ARROW RIVER.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 261, 30 January 1873, Page 8

ARROW RIVER.

(From our own Correspondent.) My budget of news is unusually heavy this time, and I shall have to epitomise it considerably, co as to press all matters of interest into a reasonable space. Foremost of all we have the visit of Sir George Bowen to the district, but as he confined himself to Queenstown and the Lake, the mere record of his visit will be sufiicieut mention of the event ; but en passant I may note a few of the frolics of the Queenstown codfish aristocracy, and they convey valuable lessons in economy. A high dignitary, whose attainments in this science are proverbial in the district, telegraphed to the Provincial Executive, iuquiring if the Government would subsidise the expenses incurred by the Queenstown Corporation receiving and entertaining His Excellency, and also who was to pay the cost of the steamer, the luncheon, and the wines for the excursion up the Lake ? (It must be remembered that the party was large and perhaps a hungry one). The Superintendent being one of the number intended to be starved or entertained, you may easily guess the nature of the reply. Had His Excellency honored us witli a visit, he would have been treated with more respect. Another subject worth notice, and connected with the visit of the Colonial luminaries, is the cold — not to say studied, neglect with which the Superintendent treated the miners of the province, by not affording their much vaunted Executive an opportunity of delivering the address they had prepared in anticipation of a visit from His Honor, and though he may have avoided being bored, and escaped other annoyances, he has gained neither favor nor popularity by hia keeping aloof from the miners. Harvesting is, of course, the order of the day, and a busy time the present is. The weather is the most unfavorable that could be imagined. Cold, rain and wind, have ruled supreme during the last two weeks, and interfered with open-air work to an extent that is especially damaging at the present time of the year. Considering everything, however, there is reason to be satisfied with the result of the harvest. Though the yield per acre may be a little below the average, the total amount of wheat will be above that of former seasous, as more and more land is put under the plough every year, which proves that wheat growing is a payable occupation in the Lake district. It is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and although "Winds blew baith snell and keen," the miner rubs his hands with glee to see the mountains capped with that material, which, converted into a fluid, is so essential to the prosecution of his calling. The snow lies on all hills of any preentsion to a considerable depth and at a remarkably low level, and it makes its presence most disagreeably felt as soon as the sun sinks behind the hills. Under the circumstances, 1 may fairly predict a bright future for the sluicer, for at this time of the year, the complaints of want of water used to be universal. The Frankton races, which came off last Thursday and Friday, were miserable failures. Miners as well as farmers were too busy to attend, and these two elements constitute the spending power of the district. There was not much of that life and spirit which generally characterises such meetings. Since time immemorial, it has been the practice of the good folks of Arrow and Queenstown to play practical jokes upon on© another, and the race meeting

just referred to offered an opportunity for the perpetration of the latest. The story is a recurrence of " AH right, Birdy !" which went the round of the colonial press a short time ago, and would scarcely warrant a recital did I not find an excuse in the philosophic excuse that history repeats itself. Certain sporting men of Queenstown fancied they had discovered in a "party," who played a prominent part in the great billiard match which took place in Lawrence in November last, a fit and proper medium to make good their recent defeats in trials of agility, such as cricket, foot races, standing high jumps, etc., in which the Arrowites invariably came off the winners. In order to regain their lost honors, they seized upon this " great unknown," cooped him up carefully for some time, and at last brought him out as a " crack runner " who could whip the district: A match was soon made for .£25 a-side — the Arrow being represented by a fine young athlete about 17 years of age. The distance to be run was 200 yards, over 8 flights of hurdles, 3ft. 6in. high. The Queenstown folks knew their man to be a professional runner who had beaten several pedestrians of no mean fame, and therefore backed him in some heavy sums ; of course not with a view to gain filthy lucre, but renown, and to make ducks and drakes of the money of the Arrowites. But what was their surprise when they found their man lost the race by a few yards, that the tables were turned upon them, that their money, name, and reputation all were gone, and to learn the bitter lesson that to win a race is one thing and to win the money quite another. Oh ! tliou child of many prayers, Life hath quicksands -life hath snares ! Still these noble fellows (the Queens townites) do not kick up a row ; they swallow their defeat quietly, bear their disappointments like men that are used to them, and wichout any ostentation, except it be in the insolvent court. Moral : " Doubtless the pleasure is as great of being cheated as to cheat."