LAKE WANAKA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2237, 14 January 1897, Page 25

LAKE WANAKA.

January 12. — Last Tuesday atmidnightit begin to rain, and kept up till daylight. Needles* to say, it was very welcome. Harvest is tiot yet general, nor will it bp for another week. Farm produce is quoted nt a. very high figure, ro high that I am afraid to give quotations till the tiguies are verified. However, there is no doubt that the figures will b<- at famine prices long before the winter is over. In the meantime the weather seems promising for the farmers to have good harvest weather. Bush Fires.— With the dry weather come complaint- of the ravages by fire. lam credibly informed that there have been large fires in the forests at Matukituki, Makarora, and Hawea, and much valuable timber has been destroyed in each place. Tt is th« future generation that will suffer for this. I notice that Messrs R. aarf C. Turnbull offer a reward of £5 for the conviction of the person who lit a grass fire which burnt up a lot of country near Luggate, and doubtless burnt out the grass by the roots. Burning the grass has ruined the country. In the early days everyone had a mania for burning, and the mnholders are now finding it out when too late. The other day Mr Felix Fox, at Hawea Fiat, bad the misfortune to lo3e by fire his utablu and chetf house. All his harness was burnt, n<> that he could not work hi? horse?. By a lucky chance his buggy mare was turned out of the stabla, or she would have bean burned also. Mr Fox can give no clue whatever to the origin of the fire. I imber —Mr John tlenderaon, of Tarras, has struck out in a new line, having tUcen his engine and saw bench up the Matukituki Valley, and he is now at work turning out sawn tiraher. At first he established his mill afc Round HilJ, but the tree* being too small he moved up the righthand branch of tha Matukituki R'ver, aboufcthree miles abova Mr Hugh M Pherson's house. Me3srs Russell, Ewing, and Co.'s sawmill is on the lefthand branch. They had some little difficulty in getting across the Matukituki River, as it was high, and a youth rode on« of the leading horses as post'llion, hut he got giddy in mid-stream and let the lnaders work down-strjam, and someone on horseback had to rush i« and guide *he horses ba"lc again. They harJ 11 horses on ths engine in crossing the river. Mr Henderson intends getting another engine in time for the thre'hing. He sent up a flock of sheep to keep the party in mutton, so that he is makiqg preparations for an exten ive s'av. Water Supply —The contractors for making the villag • well at Hawea struck water at about 50ft, which was quite a surnriee, as Mr Jo'l CazfordS well, a couple of hundred yards away, is about 120 ft deep I expect each village settler will now have a well of his own when the water can be got at such a shallow depth, especially as it is a fearful drag on a household to go even 200 yards for its water, to say nothing of the absence of water for watering vegetables, <&c. Bazaar. — The residents of Cardrona lately brought a bizaar to a very successful ending, no less than £>3o being realised for the purpose of paying off the debt <m the Citholic Church, which was foi merly Mrs Knowles's hall, and for providing the necessary interior accsssories. Mr Dan Goodman canvassed th's portion of the district, the result being a dray load of produce, which he took up a fortnight after. Stock Tax —Mr Goodman tells me that he had some sheep during the pa3t year on which the necessary stock tax was paid, but when the last instalment bee*m j due he had bnt IK left, and he sent the tax to tho Stock department, but was a week too late, and incurred a fine nt Is, aud had to pay that also before he could get his receipt. Mr G -qdnian speaks of this as a system of tyranny, as he is three miles from the post office at Cardrona, and has to go there to get stamps or postal notes, and he thinks the law requires amending. T noticed afterwards that a correspondent at Waitahuna wrote sundry letters in reference to this ju3i grievance. The Late Casualty.— There is a sad sequel to the unfortunate case of the Victorhn shearer accidentally stabbiuv himself at Morve.i Hills. He intended getting mairied when he got hack to Victoria. The station groom drove the remains to Cromwell with Constable Mulbolfond in the express. En route the horses bolted, and one wheel came off, and Mr Mulholland was thrown out on his head and became delirious, for which everyone who knows him will be extremely sorry, as he is a good officer and a genial man, now doing the work that used to be done "by three men— the sergeant, a constable, and a bailiff, — and all for the pay of one. I have not heard any further particulars, but hope that Mr Mulholland is now recovering. The Bot.— The botfly has been unduly "prominent during the summer. Some horses go frantic, others take no notice, while the bot does not trouble others at all. Horseowners would do well to keep <i careful look-out and rub fat or tbick oil or shei-p dip under the horse's jaws to kill the bot nits. In the springtime Mr Koger Halliday's draught mare, which he got from Dunedin some months previous, suddenly dropped dead on the road. I helped to make a post-mortem examination, and we found the heart very small and full of matter, and there were seven fully-developed bots near the outlet of the stomach.