The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA: FRIDAY, DEC. 15, 1876.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 127, 15 December 1876, Page 5

The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA : FRIDAY, DEC. 15, 1876.

Mf Donald Reid addressed his constituents at Mosgiel last night at 8 o'clock, too late for our giving a report in this issue. He will alsgj&old a meeting at Outram to-night. yf. A grand demonstration took place at yesterday to celebrate the opening of the Matau Bridge. There was a large crowd present from the surrounding districts, and Dunedin, Tokomairiro, Kaitangata, Balclutha, &c. The ceremony was performed by xMrs Watt, the oldest female born on tho island. Three arches haaoeen erected upon the bridge, and the approaches were lined with trees. After the ceremony, the male part of the company retired to Mr O'Kane's Railway Hotel, where a large tent had been erected, and in which about 100 gentlemen sat down to a sumptuous spread' prepared by Mr O'Kane.' Mr .George Ingles, Chairman -of the Matau lload Boafrd, occupied the chair, and Mr Archibald Anderson the vice-chair. s Th(* principal speakers were his Honor the Superintendent, Messrs' Stout, Green, J. M. Watson, Robert M'Ken_'e, J. L. Gillies, H. Clark, D. Henderson, J. M'Neil, W. A. Mosley, A. Anderson, John Shaw, W. Smith. W. Mollison, James Petrie, &c. Besides .those named, .-there were i present, among others— Mr Carruthers, Chief Engineer; Mr Passmore, Manager of .Railways for North Island ; Mr Lawson, RaUwa'y'MjJhager, Canterbury ; Mr Conyers, Manager,' .of Railways for the South Island ; Mr Blair,' District Engineer. . Apologies were read from Messrs H; Bastings, j. W. Thomson, &.' Turnbuil, D. Reid, Smaill, Davie, and Murray. The ladies and chU<_r&n were entertained thotiglioufc t_.e afternoon at a picnic in the fine bush at the end of the new bridge, and a ball Was held in the drillshed in the evening. ' The whole passed off most enthusiastically and satisfactorily. We regret that in consequence of the lateness of the hour before the whole events of the demonstration w^:e over, and being so near our publication day, we are obliged to hold over a full report till next issue.

While a man named Shaw was out riding on the Beaumont station on Thursday, hia : horse fell and he broke his arm. Great preparations are being made for . the annual picnic to be held at Wairuna on Christmas Day, which promises to be, as usual, a grand success. At a meeting of the Wairuna Public Library Committee held on Wednesday evening last, it was resolved to obtain £10 worth of new books for the library. We have received the Illustrated New Zealand Herald for the present month. The woodcuts, as usual, are very well executed, aud the reading matter is well selected. By some mistake or other, which we hope will not again occur, pur Tapanui packet, which should have arrived here on Thursday last week, was not delivered till Friday. The Wairuna distriot was on Sunday last visited with a beautiful shower ot rain, which has done a vast amount of good. The ! crops in the district are all looking first-class. A public meeting was called for last ! evening in the Wairuna schoolhouse for the pur- j pose of electing a suitable person to represent the Waipahi Biding in the Clutha County Council. 1 The programme of the Sports to be held at Clinton on New Year's Day will be found in this issue. We would call attention to the fact that the nominations for handicaps must be lodged by Tuesday, the 19th instant. The erection of the new Church at Kaitangata is beiDg rapidly pushed forward by the contractor, Mr R. Macdonald. The church is to ■cost about £1060, and from its commanding situation will be a great ornament to the district. A Wairuna correspondent writes : — The elections in this district have been brought on so hurriedly that ifc is more than probable that a great number of the people will know nothing at all about them until they are all over. The programme of the Waihola Regatta, to be held on Boxing day, will be found in another column, from which it will be seen that the prizes are upon a most liberal scale. We trust some of our Clutha teams will enter. Whilst a settler in the Waipahi district was quietly proceeding to the post office on Sunday, he was set upon by three men, who assaulted and beat him shamefully, inflicting on him serious bodily injuries. An inquiry will probably be made. A public meeting was held in the Owake schoolhouse on the evening of the 28th ultimo, for the purpose of considering what steps should be taken to secure the services of Mr Morris for the district. It was resolved to petition the Church Extension Committee to place Mr Morris in the district, and a committee was appointed to canvass the various sub-districts for subscriptions towards the Susfcentation Fund. An entertainment, consisting of songs, readings, and musical selections, was given in the schoolroom, Kaitangata, on Friday evening. There was a numerous attendance, and an excellent pi-ogramme had been provided. The proceeds are to be expended in the purchase of school prizes, which will be distributed on the loth instant, the day on which the school breaks up for the midsummer holidays. A serious accident occurred on the Clin-ton-Waipahi railv/ay line last Monday. Whilst a man named William Harrison was engaged fixing a bar or bolt underneath one of the dobbins, which was loaded with earth, ifc accidentally tipped up, precipitating the whole contents on top of him, The unfortunate man was conveyed to Clinton, and attended by Dr Bogle, who pronounced the injuries to be of so serious a nature that it was considered advisable to forward him immediately to the Hospital, whither he was transported on Tuesday. From latest accounts very slight hopes are entertained of his recovery. A man named Henry Berg, in the employ of Messrs Andrew and Dickson, Catlins Elver, failed to return from his work in the bush on the afternoon of Monday week, bearch was made on Tuesday and Wednesday without finding any traces of the missing man. It was feared that something had befallen him. On Thursday morning, however, he made his appearance, after wandering about for two clays and three nights in the bush. It appeal's that after having satisfied himself as to a patch of bush he was in search of, he began to wend his way (as he thought) homewards, but soon found that he had taken the wrong direction. He subsisted on broadleaf and water, and does not appear to be much the worse of his long journey. The usual weekly meeting of the Undaunted Lodge of Good Templars was held in the Owake schoolhouse on Wednesday last. After the routine business was over, the doors were thrown open to admit the public. As it was not generally known that the night was to be an open one, but few attended. Those present, however, enjoyed a pleasant hour's amusement. Songs were sung by Bros, Crews, Falconer, and Lees. Brother Logan, W.C.T., gave. a reading, and Brothers M'Kenzie and M'Andrewgave each a recitation. Mr and Miss Dutton varied the proceedings by a few tune 3on the harmonium. We observe that sports, under the auspices of this •lodge, are to be held in Mr f-Leay's paddock on Boxing, Day ; also a concert ahd ball in the Owake schoolhouse the Bame evening. Amongst the many .genuine neglects and grievances which exist in connection with the present County Ceuncil elections, we. learn, that a few spurious t)r, imaginary ones have been got , up. For example,the inhabitants of Inch Clutha -pere made to believe that there would be no pollmg'hoobh on the island, and that therefore "thoy would be obliged to go to Waitepeka to re- . cord their votes. Acting upon this supposition, a petition — that popular redresser of petty < wrongs — was got up, and Mr Mosley had a journey to Dunedin with it to present it to Mr George M'Lean. We do not know the reply, but we do know, and Mr Mosley ought to have known, that the duty oE appointing polling places rested with the returning officer, and before the petition was thought of that gentleman had appointed the schoolhouse, Inch Clutha, as ' a polling-booth. If any doubt had existed upon the subject, it would have been a simple matter to have asked the returning officer, instead of rushing off to Mr M'Lean with an imaginarygrievance. Nothing so effectually prevents the redress of real grievances as the getting up of fictitious ones, and a few mistakes of this kind cause representations from the quarter to be, very minutely inquired into before being credited, or attended to.

Among the numerptts deputations which ' have recently waited ipon the Hon. George M'Lean was one of Chinese on "Friday last. Then* object was to get a reduction of the duty . on green ginger. Ther lef fc samples with him, and he promised to inquire into the matter. Poor ' George, he is said to be almost Worried to death between one thing and another. Scarlet fever is reJortecLto have broken oufc fat Oarnaru, and ojie case proved fatal on Tuesday. An, emergency meeting of the Municipal Council was ai once called to take precautionary measitreo. In a recent issue we called the attention of the , Balclutha Town Council to the advisability of takinguch measures before instead of after the outbreak of the disease. Apparently, however, they consider it will be quite time enough to take action after a few fatal cases shall have been reported. We scarcely think the inhabitants will consider this a wise course.