ON THE WALLABY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 219, 11 April 1872, Page 8

ON THE WALLABY.

BT P. TEKAX.

Between Tokomairiro and Dunediu it is popularly supposed that a railway is being rapidly constructed. Near Dunedin, certainly, the permanent way of a railroad is in course of formation, but between Lookout Point and Milt' n the onU indications of the Great Southern Railway are sundry white rags, dignified by the name of flags, attichtd to sticks planted in the adjacent swamps. The c urse the line is intended to pursue seems a profound mystery to the denizens of the localities it is intended to traverse. Occasionally, however, when the flags aforesaid are so near the roadway that they convey all required information relative to the direction of the railway, the residents display an astonishing amount of information on the subject, which, to do them justice, they are ever willing to impart to the enquiring traveller. Considering the loud complaints regarding the excessive havd-

ness of the times, luxuries in the shape

of spirituous and fermented liquors, judging from the number of establishments devoted to their purveyance, seem to be in good demand. While on the subject of public-houses, I may here record the result of my observations on the sale of liquor. In doing so I wish to bo distinctly understood that I am not referring, even remotely,

to this district in particular. In the "course of a long colon a' experience I have found that next to the auri sacra fames the most powerful passion in the (colonial) human breast is that for selling whisky. It may be said that the latter is a natural sequent of the former. In many < a ; es no doubt it fe ; but in many others it is a separate and distinct passion, in no wise dependent upon avarice. Take an average colo-

nist ; plant him out from the busy haunts of men, with their manifold temptations to drink or sell liquors, in

some quiet locality; give him a comfortable house and a good agricultural holding, or a good claim. Let him be married and have a family of childrer. Oue would naturally suppose that he would prefer maintaining the privacy of his home to making a few shillings by destroying it. That sapposition would be perfectly wrong. Ten chances to one if he does not convert his . front parlour into a bar, from which he will dispense whisky. He w< uld rather sell without a license than with one. By defying the law, as in the former case, the delicious element of uncertainty is imported into the trade. He does not . know one day from another when he will be " nailed " and fined £20, and is therefore gambl-

ing with the Government— staking £20 against the profit on a nobbier every time he sells a stranger a drink. The individual in question may be, and generally is, a good husband and father, a bard-working, estimable man, and a colonist. Nevertheless he scruples not to illegitimately deal in the bane of colonial life. My private opinion is that the heavy penalty discovery entails renders illicit traffic

in liquor is attractive, and that were

tbere fres trade therein there would be fewer grog shanties. So much for

the love of wl isky selling. One thin jj strikes a stranger from the goldfields relative to the agricultural publichouse. That is, there is no attempt to make drinking attractive. On the goldfields, hotelkeepers generally adorn their premises as well as they are able to do, in order that when their custo-

iners get inside they will be loth to leave. Here, however, is nothing of the kind ; from which I gather that the bucolic patrons or proprietors of these houses are not afflicted with

aesthetic tastes,

Passing rapidly many objects of probable interest, my olfactory nerves, long before I came in sight of the ciuse, warned me that I was approaching a stench. This I discovered was emitted from a creek which receives the refuse of the Meat Preserving

C ».'s establishment at Green Tsland

This stench, it is likely, will become 'i ereasingly horrible as the operations o ' the Company increase. Whether if; is injurious -to the health of the residents of the neighbourhood I don't know, but it cannot be very beneficial. The Meat Preserving Co. have built a small- village here for the accommodation of their employe's, and arc vigorously cateririg for the supply of the b:efless and muttonless of those who hive the inestimable privilege of residing in the .wealthiest nation of the earth. The philanthropic efforts of antipodean meat preserving companies do not seem to be appreciated in England, as even the occupants of workhouses turn up their nos( s in dismast at the contents of the tins. Meat

preserving suggests to me the railway from lnvercargill to the Mataura. One - cf the principal arguments of the advocates of that line was that it would secure the whole trade of the Woodlands Meat Preserving Co npai y, vhieh js I don'tknow how many thousa d !ons per annum. Other traffic there was

literally none. Now, if is very evident

iliat these meat preserving cnimjinies can continue their operations only so Jong as the price of stock (coops very low. . Their own operations are unfavourable to a fonh'-'iuan-e of low prices. About 30a0t)0 sheep a yo.ir, and a proportionate number of cattle, pee annually tinned and expoi-fe.l. 1\ that rate of consumption i« maintained it is very evident thai the price of ftock must increase. ; and as the deTBS&vA. for preserved m.eat in. Europe

"depends entirely upon its cheapness^ there- is" a probability not very remote, that the operations of the companies e't'ierwillcn? day be suspended. Should this contingency arise, the question how tbe Mai aura Railway is to pay will become interesting. Leaving the meat preserving works, with its attendant stench, onward I proceeded, and shortly afterwards' found myself travelling rapidly up Princes-street. As I arrived at the door of a well-known hostelry, from the bar parlour were uttered these words : " Yes, sir, the finest city in New Zealand ."

{To be continued)