Otago (containing a population of between 40&and 500 souls), not one solitary servant of her Britannic Majesty, in any shape or any livery, is to be met with. It is true that a Court is sometimes held at Maori Point, where this poor man lost hi* life, bnt no one lives there, only one publican and his family—all the weight of* the population is on the other side of the river, and farther up than this Maori Point. Racecourse Terrace, Stony Creek Terrace, Pleasant Creek Terrace, and; Skippers are all on continuous terraces, on the other side from Maori Point. Over one hundred electors, with theirand families, live over this, and, have to go more than four miles ;roun~d. out of the way, or ford a dangerous-and - shifting river, anil numbers of our bravest and best have fallen victims to its treachery-

My communication will be in mourning this time.' The intelligence you will havehad ere now of poor Mr. Maeintyre's smouldering, blackened ashes of the twelve months' work, concentred in his cornstacks, burnt to the ground by some "villainous fiend incarnate," was;supplemented on Saturday night (I.lth inst.) between eleven and twelve o'clock, by the burning of three stacks of wheat, containing between two and three thousand bushels of corn, belonging to Mr. Pritchard,. of Arrowtown. There cannot be a shade of doubt about incendiarism in eithercase. I hope the Government may be in- . duiied to offer a. liberalreward for the de- ----' teetion of these living personifications of' "the evil genius, whose reasoning brutality has ruthlessly destfoyed-the blessings of' Divine Providence thus given, as a reward! to honest labor. The death, of the brave - is mournful indeed, with its- surroundings.. of bereavement and sorrow;-. but the losW - is hallowed by hope, and the comforting; remembrance of sustained honor, and the • weight of woe is- again lightened by thetrust in Him who giveth and taketh for our advantage; so that death itself does not, under those circumstances, seem so dreadful as a living being given up to his merciless passions, and moving under • cover of night, in the most treacherous, and cowardly manner, to the destruction of the blessings which a kind Providence-r provides in such a miraculous manner, for that family (human) of which thewretched victim to his. passions is such an unworthy, member.. Truly might the-'-' poet say:' .

There's none so cruel as fUe reasoning brute.

Dr. Perry, Episcopal Bishop of; Mel-;r-bourne, having been asked why marriages: u were fewer in the Colonies- than theyused to be, made answer as follows : «■ I have no hesitation m asserting that theignorance of householders' duties, the unbounded love for dress,;the increasing" desire for music arid dancing, all unfold the- '"*"- mystery of decreasing marriages ; the de- ■ sire to dress gaily; and take the shine out of their neighbors or acquaintances - are the true obstacles to marriage. There are thousands who have no friends," and who hardly know what to. do to- spend " their evening, :who who would be glad to find a wife who could make them meet the expenses, arid have a clean, comfortable home -to go to after the duties of the day j but the feet that, as a rule, thev are spendthrifts, and ignorant of managing a house prevents.this running into I do not deny that there ■ fu e A U h- ori thft but I do S a V thanf ladies studied plain dressing and • would turn their thoughts to manage! ment they would increase their chances pthnding husbands, and good husbands too. * -

"Come, come, Willy, do. take your ■ medicine now, like a little man. When' I have medieine to take 1 don't like itanv more than: you <fc, but \ make J. 5 mind to take it, and then I doj* =« vL -nn i T yOU ,' Fann y«" ponded Wu£ "