WAIKARI.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2100, 16 November 1880, Page 3

WAIKARI.

“Eoosae,” under date November Isth, writes Since I wrote you last I have got shitted to Waikari, ; and a very agreeable change it is. Although the cutting I am working in is rather wet, still it is not nearly so disagreeable as the dust which was blowing at the other end. The place is much more lively, and the thriving township is rapidly extending. Several now houses are in course of erection, and altogether the place presents a busy scene, compared with the rest of the lino. ’ 1 only hope I will be allowed to slay whore I am until my departure for pastures new. I am working along with a very respectable class of men, all of them affable and good tempered. There is a marked absence of grumbling to what I have found in other cuttings, and all seem to work into one another’s hand. Such being the case, the work goes on harmoniously. Wo have a very agreeable and pleasant boss over us, who, while keeping his place, is on friendly terms with all his men (this is also a change), so one ought to be contented. This being the terminus of the line, is naturally the scene of more work than elsewhere, and our worthy inspector (who seems to have centred [the greater part of his affection on our cutting, is daily to be seen hare vigorously and energetically pushing on the work, and often putting his shoulder to the wheel (or I should say truck) himself. As there are a good number of my fellow workers who, like me, are not exactly at home at the work, his patience must often be sadly tried ; still, whatever his inward feelings may be, I must say his smile is oftener seen than his frown. The time passes very quickly sometimes. A joke from some unexpected corner, a quaint saying from some son of Erin, or an occasional yarn from on old soldier, helps to break the monotony of the day. Other little episodes occur. For instance : There exists a pleasant rivalry between two of onr excavators. One is a stalwart Scotchman, descended from an ancient and noble clan. The other is an old digger, who claims to hove_ been descended from the originator of hanking in America, and I have no doubt if it was sure ] of being honored, he would draw on his ancestor at once. His chief aim and the height of his glory aro the magnitude of his falls. When he docs coax Mother Earth away away with his crowbar and succeeds in making a decent show, and ho really does Uo it sometimes he glances over to bis rival for applause. But a quiet smile, accompanied by a withering look, is his only reward. Looking at the mammoth falls of the Scotchman, and then at the miniature ones of the other, I tbinigbe had.bettsr give “ Santy beet.” But [ must not be too severe on my friend, as he has promised to help mo to pitch my “ wee clout housio.” We have also a couple of heroes who claim to have routed tbe Russians at Balaclava under Cardigan ; but somehow or other their accounts don’t seem to tally, and I am afraid if ono was there the other wasn’t. Who to give the honor to is the difficulty, so I think tho best plan is to lei them fight their battles over again. Their yarns, though not perhaps strictly true, have an amount of humor about them which coven the heinousnees of the offence. The weather here is delightful, and the country round is looking well. The crops in the neighborhood promise an abundant harvest.