OREPUKI.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 35, 31 March 1894, Page 12

OREPUKI.

(From an Occasional Correspondent.) Matters here are very quiet. The holidays were got over very quietly, and air hands have once more settled down to work. Writing about work : there is plenty to do, but very little moneys for it. The mining is about worked out, and we will have to turn our attention t© some more lucrative employment before long’—farming is the only altex’native. Litigation is the order of the day once again, and a large number are engaged at the Warden's Court at Riverton to-morrow (Friday’). Last Monday a goodly number (many’ of them no doubt attracted there to see how our local horses would run —-the latter failed to score, however) —journeyed from here to

Riverton to see the races, but the weather was far from pleasant, and at the same time those who wished to return home the same evening had to miss one or two of the events. Our cricketers were to have journeyed to your town on Wednesday last to try conclusions with the Wyndham 44 knights of the willow,” but for some reason or other the match did not come off. Matters Waiau way are fairly lively. A large area of bush has been felled, and will be burned as opportunity offers. Road works County, cooperative, and the small sections let to the settlers —are progressing favor-, ably, and when completed will be much appreciated by the settlers and the travelling public. The Koromiko (I think that is the name) school, opposite Mr Armstrong's, at Grindstone, is nearing completion, and when finished will be a boon to the rising generation west of here. Live stock in the shape of cattle and sheep are looking remarkably well, and should continue so for some time yet if the quantity of grass available is any criterion. The Hon. J. McKenzie paid the Waiau a visit last week, and w r as greatly pleased -with all he saw —at least he said so. It is to be hoped he will use his influence in the matter of the bridge when it next crops up. The Waiau is now the usual rendezvous of picnic parties on holidays and “off” days, and Mr J. Wilson is the Jehu generally entrusted with the “ ribbons ” on these occasions. There is talk of the Acclimatisation Society prosecuting for poaching in the "Waiau river, but some peop ] e question the legality of this move, as they hold that they never liberated an}' fish in that river, they (the fish) having found their way thither owing to a dam, in which private trout were kept, bursting- during a flood, and the fish escaping into the Waiau. Be that as it may, the river teems with 44 spotted beauties,” which are reported to have been taken up to 22 pounds in weight. I have just been told by an old identity that he saw trout in this river in ’65, which, I fancy, supports the 44 dam ” theory. March 29.