LOCAL AND GENERAL.'

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 1294, 18 September 1873, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.'

We understand that the Government have given a grant of £25 towards the Roxburgh, Cemetery, and have promised a further gift of a selection of trees and shrubs, which will add; considerably to the appearance of the place. The Committee of the Church of England^ Roxburgh, have procured from Melbourne a bell and fittings for their Church; and when the f same is properly fixed, it will not only form I a finish to the campanile of the Church, hut bo j of considerable service to parties residing in the ! locality. Our Correspondent "Alpha" expresses surprise to hear of the likelihood of the Switz^rs Hospital hecoming defunct, l>ecause of tha discontinuance of the usual Government subsidy. The people on Waikai* FJafc, he 3tates. are much at loss to know how tbe funds of the Hospital tire disposed of, so as to make the sum so much per patient. No public financial report of the affairs of this Hospital have ever been published. We extract the following from a Roxburgh letter recently received by vs :— Your occasional correspondent is greatly in error in stating that the auooessor to Mr. Borton is named or spoken of by parties here. The gentleman whose name has been most unwarrantably referred to, has not the most remote idea of accepting such an appointment. The flourishing township of Riverton on the South-western Coast is to have a newspaper, to. be called the '* Western Star." We have received the prospectus of the new journal, and if the promises therein contained are carried out, Kiverton will have no reason to be ashamed of its newspaper. We may remark that the " Western Star" will be under the editorial management of a gentleman well known in Tn&peka. Pkom advertisement it will be observed that Mrs I^ngley will carry on the business of the Criterion Hotel in Tokomairiro. hitherto so successfully managed by the late Mr. Georga Langely. We feel assured this house will cowman^ A large ah.nro o.f public pat,iQuage.

In our report last week of the decision given in the case of Hinde v. Hay, judgment was stated to bo for the plaintiff instead of the fendantA SOIRKB and tea meeting was held by the members of the Loyal Roxburgh Lodge, M.U.1,0.0.F., on Friday evening, in the Assembly Room, Roxburgh. The company, to the number of about fifty, sat down to a well provided tea table at 8 o'clock ; after tea was over, N.G. Bro. T. P. Michell, who presided on the occasion,in a very effective manner, on behalf of the officers and brethren of the Lodge, presented P. 6. Bro. Beighton with a valuable gold medal and clasp, bearing the following inscription.—" Presented to P.G. Bro. John Beighton by the' Brothers of the Loyal Roxburgh Lodge, for valuable services rendered." The presentation was acknowledged by P.G. Bro. Beighton in a suitable manner, expressive of the high esteem in which he held such a distinctive mark of tbe appreciation of his services by the officers and brothers of the Lodge ; he trusted he might still continue to be held in esteem by them. The medal and clasp, which is of a "very neat and chaste design, is the work of Mr. BMop, jeweller, Dunedin. The usual loyal and social toasts were afterwards put and responded to, and the company favored with several well-selected and admirably rendered songs by Bros. Reid, Manuel, and Lucas. The tables were then cleared away and dancing commenced, and kept up until about 2 o'clock, everyone appearing highly delighted with such a pleasant and social re-union. If the postal establishment is perfect in some of its departments, it is certainly woefully defective in others. We have been making all kinds of experiments during the past three months to ascertain how a newspaper can be forwarded to Morven Ferry Post-office, in a reasonable space of time. Being informed that the Tuapeka Times, bearing the impress of Her Majesty tjueen Victoria, and properly despatched every Thursday morning, did not reach Morven Ferry Post-office, as a rule, for four weeks after its publication, and then sometimes four or five copies together, as if they had waited for each other on tbe road, we determined to try another route. We tried via Queenstown, but that would not answer, and we were equally unfortunate with Arrow. We then tried them by way of Dunedin, believing that by going to head-quarters they would be bound to be despatched with promptitude ; but all to no avail, they continued to arrive at their destination in the same erratic manner. We then tried the experiment with letters, when a slight improvement was perceptible, but so slight as to be practically useless. Now, it does seem very strange to us that the mails to Queenstown and Arrow arrive in three days after their despatch from Lawrence, while a mail to Morven Ferry — a place the mail coach in its way to these places passes twice a-week— lingers a month on the road. Mb. Bastings intimated to one of the deputations that waited upon himself and Dr. Webster in Lawrence, that it was the intention of the Government to revert to the old system of paying the district surveyors a salary, in order that Government work might receive the attention it required, and the surveyor's services be under its control. The proposed Bellamy Hundred and other hundreds about to be declared open for sale will be surveyed by contract. The first instalment of Mr. Pyke's new book, *' Wild Will Bnderby " has been very favorably received in Lawrence, and not without good reason. -as itjbids fair to be an excellent tale. If the interest is kept up in the succeeding numbers as well as in this one, it requires not the wisdom of a seer to pronounce that it will be a thorough literary success We trust it will also prove a commercial success, and thus encourage Mr. Pyke to add many more chapters to our colonial literature. Thb aontractors on the Lawrence and Tokomairiro line are proceeding as rapidly as the scarcity of labor and the bad weather will permit. Wage»e rule as follows:— Quarrymen. 10s. to 11s. per day; -pick and shovel men, 9s. per day. and very few are obtainable at that figure. The scarcity of 1.-ibor promises to be a great drawback to the prosecution of public works, &c. during the incoming sum•iner. Shearers signify their intention of not working in a woolshed for less than £1 per hundred. At a recent meeting of stockowners in the province, it was resolved that the price should be only 155. , so that it is evident concessions must be made.on one or both sides before any work can be done. The prospect of participating in the good things provided by Mr, Togel's policy in the shape of" ready money to be devoted to the necessary public works of the colony, has had a good effect in raising the drooping spirits of the tradespeople of Waipori. The sludge channel, for which £8000 have been voted, is a work that the Government should be induced to commence without the slightest delay, as on its construction depends to a considerable extent the future welfare of the Waipori district. It will no doubt, tend to largely increase the population. On a recent visit there, we observed that several old residents have already returned from other fields in anticipation of remunerative employment from this source. The long promised road from Tnapeka via Bungtown is also greatly needed, as a means of supplying quicker and easier communication, and enabling the residents to visit Tuapeka without risking their lives in a snowstorm. There being no telegraph wire, in case of sudden illness a surgeon has to be procured from Tuapeka, which is no easy matter in bad weather ; and to bring a patient in winter months over the ranges to the hospital, is sufficient in some cases, if not to cause, at least to accelerate death. We would therefore impress upon the Waipori people the necessity of agitating to get the Government to commence the work at once. The rainfall on Monday last had the effect of raising the Tuapeka Creek to a good height, and causing considerable damage to the, new portion of the Beaumont Road, which very recently cost the Corporation about £600. The wall which skirts the road, and which was supposed to be a sufficient barrier against the biggest flood, has sunk several feet, thus rendering a great portion of it utterly useless. It will take at least a £100 to repair the damage done. The real cause of the damage is undoubtedly owing to the wall referred to , not being built deep enough. The fresh which came down on Monday gouged out two or three feefc from the channel of the creek, thus undermining the stone work, which in some places subsided and in others was carried away by the force of tbe current. If a wall built on a more sure foundation does not speedily replace the present on«, we fear the greater portion of the road will before long be carried iiresistibly down to the Molyneux. So much for our local contract work 1 The following letter has been banded to us for publication '—"Colonial Secretary's office, Wellington, 22nd August, 1873. Sir,-In compliance with the request contained in your letter of the 13th instant, addressed to the Minister of Justice, I"*have the honor to inform you that the Schoolhouse, Dalhousie, Tuapeka Mouth, will be appointed a polling place for the Tuapeka district for the election of members of the General Aasemhly, members of the Provincial Council, and Superintendents of the Province of Otago.— l have the honor to be, Sir, ' your most obedient servant, E. S. Cooper, Under-Secretary.— J,.C. Brown, Esq., M.H.R., Wellington." Mr. J. P. Abmstronq during his stay at Roxburgh has been induced to deliver his lecture on ♦ ' The Adventures of an Irishman in America, Australia, and New Zealand," The lecture takes place to-morrow evening, and is for the benefit of tbe Roxburgh School funds. We have no doubt that Mr. Armstrong would favor his numerous friends in Tuapeka by delivering his lecture here, if some of the Committees of our local institutions, whioh are without exception in need of funds, were to take the matter in hand, AN accident happened near Scroggs Creek to the mid-day coach on Monday last. There were seventeen passengers on board when it capsized over a Wnlr shefaek in hei^hb. Mr. M»rsn»l) of Clyde, was sitting on the box seat, and had his left , arm fractured, and was otherwise severely bruised and shaken. On arrival in town he was removed to the Red Lion Hotel and placed under the care of Dr. Hocken. We are glad to say he is as well as can be expected.

The contractor for the Wesleyan Church, Lawrence, has commenced operations. The foundation, a stone one, is being built by Mr. Whittet. Whitehaven-street with its three churohes will soon have have an odour of sanctity about it that must favorably impress strangers as they approach the town from the Dunedin road. A IOO yard footrace, for £5 a bide, took place in Dunedin on Saturday last, between John Tyson, the wrestler, who formerly resided in the Tuapeka district, and one Campbell. The latter got away with the lead and won the race by a yard. During the -last week upwards of 500 immi' grants arrived in Dunedin, and they were im* mediately absorbed, the demand far exceeding the supply. Two new chum farm laborers from one of the vessels arrived in Lawrence this week seeking work, but on being offered £60 per annum and found, promptly declined by saying, '• He be not going to work for that money." It would take a fair wage to keep some of the recently imported in beer, if we may judge from the manner in which they pour quart after quart down their capacious throats, They don't ( drink !□ colonial fashion; but & parity of them j sitting in a room or standing at a oar. order j beer ia a quart pot and pass it round, all drinking out of the same measure, till it is exhausted ; they then have it replenished as long as their money or credit lasts. If their ability for work is as good as their drinking capacity, the public works of the province should make rapid progress. It is scarcely necessary for us to remind our readers that the concert in aid of the funds of the Tuapeka Athenasum takes place this evening. Are illy good programme is to be submitted, as will be seen by a. glance at our advertising columns, and many of the songs will be quite new to a Lawrence audience, noticeable among which are " Enoch Arden's Dream," "Come back to Erin," " Wrecked and Saved," and "In her little bed we laid her ; " all very popular songs, and well worth going to hear. We hope the public will show their appreciation of the efforts which have been made, and not allow a little mud or rain to deter them from patronising an entertainment which we feel satisfied will prove a treat to vocalists and lovers of music. The gift auction in connection with the Wesleyan Church will be held to-morrow in the Atheaenum, and not in Mr. Hay's sale rooms as previously advertised. The quantity and variety of gifts from all parts, which have been cuotribufced towards this auction, surpass anything of the kind which has ever taken place in the district. With a view to counteract the bad effects of this cold weather, we understand that refreshments in the form of tea and coffee will be provided for the benefit of those who attend the sale. From a private telegram received in Lawrence on Tuesday, we are glad to learn that the Government have assented to the erection of a new courthouse in Lawrence. Ihe most ardent wish of the inhabitants is therefore likely to be carried into effect by having the present courthouse converted itno a post-office.