CORRESPONDENCE.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume VI, Issue 3, 18 June 1896, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

[We do not bold ourselves responsible fbv opinion* expressed s by correspondents.)

(to the editor.)

Sir, —In most mining centres there i's a Miners’ Association and I think the time has - arrived for one to be formed here. ThiS'ground is being applied for in large blocks, the water is being snapped up, and the individual miner will be simply snuffed out, and the land and water will be monopolised by capitalists. The process of extinction has just begun. What makes it worse is that the ground is not sufficiently manned, or not worked at all, and thus a large extent of country is locked up. What is everybody’s business is nobody’s business, hence the want of an association to carefully watch the mining interests of Collingwood.It is true some Companies employ labour largely, hut wlmt of that ? No Company will employ labour unless it expects to get the price of that labour back—with interest added. I am advertising in this paper a meeting of all interested in mining, and hope for a good muster of not only minors but Settlers —for tho interests of the latter are undoubtedly bound up with those of the former.-—-I am &«,, J. W, lIuMriIREIS.

(to the editor.) Slit, —I don’t know what other ratepayers think of the way some of the lioad Board fritter away the money. What with “law” and “ extras” we shall not have much for roads now. My opinion is that the Board wants renovating after the style of Paddy’s gun —we’ll retain the lock and barrel, and get rid of the old -stock.—Yours, etc., G. P. Graham. Bainham, 16th June, 1896.

(to the editor.) Sir, —To prevent confusion of names in the Post Office Department, the Postmaster-General has requested the people of Riverdale to alter the name of the place, there being several other Itiverdales in New Zealand. Accordingly a meeting was held in the school on Monday night for that purpose. As is most generally known about here Mr Bain and Mr Graham are the two oldest residents in the place and it was thought suitable that it should be named after one or both of them. Several names were proposed and a ballot was taken, the result being that Riverdale t;kal] be no more called Riverdale but • Bainham —a compound of the two names Bain and Graham. Bainham, 16th June. [The above letter came to us without a signature.—Ed.G.B.A-]

the road in good condition now after the expenditure of a substantial Government grant, and from the top of Heyward’s Hill wo saw Riverdale —the City of tho Valley. “Getting more like London every day,” a friend of ours remarked. And so wo found it. In this favoured little locality is to be found tho true secret of most of the district’s commercial prosperity. Here it is that busy sawmills puff and fume the livelong day —sending forth daily their many thousands of foot of first-class marketable timber ; first the “Coffee Mill” a wonder of ingenuity and labour-saving appliances, holding its own with more pretentious concerns; then the “Big Mill” with its booming machinery, a te.-timony to the enterprise of Mr It. 11. Eellowes who erected it, and of the Messrs Walker Bros who work it constantly ; and three miles further up the Valley Messrs White Bros have just got to work with another plant and are producing timber. Here it is also that teams of horses, bullocks, and waggons can bo seoil daily traversing the roads conveying the products of the mills to the shipping port. And here it is that many settlers are endeavouring to solve tho problem of how to successfully farm bush lands. Hard work, economy and persoverance have done much here to bring about a satisfactory state of affairs among the farms most of whom are now at least on the high road to comfort and independence : ai:d an air ofpiacidity and ease pervades the whole district as we travel about, chatting here and chatting there—our stock of “schedules” dwindling down with surprising rapidity. First with good old Jock Bray, who has “set in” on his farm now after a long career as a miner ; then on to Goldings where his new dwelling has been erected after the late fire. Now we drop into the neat and trim homestead of Mr G. Graham, senr., hidden Well among dense shrubs, some half a mile off the road. Sturdy old George 1 The snows of many winters ; the risks of tho Eureka Stockade; and hardships of Bendigo and Ballarat have passed lightly over his head. Still active and industrious, he was milking the cows when we arrived. “ Boys all married and got homes of their own, ” he says, as he regales tis with luscious grapes and other fruit, and converses intelligently on cui rent topics. Inside his comely daughter attends to the domestic arrangements in a manner which bespeaks for some fortunate young settler at some early date a “jewel of a wife ” ; while his stalwart sons with cheery wives and bonny families are settled around him. A bush track takes us along the river bank to the farm of Mr J. James junr., where new buildings and other-improvements indicate progress and prosperity. Out on the Main lload again we enter the farm and boarding establishment of Mr John Bain—“Honest John,” who has done much to advance the interests of tho locality and populate the country. Here it is that ihe Riverdale Creamery finds a home, and all around the smiling homesteads studded among the. sombre bush present a pleasing contrast. Wo lunch with the host and his hospitable and kindly wife and family and as Wo leave, softly warble the sweet retrain: Come into the garde l, Maiul, For the bottle from tho sulky has flown ; 0, come into the garden, Maud, For we’re waiting—thirsty—alone. But she did’nt come, and we journej r further afield, communing with more sterling settlers —Messrs Cook, McCart, Woods, McGuire, Douglas, and many others whose solid qualities have made themselves widely apparent on their farms and holdings—men who, like others already mentioned in this narrative, are now enabled to enjoy the fruits of their indomitable pluck and industry. Progressive Riverdale people are buildipg a Public Hall of quite respectable proportions, and soon the result of their \ united efforts will be apparent to the world. Never-ending supplies of grapes, other fruits, milk, etc., are thrust upon us in every direction and night closes in upon our “ labours ” ere wo tear ourselves away from our numerous male and female friends, and’once more resuaao the home-

ward journey, filled to overflowing anatomically with the many practical expressions of rural kindness, and mentally with aweet musings on tho quiet and contentment of life at Riverdale. Verily, I swear, ’tis better to be lowly born, And range with humble livers in content. Than to he perk’d up in a glistening grief And wear a golden sorrow. (To be continued.)