HAMILTON. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) October 6.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XX, Issue 2259, 17 October 1864, Page 5

HAMILTON. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) October 6.

Sinok tlio date of my last communication, a consignment of spades and shovels has come to hand, all of which were cageily bought up by the men. In the absence of moie «mitable implements they have gone vigoiously to woik with these, and have attacked the sciub with such success, pulling it up byhaud, or digging it up by the loots, that they have been able to keep ahead of the tlneo ploughs belonging to the company. Abo\e a dozen tons of potatoes aie uheady in the ground ; and as they have six or eight tons of seed still to put in, and which will shoitly be planted, the settlement will be pictty well supplied with potatoes next season. Of this seed four and a-half tons weie brought from Auckland, at a cost of nearly £13 per ton; a cousideiahle quantity has been bought from the friendly natives, at Tam.iheie, at £G pei ton; and the lem.viiuler the men have picket up for them sslves, having been foitunnte enough to fall in with a few potato hole*, which the p n lies who had been over the gi omul befoio them failed to discovci. 'Ml the potatoes found in those holes weio quite sound, f(ee from discise and woiins , and the native mode of stoung them seems to be well woith imitating, at least wheie the soil is so diy as ib is litre. The hole i:> dug about four feet deep, with an oirfloe of about two feet square, gradually widening as it deepens, so that the bottom is five feet square or so. After the potatoes are put in, the opening id closed with a wooden lid, and coveied with a few inches deep of soil. The fatigue duties iv which the men are engaged aie considerable. '1 he timbci and other material for the GiHcinment buildings is deposited on aimal on the beach, and the men have to unload it, and cany it to the viiions places wheie (he buildings aie to foe eiecled. This is a woik of gioat labour. Apaity was fOlf 01 tluee days employed in constituting a bridge between heie and Ngaruauahu, the timber for which had to be humped foi moie than three miles. House blocks have to be split and brought to the ground foi the contiactois ; ai.d whenever theie is an inteiv.tl in the peifoimance of these and similar duties, there is the landing place to be extended, oi theioad theiefiotn widened and improved This woik goes on horn nine to twelve, and again fiom two to foui, so that men have to woik tcry haul to get their allotments into Bhape. They could do it easier if they weie fed bettei. Pel haps some of yoiu lcadets may fed cm ioiw to know how militaiy settlois faie. At 7 a ni. they breakfast, . not on ham and eggs, but on coffee without aiitlc, and biead, often biscuit (mouldy), without butter, At half-past 12 they iline (sa\u the maik) on boiled bief. geneially fiush, but occasionally junk, with biead oi biscuit again At 5 they have tea and supper in one meal, consisting of tea and biead, with the same accompaniments as at bieakfast ; and tho day's feeding ii completed. The pound and half ol biead, or pound of biscuit, has thus to be divided into three poition^, and has this ciowning advantage that it does not long detain them from their Jabout, establishing the old proverb that meat does not hinder woik. I think the men tlcsei vo great ciedit foi not gobbling up theii seed potatoes. However, two stoics have been elected here within the List few days, by Messist. Young and Simpson ; and the men aie able to get such supplies as they wish, to eke out their daily dole. It could be wished that the pi ices charged were lower, which would, I believe, benefit the sfcoiekeeper as well as the customer. lam sure profits would be greater if pi ices weie lower. Floui at Gil. per pound no doubt yields a handsome return to the meichant; but if lie was content with an advance of 50 instead of 100 per cent., he would sell at least four times the quantity, and, by reducing his piofitone half, would double it. There ate tinee sets of contractois heie who were foitunate enough to be selected to erect vaiioiis Government buildings. By the terms of their contiact, the material has to be laid on the giound for them. One of the buildings is a liotpifcal, the contractor foi which anived heie a foitnight ago. JTe came, however, rather too soon —at least lie came before his material, and he had to return to Ngaruawahia again. ITe has since returned with a poition of hit stafF, with which he is doinc; his best to amuse himself till the rest arrives. Another finn has the soldiers' lints and iron •tore. The latter is now up, with the exception of one-half of the ioof, the iron for which it is hoped will be here before Christina*. The blocks for the huts are in tho ground, and some of the scantling has come to hand. If they are boaided and roofrd by the time the men are located on their country allotments five miles off, they will have to pi ogress faster than they have done hitheito. The thud lucky party, who got the officets' quaiters to erect, leceived some scanthug about a month ago, and as the contractors weio anxious to prove their devotion to the big wigs they got zealously to woi k, intending to have them up in less than no time, which they would have done too, only they could not make biicks without stiaw, and they have had along spell in consequence. The huts for the men are seven in number, one of them a double one —6o by 20 feet, and intended, it not lequiied for bairacks, to be used as a chinch among other things. It is to be regretted that theie is not material to finish it, at least; for divine teivice, which they have eveiy Sunday in the open air .at this time of year, is not what it ought to be. Dining its performance, tho men often turn their eyes upwauls, thinking moie, f am afiaid, of the clouds than of tho legions beyond ; their minds wanden'ng from the subject on which they should be engaged, and making nice calculations whether the service will be done befoie the rain descends. And who can blame then!, poor fellows ? Military •ettleiis, though fond of pluck and. endmanco and all that sort of thing, are only men, and have a devout belief in warm feet and dry shiits, especially when they have their Sunday clothes on. And speaking of clothes, the men would like to know who conducted for their jumpers. According to agreement, they have duly got their couple for the year. But such jumpers! If you sneeze in them they split. As well clothe the men in cobwebs as send them into scrub with such rubbish. No doubt the Government paid full piice for a good aitide: but the contractor has lined his pocket by making the mm go in rags. They are always glad to see visltois here : but if the jumper contiactor comes this way lib had bettci preserve a most decided iujjog., for if the young fellows get ft hold of him theyll devil's dust his jacket for him. There is ceitainly room for gieater vigilance and fidelity on the pai t of the officer entrusted with the scrutiny of such goods. As aunmberof women and children will slioitly be coming up hero, it would be well to make some better provision than exists at pieKont for their doinpr so in comfort and safety. On board the Miangirhi,' which is the boat that usually visits here, theie is no accommodation at all, beyond sitting uown on the deck. There is no bulwark round the vessel, aiul for about half the length forward not even a chain ; so that there will be great risk of children falling overboard, which from the lapidity of the cm rent would bo certain to end iv drowning. Again, if they are to be transferred from boat to boat, at tbe early hour in tho morning at which the steamer usually leaves, accidents will be very opt to occur. That arrangement caused \\s the loss of one of our number already ; and if that wan the case with a man, what might we not expect with helpless women and children ? 'J he best way would be for tho families to be embarked say in the I'«GutwUgw,' at tUe Iwads, *nd brought right up Uero,

But if they arc to bo transferred into the 'Rangiiiii,' some piotection will, be absolutely necessary for the children, while common decency demands that, some suitable shelter 9hould bo provided for the wonipn. Pi ivate Land, of this company, unfortunately died la.sfc Monday fiom bronchitis. Tie \va* conveyed down to Ngaruawahia, whole the medical officer* stationed did everything fey him that hU case required. lie lwuei a wife and fumily who weie dopendent on him Foi cuppoifc. 110 wus much liked and ies(jeoted among hia comiddes, and lii* sudden decease lias cast a gloom ovor the whole settlement.