ALEXANDRA.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 335, 4 March 1874, Page 3

ALEXANDRA.

(From our own Correspondent.)

On Wednesday last we had a good fall of rain accompanied by a cold southerly wind. A good deal of snow fell on the ranges, which will prove "a boon to the race owners, whose supply of water was getting rather scarce. On the 18fch inst. some persons entered the residence of Mr. John King at Golden Beach during the absence of the inmates, and stole a quantity of wearing apparel, provisions, and some articles of jewellery, to the value of about £10. No cluehas yet been found to the thieves. The neighbourhood of Golden Beach has enjoyed an unenviable notoriety for the last two or three years as the locality of a number of petty thefts the perpetrators of which have hitherto escaped detection, until apparently emboldene.l by impunity they aro beginning to fly at higher game. It is a pity tbat there is not a clever detective told off to look after the up country districts, as the local police have such multifarious duties to perform that they cannot spare the time to properly investigate such cases as the above, besides labouring undec the dißtidvnut-ago of being so well known that the fact of their making inquiries immediately puts the thieves on their guard.

On the 12th inst. Mr. Clapcott gave a selection of his readings in the Library Hall for the benefit of the . Dunstan . District Hospital. Owing to the short notice given the attendance was not so good as the nature of the entertainment deserved, but those who were present spent a tlioroughahly enjoyable evening, and testified their appreciation of the clever rendering of the various pieces by frequent applause.

j With refereuee to " A Mother's " letter I j would remark that the management of the ! school is directly under tbe control of the inhabitants, and if they do not take the trouble to elect a committee who would redress their grievances, it must either bo that the grievances are of too petty a nature to cause them to take any interest in the matter, or else that they have no grievances to redress. No one can gainsay that Alexandra has not taken the position to which it was entitled by its natural resources, but this result is to attributed to very different causes to those put forward by " A Mother." One of the principalreasonshas been the cvil — inseparable from small communities — of dealing with public matters to a great extent on personal grounds. In Alexandra this feeling flourishes with a virulence I never saw equalled elsewhere. " Men, not measures " appears to be our motto. A friend informs Smith that some public movement is on foot ; the first question asked is who are -the promoters of it ? Jones and Robinson replies bis friend. Smith gives a snort of disgust as he exclaims " I thought it was some hole and corner work, but I'll let them gee they are not going to bave it all their own way." And be does let them see, by arranging witb his friend Brown, j mustering, his party and doing his best to nullify tbe efforts of his opponents, until t people get disgusted at opposition, where they bad reasonably expected that there ■would bave been unanimity of opinion, and I get lukewarm and indifferent until tbe affair dies out through want of support. Smith is delighted at this consummation, not — as be carefully explains — that be has any objection to tbe movement in the abstract, but he exclaims emphatically " I don't believe in that beggar Jones !" and giving a grunt of triumph he retires to his couch satisfied that he has performed his duty as a man and a citizen. As a matter of course Jones and Robinson remember tbe way in which tbey have been treated, and when opportunity offers tbey pay back Smith and Brown in their own coin. And so affairs bave been going, on for years past, and many a movement which might bave benefited the district has collapsed through tbe personal feelings introduced into it, until things have arrived at this pass that — given the names of the originators of any movement, and a person acquainted with the place would have no difficulty in naming its chief opponents. But it is useless writing on the subject, if the ties of self interest arc not sufficiently strong to bind people together, no amount of lecturing will be of any avail.