COAL CREEK.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 178, 6 July 1871, Page 6

COAL CREEK.

(From our own Correspondent. )

As some time has elapsed since my last communication from this quarter, no doubt you will expect that tbis time I will make up for my neglect. Well, now that all hands have struck work on account of the severity of the weather, I have some leisure time to give you all the scraps of news which 1 am able to pick up, but which I am afraid you will find rathei tame. As a community, we are slowly but steadily progressing ; and if the iron chain of squatterdom, which encircles vs — which so hamper's and cramps our energies, and prevents the due development of our varied resources — was broken and swept away for ever from our midst, our social and material progress would be rapid. The preemptive right of 640 acres applied for in this neighbourhood by Messrs. Cargill and Anderson is still in abeyance, and in the interests of the future welfare of the residents of this district, I earnestly trust the Government will pause and consider on granting a monopoly- of one of tbe best coal deposits in the province, and I may say the only one in this district at present which can be worked to advantage.' The residents have strongly protested against it,, and it is to be hoped with effect.'. :If the Government disregard the protest by granting the lease, I apprehend it will be the usual blunder repeated again — throwing away a mackerel to catch a sprat ' } or, mother words, paying heavy compensation to get the land back again. • There has been a number of applications from this district for "land for the' purpose of planting forest trees. lam informed 1 that over 2000 acres have been applied for, but I apprehend the usual delay, circumlocution, and redtapejsm must be endured before anything definite is come to. This is undoubtedly a step in the right dh*ection, provided it were stipped of the usual delay add restrictions, and I believe almost 'any kind of tree would grow in this genial climate of ours. . jThe Education Board has been memorialised for a side school atiJenger. Flat, when it was shown that there arWabout t\yenty-nvei children atfie" to '.attend school, and from the rapidity of reproducti,on, of the <jenit,s fi.omo l there, I have 1 no" doubt that in three or four years the number, will be at least doubled. Jt will' no doubt be a great convenience if the Education Board • concedes the request of the memprialists, as the distance to be travelled to the school at

Roxburgh is : f6ur miles — a long distance' for children of tender years. The frost has set in with extreme severity I belieye lam correct this time in stating that that antiquated and singular individual, the oldest inhabitant has never seen -the like of it here before. All the' claims are at a standstill, Kmg Frost having laid his icy injunction on them, and the proprietors are nolentes vol&ites compelled to await . his L pleasure ; and now, in order to keep their courage cheery, amuse themselves by skating on their dams and races. Should this weather continue a little longer, the river will go exceptionally low, and then we nuy expect to see beach working again in full operation, reminding one of the olden times. The dredges in this neighbourhood are likely to reap a bountiful harvest. I hear the Perseverantia dredge, which lay dormant so long, is to be immediately got ready for operations. The Cerberus, or Moa, as she is now called, has her machinery on board, and will be ready to commence dredging in the course of the week. This is a magnificent craft since she has been rebuilt, and will well repay a visit of inspection.. When in proper wording order, I "have no doubt it will be the most successful in this quarter. The Rip Van Winkle .and the Yorkshireman are moored two or three miles lower down the river, and I hear are earning tolerably fair wages. I understand the Government have at last intimated their willingness to give land in payment to any parties who will undertake to construct a bridge for foot passengers across the Molyneux at Roxburgh. I should imagine that this much felt want would now be speedily supplied, provided the Government will give suitable land at a fair price. I believe a good substantial wire rope suspension bridge for [foot passengers could be erected for £500 or £600, and would be a very great boon indeed. Classical nomenclature of bridges, water races, claims, and hotels are amazingly in the ascendant in this district. Whether it is to be accounted for from the circumstance of a greater proportion than usual of the inhabitants having imbibed largely at the well springs of Greek and Latin loreC?) I know not; but as. illustrating my position, I may instance the case of a large and handsome hotel about to be constructed at Moa Flat, (or Melrose, the township there,) to be called, I understand, the Golden Fleece. I would not be surprised if the enterprising landlord came to be kuovvn.as Jason in the course of time, Then we have the dredges ©erberus, Pandora, and Perseverantia, and higher up the river, the Galatea. The latest instance of this classical eccentricity in names, is that chosen for a large water race in course of construction on the south side of the Teviot river, which is called the Hercules. After all, the hobby is a harmless one, and spares us the pain of listening to such barbarous names of mining properties, as, for example, the Break-em-all, the Rip and Tare, the Peep O' Day, Let Her Rip, and many others prevailing in districts where the standard literature is of the " Star of the South " and '! Black Angel order." A notable circumstance in connection with the entire cessation of the workings through the frost, is the remarkably clear light green colour of the river compared to its ordinary turbid and muddy appearance, reminding one of the time when nought but ti e bleating of a few sheep disturbed the primeval solitude Some of our squatters think that these times will come again. Perhaps.