ARROWTOWN.

Cromwell Argus, Volume VII, Issue 325, 1 February 1876, Page 6

ARROWTOWN.

(from our own correspondent.) January 31, IS7O. On Wednesday last, most of our business people and many other residents attended at to follow the remains of the late Mr J. W. liobestson to thoir final restingplace. The gathering was the largest which the town had seen for many years, and there was a quiet earnestness on all sides which •showed how deeply the loss of this good man -and kindhearted, true colonist was felt. His memory will be long cherished in this district :as one of the worthiest and most excellent of its pioneers. On occasions when numbers of people go and return a great distance, almost invariably some accident occurs here, but T heard of none in conncction-with this event, although numbers of those who attended oame from distances of from ten to twenty miles. ■ : . . .. After an election, some little recrimination is generally indulged in, and various highlyflavored and intensely personal letters have appeared, no doubt to the infinite relief of the charged bosoms of the writers,,by affording opportunity of discharging "that perilous stuff winch weighs upon the heart." With one of these volcanic symptoms which usually follow election fever, your Queenstown correspondent seems to have been afflicted, as 'in a recent letter he insinuates charges against the men working on the roads here and the officer in charge, in which.the truth is rigidly ■economised; for the Government gets as good work done for its money as any other employer here, while in regard to the officer in charge expending his salary in political agitation, I fancy that as he has a family he finds something else to do with his means, ■although every Briton should have a right to give a vote and opinion upon rival candidates. 'Had the views of the maligned officer coin•ciclod with those, of your correspondent, he might have escaped this outpouring of wrath, which can, however, do little harm, as Queenstown cliquism is pretty well understood. * The annual mustering of sheep for the season's shearing is nearly completed, and discloses terrible deficiencies in the flocks of •our small squatters, one of whom is said to have 5000 short, another 3000, and so on. The kakas are credited with the, destruction of numbers of the finest sheep, while overstocking is no doubt the most prolific source •of loss. Most of the runs consist of lofty mountains, which are capable of carrying large numbers of sheep in summer time, but as the winter snows crowd them down into narrow limits, it becomes only a question of the "survivalof the fittest." Another element of loss arises from the runs not being fenced in, and the sheep being consequently hunted about by different mustering parties. Far more care and attention will in future be required by sheepowners here if their business is to be successfully carried on. Some excitement has been caused among parties running cattle, owing to a number of •new applications for runs for sheep, on land at present used for commonage ;• and a petition has been forwarded to the Government ;against the applications. As far as I can see, ■the principal parties who would be injured "by the proposed further alienation would be i;he miners and others at and near Macetown, who are deriving a great portion of their subsistence from stock, and their interests should "be conserved should any change be made. A public meeting was held at Macetown on Friday evening, to take into consideration the affairs of the school, as owing to reduction of population and consequent small attendance of children, the Committee is unable to continue the present rate of salary to ithe teacher, £l6O ; and a liability of some ;'£so at present exists. No definite course of action was decided upon, but the attention •of the Committee will be forcibly directed to the necessity of immediate action, as legal proceedings will probably be taken to recover the sum deficient. The amount will have to be raised by subscription if possible, and the •salary of the teacher reduced until,the school ifinds'itself in a more prosperous state, which, -owing to the promising reefs recently discovered, it has prospect of seeing. I see that the Cromwell correspondent of the Dumtan 'Times is bewailing the advent of a number of 'Good Templars on the School Committee. Let me endeavor to comfort this gentleman by informing him that the Arrow School Committee has four Good Templars out of seven members, and that the Lodge has been the best friend the school has had, having greatly assisted in lifting the Committee out of debt and setting it upon its feet. The Good Templars here,' besides paying rent for the une of the school, gave the whole proceeds of the last annual entertainment to the school funds. I must say, however, that I agree with the writer in 'objecting to the presence of clergymen on School Committees, or to their interference in any way with schools, as an infringement of our Education system, and likely to .evoke bitter sectarian,disputes, jealousy, and lack of confidence. We have troubles enough in connection with education on "account of roligious differences without intensifying them by allowing ministers of religion to sit at the helm of our school affairs when we only want straightforward men of business.. An election for a Councillor for Arrow Ward in place of Mr Wm. Jenkins, resigned, resulted in the election of Mr H. Graham, storekeeper and proprietor of the Commercial Hotel, by one vote over his rival, Mr E. Donoghue. Mr Graham has a good stake in the town, and will therefore be likely to take a lively interest in the affairs of the Council. Mr Jenkins' retirement is regretted, as he proved himself an energetic and very useful

member. He was the first one to induce the Council to agitate for the prospecting of the Macetown reefs, and although their efforts did not do more than attract attention to the field, it was not Mr Jenkins' fault: he urged the matter as far as he could. The Volunteer movement is all the rage, it having for the time thrown the Dramatic Club in the shade, and checked the Templar movement. To see Arrowtowii on practicenights, one would think that he was in Paris during the Commune, as every other man he meets' is going about rifle in hand, carried with a kind of military swagger ; and when the uniform comes to hand,, then there" will be a rare harvest for an itinerant photographer. " Harvesting has commenced, and very good crops are being gathered. The weather continues favorable, and as yet I hear no complaints of scarcity of labor. A much more limited area is under crop this season than in former years, and operations will dwindle down until the business of raising stock is more generally combined with that of growing produce, which is the only complete system of farming. An old resident, Mr Joseph. Charnley, who from mining on the Arrow River was proprietor of the Bridge Hotel, Lower Shotover, before his departure, has just returned from the Palmer, after suffering a fearful amount of illness from fever, which still clings to him. He gives a most discouraging account of the climate, which he says has proved fatal to numbers, and is so unhealthy as to render the country quite unfit for colonisation. He has had a narrow escape from death himself, but fears that he will never regain his former strength and activity, and will be always liable.to a return of the complaint. The New Channel Co. on the Shotover have a carpenter from the Arrow, Mr John Letcher, at work getting the pumps in order for another gallant attempt to get off a paddock. The present party are determined to try their utmost to work this rich but most difficult ground, and seem to entertain good hopes of being able to succeed this time.—At Skippers the mills are all idle for want of water. The Phoenix claim is raising stone from a large reef, showing well. Southberg's party'are working good stone in their old claim, the Otago. The Prince of Wales claim is in work, and the party have arranged for active operations. Neil's claim is being opened, but is not yet on payable stone, although the reef is large and well-defined. The Nugget and Cornish continue driving for the reef in the lowest level. —At the Arrow, the Universal Co. is nearly ready to start. The Arrow United is stopped on account of litigation forced upon it by the action of a claimholder who is using the Bush Creek water at the head of the race, thus preventing the company from exercising its waterright by which the machinery is driven.