THE LAKES DISTRICT.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2054, 4 December 1869, Page 3

THE LAKES DISTRICT.

We are happy to be able to report that matters at the Lakes district are in a more promising condition than they have been for gome years past. The town of Queenstown, which has practically speaking been at a standstill since tfle flpating population of 1861-2 topk its departqre, is npw exhibiting gigqs of improvement. Already some of the more awkward-looking gaps made when the town was deserted by its outgoing population have been filled up, and other lots are in course of being built upon. The improvement is due to no special cause, but to that healthy combination of circumstances upon which a sure foundation of material progress alone depends. Digging at the various beaches is going on systematically, and although the miners are not making “ piles,” they are reported to be making very fair wages. Skippers, Arthur’s Point—and, in short, all the claims in the neighborhood of the Shotover—are turning out well; so that as a steady industrial pursuit, mining at the Lakes is showing up. Other branches of employment are in an equally satisfactory state. Besides two steamers, a fleet of small sailing craft are regularly engaged, principally in the timber trade; and when we take into account the magnificent forest with which the banks of the upper waters of the Wakatip arc clothed, no one can reasonably doubt that a long time must necessarily elapse before this trade fails. In connection with the timber trade, it would be an unpardonable omission to neglect mentioning the name of Messrs J. H. Robertson and Co. An extensive saw-mill has been erected by the firm not far from the head of the Lake, in the very midst of a tract of forest country wooded from the water’s edge to the summit of the hills. For the purpose of transporting the timber, a powerful steamer named the Antrim has been placed on the lake. She was built at the new mile, and was engined by a firm in Dunedin. Her size and power enables her to navigate Wakatip with speed aud safety; consequently the Antrim has been the first vessel to open up this splendid expanse of water to many who would otherwise be deterred from venturing upon it. The other steamer is a relict of the early navigation of Lake Wakatip. Slie is tlie remnant of t}ie fleet of steam fly boats whieh darted tfljout the coves and inlets of the lake before the finger of fortune pointed the Otago miner to the West Coast of Canterbury and Nelson. She is named the Victoria and was originally carted up in a bullock dray from Southland. In the palmy days she did her share of business, but latterly fell into the hands of a Mr Howard, a settler at the Halfway Bay down towards Kingston. Within the last few months she has undergone a complete ovcrhauf, and has since been deemed \fbnhy Sf a sailing certificate from the Marine Board. The agricultural capabilities of the district however are perhaps the ruling principle in its progress. Frankton Flat, Shotover and Arrowtown Flats, are admitted to be amongst the first agricultural country in Otago. Nothing strikes the traveller with more surprise than the transition from the sterile plains of the Dunstan and the rockbound gorges of the Kawarau to the fine fertile plains of the Wakatip. The soil is of the Behest The plain, originally the bed of a lake has received its soil in heavy deposits from the adjoining hills the rock bound sides of which now protect the crops from the inclemency of the weather. Agricultural statistics show a steady increase of reclaimed land to have been going on for [the last few years ; still the ground suitable for such purpose is far from being exhausted. On the Southland side of the Kawarau an extensive plain, sheltered on the one side by the Devil’s Staircase range and on the other by the Remarkables, still remains to be taken, besides lesser tracts in other directions. This year the Wakatip farmer has adopted the only sound system of farming, vis., to put Sa yarifety of crops; Unlike the farmers ong the northern sea-hoard, he has resisted the strong temptation of putting in an extra breadth of oats. In fact, so far as we can ascertain, the acreage of oats is even smaller than that of wheat. One branch of agriculture, we regret to learn, has been omitted, viz., pasturage. For some years past dairy produce on the goldfields has been so ( scarce that a good flea! bad to go up from Btueskin, 'W'aikouaiti, Palmer-stown, &c, A better mid cheaper article could be supplied from the Wakatip, and it is a pity the farmers did not think of that in time. Before the Wakatip will be able to assert its proper relationship to the Province at large, that treacherous river, the Shotover, will have to be bridged. Parties at present are not only deterred from visiting Queenstown, hut its trade is spoiled by the extra iltk'in transit through the river. However, tflat obstacle will soon be removed, and no one accustomed to visit the place will regret when it has become a thing of the past.