REEFTON

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 991, 30 July 1872, Page 2

REEFTON

(from our own correspondent.) Jupiter Pluvius, better known in the vernacular as the clerk of the weather, has been showering his aqueous blessings so Treely of late, that we are all more than ready to cry hold, enough ! and in the language of humble petitioners ' ever pray' for a gleam of sunshino, be it ever so transient. Mud, muck, and megrims are the prevailing characteristic of Reefton and Reeftonites at present, and it is but a matter of opinion as to who in our community most deserves pity, whether those who have to bear the discomforts of out door life, or those who, staying within, suffer of the ills that flesh is heir to, in the shape of coughs, colds, chronic ills, and divers bodily ailings. Business here is brisk, after an intermittent fashion, supplies coming to hand with accustomed irregularity. Perhaps when the Westport folk bestir themselves to lay down a tramway, or start a balloon service or something of-the sort, to avoid the plaguey passage of the Snag Falls, we may hope for better things. At present we have to eat, drink, and be merry, not over what we like, and where we like, but with such as we can get, and when we can get it, being thankful even for small mercies. In social matters we contrive to ktep the ball rolling briskly. Meetings, public and private, have of late been frequent, and the amount of politics aud poteen discussed has been alike satisfactory to politicians and publicans. Of the gentle Eugene and his tactics, I need say nothing more than has been said, except to inform your Westport readers, that had they possessed the requisite' pluck and manly independence, to have called upon him to resign, they need not have feared good suppoit in this district, but it was of course their business to have taken the initiative. On the matter of separation we are all unanimous, except so far that public opinion has hardly yet arrived at an exact conclusion what to ask for, in lieu of the present misalliance. The resolutions passed ab the late meebing here, I no'ice you have I

already published. Our Hospital entertainment was a great event, and, emboldened by their first success, the promoters I hear are coLteniplating another before the winter is over. Next Friday, 2Gth, the members of the Loyal Reefton Lodge meet together to inaugurate the lodge according to time honored rites and prescription, and thereafter on the 29th, the event will be celebrated by a ball and supper, which is anticipated to put a climax to all previous efforts of a similar nature in this district. The committee of management are working strenuously, not only to deserve, but command success.

The Church Committee ("Anglican) have made application to get a resideut minister located at Reefton, as at present the visits of clergymen are like angel's, few and far between. The Bishop has been asked to sanction a call to the Rev. Mr Flavell, who if report speaks truly, would not be unwilling to take up his abode even in this remote and cheerless region, for the advancement of the cause for which he so worthilv labors.

The hospital committee have, after very mature deliberation, appointed, from among four applicants, Dr Bulmer, of Wellington, as surgeon to the District Hospital, at a salary of £2OO, with the privilege of private practice It has hardly been made clear to the public how far the right of private practice may extend; whether the doctor may attend any case he may be called to, e\ en to ihe uttermost ends of the earth, or whether he will be required t:> keep within a certain defined district around Reefton, so that the eventualities of private practice may not interfere with the due discharge of his official duties as hospital surgeon. Of mining news I cannot add much that is particularly Btartling. Tunneling, tramway forming, and other preliminary work is still engaged the attention, and taxing the resources of the majority of ciaimholders. At Andersons Creek, Messrs Findlay and Cornfoot are busily erecting machinery, and are putting in first rate work. It will be five or six weeks yet before the stampers are ready for action, and meanwhile a good quantity of stone will be got out, and the track to the machine made good, so that work once commenced may then go on without delay. The Golden Fleece Company are, I hear, still busy crushing for the Ajax claim, but the exact results are kept dark. They are also doing some heavy outside work, forming a coal tramway, in which some daring engineering is displayed, in attempting to run a loaded tram-car up one pre- . cipitous angle, and down another, by means of a horse whim perched on the top.

The Wealth of Nations have experienced a run of mischances in the transit of their machinery ; and the present state of roads nnd weather still precludes the hope that all they require, in the shape of ironwork, will yet be brought to their hands.