ECHOES OF A MOUNTAIN RAT IN THE OKARITO DISTRICT.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXIII, Issue 3609, 19 March 1880, Page 2

ECHOES OF A MOUNTAIN RAT IN THE OKARITO DISTRICT.

[TO THE EDITOR.] Since my laßt echoes I have very little farther to relate upon the Mapourika diggings, merely to state that Zala and Go. have tunnelled now to the distance of 200 feet, and likewise that they are getting timber sawn for the framing, and intend; to bring the water race in as soon as | possible, a boon highly desired by the , few men that are working there at present. Things are very dull here, and heaven knows it wants something to enliven this plac9 up, but 1 am afraid it's like Othello's occupation — it's gone. At present things are flat, stale, and unprofitable. I intended to go to the Waiho, but having heard that a case was coming off at Court, thought I would wait to see the fun, and, according to account?, thought it; would be something to astonish the natives, as the man said when he swallowed a bushel of oysters, shells and all ; but it turned out to be an uninteresting case after all. The complainant who, for the bye, as followed the occupation of — And did you not hear of a jolly young watermaD, Who at Blackfriars' bridge used to ply, had an enquiry held about a postal card, and the defendant, who is a celebrated tooth drawer, likewise has fat hams and bacon and other &c. to dispose of, and should his fat bacon or ham 3 cause persons to have the bile, spleen, or indigestion, has also patent medicaments for people to buy and take, and work off the same, said medicaments comprising dragon's blood, friar's balsam, spirits 6i ammonia, HoJloway'a oiutment, and several other items too numerous to be mentioned here — pardon the digression, but to resume my narrative. ; ,The complainant, as I have said before, had an enquiry held about a postal card, and it was to find out whether the defendant, who is also Postmaster for the district of Okarito, had tampered with the mail bags coming from Ross and to be delivered at Gillespie's the same as when they left. The question was, had they been opened here in Okarito, re-sealed, and then sent on to Gillespie's aB originally done up. That the complainant had to prove, but failed in doing so. On the first day of enquiry you would have thought that the complainant's case was going to be strong;, out on the second day he found it was like the onion when boiled — not so strong as it was. The case was a failure, and a more flat, uninteresting case, I never heard, and especially to hold over two days. To comment upon it would be superfluous, as it rests for the present in embryo ; so I must wait for something more interesting to turn up, like the man who is waiting for something to turn up, generally finds it when he steps on a barrel-hoop, and there you have the whole tbing in a nutshell, as the boy said when he bit througa worm in the chestnut. I have been since to the Waiho, and after innumerable escapes through bush, river, and creeks find myself about ten miles up, and come upon men who are toiling for that inexhaustible treasure, viz., gold. They are doinsr very well at present — that is considering the times — they are making between eight and ten shillings per diem. Still they have to work hard to make that, and have plenty to contend with in the shape of rocks and, largo boulders, some as big as a house, and so on down to the size of a small pea, but withal there is plenty of ground for those who would like to tackle it and not afraid of hard work. I have not been to Gillespie's yet, but intend to do ; so as soon as I possibly can. So, I conclude these echoes with a rat's motto — Dimi vivo vireo.