OKARITA.

West Coast Times, Issue 360, 17 November 1866, Page 2

OKARITA.

(FROM THE WESTLAND OISSERVER, NOV. 10.)" Mr Mueller, surveyor of this district, has now three parties at work cutting tracks from the beach towards the foot of the ranges. They are employed to cut tracks of sufficient width to enable diggers to proceed with ease to or from the beach, and as they are situated midway between the streams, and on the dry ground formed by the spurs from the ranges, they will undoubtedly be found to be of great convience to prospecting parties and others. The pity is that the work had not been undertaken and completed many months sooner. With such facilities of travel, diggers, when they were here in numbers, would not only have prospected the country more thoroughly, but might have set in to work in localities to which the conveyance of necessaries is now costly and laborious. The track nearest Okarita, we should mention, enters the bush almost immediately behind Evan's Provincial Hotel, and is being cut in a south-easterly direction towards the ranges, terminating probably in the vicinity of the lakes. The party engaged on it have been at work since the bpginning of the week, and have already penetrated the bush for a considerable distance, although the undergrowth, as usual near the sea, is dense and difficult of removal. The track is being cut four feet wide, and the bush is cut close to the ground, so that, in a few weeks or months at the most, diggers will be able to proceed into the interior with comparative ease and safety. The bar was the scene of an exciting incident on Thursday evening, when numerous spectators on shore were for some time interested and alarmed by the probable fate of a boat which had attempted to make the entrance on arrival from Bruce Bay. It was at the time well on towards dead low water, and although there was only a very slight surf, a strong stream was running out, and running for a considerable distance parallel to the beach in a southerly direction, an extensive sand-bank having formed across the entrance proper. As the boat approached the river, the crew lowered the sail, and took to their oars, pulling steadily in over the outer line of small breakers. There were, on very reasonable grouuds, fears that they would not be able to stem the outward current, but before they had reached even so far they came to grief, and for some time were in a position of imminent danger. Touching her bow on the tail of the spit as she rose over a breaker, she broached to, and a few waves soon filled her, and sent her crew over the side. There Was an immediate rush of people to the beach, and there wag an alarm that some of the men were being carried away by the current, several dark objects being seen in the water, but these proved to be some empty kegs, which were subsequently washed ashore. The men stuck to their boat, and Captain Heron's boat having been launched, the two hands which constitute the harbor crew, along with a volunteer, pulled down towards the spit, and, beaching their boat on the sandbank, assisted the men to bail out and haul the boat into the stream. After some exertion, and after all had been under and above the water at frequent intervals, thi3 was accomplished, and the boat was brought safely up to the landing place, the crew having every reason to be thankful that their hazardous experiment of attempting to enter against the ebb tide and a strong outward current, had not a more serious termination. The reconstruction of the building to be used as the new Court-house is now nearly completed, and as soon as the in; terior arrangements are perfected, Mr Price will take his seat on the bench therein as Resident Magistrate and Warden. The buildings on the Camp Reserve are rather a heterogeneous group, but the Court-house is certainly the most respectable of the lot, and if erected too late in the day to be of ajny practical utility, as some croakers will insinuate, it will a* least have the merit of being comparatively ornamental. The buildei s of the punt intended to be placed on the Okarita have now nearly completed its construction, and in a week or two equestrian or pedestrian travellers will be enabled to cross with greater ease or convenience than at present. If, apart from general traffic, it should prove any inducement to the inhabitants themselves to cross the river more frequently than they do, it would be well, as a more pleasant piece of country for a holiday ramble than that between the river and the north bluff, or a more desirable place for suburban homes, is rarely to be found on the West Coast. Two men, named Maurice Fitzgerald and William Fahy, diggers at the Five Mile, who had been arrested on Wednesday evening, were brought before M. Price, Esq., Resident Magistrate, on the following day, charged with an assault on Mr Helms, tobacconist The defendants, with a mate, had entered Mr Helms' store during his absence, ana selected a silver ring for a pipe. They also desired, or pretended to desire, that a pipe-case should be repaired. Two of them, Fahy and mate, walked away with the pipe ring, leaving Fitzgerald, who was intoxicated, and he entered into an argument with Mrs Helms as to paying for the ring when the worthless cover was repaired. He refused to pay at the time, and threatened -that if asked for the money again he " would get angry." He remained on the premises iv this interesting condition of threatened anger for about half-an-hour, until Mr Helms came in, and, when requested for payment again, he used excessively abusive language, and was disposed to h'ght. Both he aud Mr Helms went outside to find his mates, and when outside In- assaulted Mr Helms. His mates also came up at the time, and the three having re-entered the store, they took forcible possession thereof, committing a series of assaults upon Mr Helms, by striking him and throwing a box of tobacco at his head, assaulting also Mrs Helms a'ld hersi-ter during the scuffle, and upsetting a quantity of goods. Other persons, who ventured in to interfere, were also jostled, and the "row" only terminated when ihe police appeared and arrested Fit^eraH, the other defendant, Fahv, being arre-tedat a later hour in the evening by Ser-e.mt M'Ennis, who was afforded an oppoi tnnity for exercise by having t > chase him along beveral streets before ho was secured. They were

each fined L 5, and ordered to pay about L 5 for damage done, with the alternative of imprisonment for two mouths. The harbor officials here, when examining, a few days ago, the boat belonging to that department, made a rather unsatisfactory discovery. The boat is furnibhed inside with what purported to be cork floats covered with canvas, and so attached to the thwarts as to prevent her from sinking if filled with water, or to enable her to right herself if capsized. These were examined a day or two ago, and, behold, the cork was found to be rotten. This was bad, but it seemed so far satisfactory that the cork only served as an outer covering to apparently air-tight cylinders, constructed of tin. It was worse, however, when these cylinders were found to be filled with water, instead of the proper element— air. The apparatus was, in fact, better calculated to sink than to float the boat, and to ensure the destruction rather than thi> safety of life in the event of accident. The discovery was a complete explanation of the fact that the boat was always a heavy one ; and it is certainly satisfactory that it was made in the ordinary course of harbor duties, and not on the occasion of an iuquest into some irretrievable disaster. It is unnecessary to say that Captain Heron at once rectified the matter, procuring without much difficulty a supply of corks, and manufacturing floats upon which some more dependence may be placed than those which, on the discovery of their character, were very properly condemned. The official estimate of the population of this district has, we fear, been rather above than below the actual numbers. The population of the town, usually calculated at 400 or 500, does not even amount to 200 adults, including the whole array of officials, and we have a suspicion that on the beaches the number of residents is also below the usual estimate. At the utmost, we do not believe the population of the whole district amounts to more than 1000 or 1100, and when the numbers in the township and the business people on the diggings are deducted, the mining population must, indeed, be very small. Yet this population has managed for several months past to produce an average of 7000 ounces of gold per month— a larger return, we should imagine, than can be quoted by any mining district in the colony. Last week's overland mail, properly due on Friday, did not arrive until Sunday evening. The^mailman had a real excuse for this lateness of arrival — the rivers were high, and in some instances impassable. How long he may have dilly-dallied until these unfortunate circumstances occurred is best known to himself. In consequence of this late arrival he was, in the interest of the public, detained here by the Postmaster for twenty-four hours before starting on his return journey. It happened to rain considerably during that time, and we have no doubt that the circumstance was duly appreciated, as it would afford another excuse on arrival at Hokitika An incident occurred on Monday which would probably astound the mailman, and equally astound Mr Dick, Postmaster at Hokitika. A gentleman, who does not receive Lls per week for mail conveyance, rode through from Hokitika on that day in about eleven hours. Given, the same circumstances for the conveyance of her Majesty's mails, and how many weeks would there be in a hundred years in which they would be ■conveyed through in the same time ?