NASEBY NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 11894, 23 May 1903, Page 8

NASEBY NOTES.

[From Our Own Correspondent.] Much interest is being taken in the endeavors of two svndicates to raise coal in the locality of Naseby in such quantities ayd of such quality as to just'fy an expenditure in plant. Two .lignite Icenses ,have been applied for. and it is rumored that prospects which have already been taken show the coal to be of an exceedingly good quality. The seams are within easy distance of Naseby. and it will be a great benefit to this place if good coal can be obtained locally, for at present railage and cartage add so much to the cost of obtaining coal such as can be obtained in Dunedin that housekeepers find the tax a heaw on*. Severe frosts have been experienced lately, and already the keen sports are lookin<r forward to the days when they shall be° able to "birl the stanes" nt S"otl-nd's national game. The contests on the ice this year year promise to be more keenly fought than they have been for the last year or two A new curling club has been formed, the members of which intend to do their best to obtain the senior position in curling for the season. Several Dunedin gentlemen have aunufied their intention of jKuriaij

Naseby a visit when the ice is good, and of being initiated into the mysteries of our grand winter pastime, and it is not impossible that a City combination may wrest the laurel wreath from those who have held it in the past. Concerning the fire which occurred at noon yesterday, brief particulars of which I wired you, I learn that Mrs Reed was confined to her, bed when the fire broke out. The flames caught rapidly, and soon the whole house was in danger. Mrs Reed's daughter and a friend were in the house at the outbreak, but before they ha.d removed the invalid from the bedroom the fire had gained admission to the room, and before the old lady had been taken safelv out of the house the apartment which she had just left was completely mastered by the flames. Had the friend not been present it is feared Mrs Reed must have i>uccumbed, for her daughter quite unable to lift her herself, and probably both may have perished. The house was completely putted, everything that was in it being destroyed, and, as you were advised, neither house nor contents had been covered by insurance. An application was before the Warden's Court yesterday for a prospecting license m the locality of the Wedderburn, and this was objected to by the Minister of Ra'lways (represented by Mr J. F. M. Praser) and a riparian proprietor (represented by Mr Kirk). It appears that the Railway Department lifts water for its engines from the Wedderburn; that for some time past the water has been fouled by mining operations, and the Railway Department has been greatly hampered on this account. The miner who is at present runn'ng tailings into the creek has consented"" to" a perpetual injunction home cr-nifprf r ~.v. |. him restraining him from further polluting the water of the creek. The i. arden grained the appl 'cation only on condition that the waters of the creek are not fouled, and that no silt or mining debris is deposited on the lands of freeholders adjoining the creek.