TUAPEKA CREEK ROAD

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 285, 17 July 1873, Page 6

TUAPEKA CREEK ROAD

(To the Editor.) Sir. — The residents of the Tuapeka Flat have this week put their shoulders to the wheel bravely to make a roadway from below Mr. Fitzgerald's lower paddock to Crowley Brother's homestead in this portion of the district. At a point called Hind's Corner stood the chief barrier, and in this place they centred their energies and wrought with a will, until it was removed, aud they succeeded after much difficulty in making a passable road, over which a team and loaded waggon can travel with safety from henceforth. This will be of great benefit to this place, as the residents will be able to get their produce and other necessaries backwards and forwards far more expeditiously than they hitherto could have done. " Great praise is due to the few that have taken this work in hand, and voluntarily spent their time and labor in removing these obstacles that bo long stood in their way. I consider it would be doing them an injustice if I did not here give their names, as an example to others. You will see they are Irishmen of the first water, and consequently were the most suitable to deal with the hard stone : — Philip Duffy, John Duffy, Timothy Crowely. James Oahill, John Thompson, Alexander Hinds, John Eearden, and Dan Howard. James Harris, Esqr., Merchant, of Lawrence, also contributed with that liberal spirit for which he is so highly esteemed. There were a few expected, who were also interested in this work, but they stood in the back ground, without giving the least assistance; but "the best laid tcbemes o' mice and men gang aft aglee," and we will not be hardjupon these. Before this is in print, there will be a memorial in the hands of one of our representatives, Mr. Horace Bist'ngs, to. try to get from tb,e hands of the QrOf

vernment some assistance towards putting this road in a better condition during the ensuing summer. We will miss our friend Mr. J. C. Brown on this occasion, who is, I am informed > in Wellington. We have been upbraided for being so remiss in asking this assistance long before, but it is never too late to do a good thing ; and perhaps, Mr. Editor, you would be kind enough to put in a good word in our favor this time. — -I am, &c, A Eesident. Tuapeka Plat, July 12, 18"3.

! A former subscriber, who discontinued bis " Republican-" because he could not make it say just such things as he thought it ought to say, has, we learn, recently expressed consider* able surprise ,to his -friends tbat the paper should keep running — -since he has withdrawn his patronage., It waspretty close work for a while, we confess ; but by omitting to put sugar in our tea, and by buying a cheaper grade of paper collars and reversing them for the second and third time,, we managed to rub along until a new subscriber came and took the place of our respected but disgruntled friend — and then Eichard was himself again. Nothing but rigid economy will carry one safely over such a calamity as the* loss of a subscriber. A few figures will show what the present extent of Ballarat really is. From east to west it extends about four miles, from north to south (taking in the borough of Sebastopol, between which and Ballarat there is no break) it measures five and a quarter miles. The area included is built over quite as closely as is consistent with the health and comfort of the inhabitants. In 1870, 6196 tenements were assessed in the city at a ratable value of £207,763 ; in the borough, in the same year, the tenements numbered 3912, and the valuation was £83,054. The population of both is about 54000. Ballarat is 80 miles west of Greelong, or Corio Bay, and 90 mile 3 from Melbourne. With both of the seaports it is connected by means of an excellent double-lined railway, and new lines are now in progress which will further connect it with the chief centres of population to the north and west. Besides its great mining wealth, Ballarat has the advantage of being surrounded with rich agricultural country, and has such a varity of resources that it must prove stable and wealthy even after it auriferous treasures are exhausted. Our Oamaru contemporary says: — As the blight has attacked a large number of apple tree in this district, the following, which we are assured is an unfailing receipt for its eradication, will be of value to gardeners and fruitgrowers generally. It has, our informant says, been used by him with uniform success. Into a vessel of five gallons capacity put 1 lb. of arsenic, which dissolve thoroughly in hot water. Let the liquid cool, then fill up the vessel with cold water, well mixing the contents. Then remove the earth carefully from around the base of the trees affected, exposing the roots, and pour over these a portion of the solution — a. quart will suffice for a fair-sized tree. Replace the earth, and then brush over the blighted and cankered portion of the branches with a solution of lime (dissolved in water), and a complete cure will, it is said, be effected in the most advanced stage of disease." There is awide-spread tendency to believe in lucky numbers. The mystical properties of numbers, and the doctrine of chances, have both something to do with this matter. Cardplayers have a number of crotchets of this kind — "luck under the duce," bad luck under the nine of diamonds, an even nnnaber for the trump card* One theory says that even numbers are unlucky, because 'each can be divided into, thereby denoting death and dissolution. One nation made the year consist of 359 days, in order that io should not divide into twelve equal months. Some of the early Christians pronounced for odd numbers because God is 1 in 3, and because he made holy the 7th day. The number 7 and its multiples were on other grounds made lucky, because a human being sheds his teeth 7 becomes a youth at twice 7, a man at thrice 7 and reaches his grand climacteric at nine times 7. In some parts of England, the housewives put their hens on an odd number of eggs; because, with an even number they fear there would be no chicks. The current year of our Lord is always a lucky number in the estimation of some persons. Number three is greatly in favor for luck; school boys insist that the third time will be fair, or will result in success. There is an old superstition or maxim, call it which you may, tbat three handfuls of sand on a dead body are as good as a funeral. The Eomans had notions about the breadth of a camp fosse measuring ai\ odd number of feet, the holding of markets at intervals of an odd number of years; the dining at- a triclinium or three sided table; the Graces being three the Furies three, and the Muses seven. Greek cities had an odd number of gates. The French peasantry have a knack of making out lucky and unluckyyears for great personages, by adding together the year of our Lord, the digits which compose that number, the age of the individual, and the number of years between his birth, marriage, or some other notable event of his life — an elasr tic sort of proces, which can be made, to pyove almost aflythfog we wish,