JOTTINGS FROM ASHBURTON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXI, Issue 7227, 29 April 1884, Page 5

JOTTINGS FROM ASHBURTON.

[B'BOM our own correspondent.] April 28. If ever the Government of New Zealand were guilty of a folly, it was in making the Mount Somers railway. I believe, at this moment, they are ashamed of the monument of t"heir folly, as it lies, along narrow streak of gray shingle, drawn through a desert of tussock. Not a station-house on the whole line, from the one at Tinwald to the shed at Anama, nothing to relieve the sad yellow monotony of tussock that begins to weary the traveller's eye just outside of Tinwald, and continues to do*so until he reaches John Hood's hostelry at Mount Somers. Yes, I believe Government are ashamed of the line, and do not care to make a stir about anything they may think of doing to make the nominal stations look like stations. I believe it is intended some day to build stations on the line, but when that some day may come round I cannot prophesy, because I don't know. Yet a very small beginning has been made at Valetta. The name Valetta will be found on the time-table doing duty as a station. Valetta will be found along the line as a place for stopping at—that is, for the train to stop at, either to pick up or set down the worthy Chairman of our County Council, or some member of his family; I don't fancy that many other persons will.use it. Well, a beginning has been made at Valetta. There is a platform there, and a siding. There is not, remember, a yard of fencing near the place, nor anything that could give a man a hint that he is near a railway station. Not a single yard of fencing to keep man or beast outside the station premises. But there is a gate—a very respectable gate, too—and this lonely gate stands some distance from the siding. What it is intended to admit or let out, I cannot think, for fencing being totally absent, he would be an exceedingly proper man indeed who would bother to open a gate to pass between its posts, when he could save himself the trouble and go outside them. I take it, however, this gate is the beginning of the new station. In the whole history of Ashbui-ton, I don't remember work, especially for carpenters, being so slack as it has been during this harvest time. Scarcely any building is going on at all, and a good few men are out of work. . A fair number of the younger men went out threshing or doing such work as they could get during harvest; but they are now coming in again, and the question naturally arises- 1 -How are they to be employed during the winter ? Political matters are beginning to bubble up again. The member for Wakanui starts on the war path next week, beginning at Ashburton, whence, after orating in the Town Hall, he will sail round " the Provinces," pouring out his eloquence at Rakaia, and all the other little places in the electorate where schoolhouses can be utilised as meeting places. The member for Ashburton, I understand, will shortly follow suit, so that the County will have plenty of politics for a month or so, at any rate.

The question of local government is beginning to be talked about very earnestly by the ratepayers in the different Eoad Districts, and meetings are likely to be held during the winter in all the districts on the subject. Whatever may be the feeling; on the question of -whether the County Council should swallow up the Eoad Boards, or the Eoad Boards live and the County Council die, there appears to be only one feeling on the subject of the rating question, and that feeling is that one rate is quite enough to pay. In the district affected by the Methven Eailway, the rate question is rather a formidable one. First, the local road rate, then a County rate, then a rate under the District Railways Act, and 10s per head on the sheep dogs—all totted-up together make a ■ rather stiff sum to come out of the yield per acre, a sum that was quite big enough without the extra penny or more per bushel on the carriage of grain. With harvest just over, one exjtects to hear people speak hopefully of the future. We have always got credit for being a goahead sort of people on the Plains : our hopes have been high and our trust strong in the future ; but somehow or other the Colonists in this part of the country seem to be suffering from an unusually heavy depression of spirits. All seem to think that hard times are coming, and that a stiff winter looms ahead. A sort of nameless dread hangs over us, as if some impending calamity were near. Nobody, however, appears to be able to say what that calamity is, or to show cause why we should be so depressed, and when you ask for the cause you only get for answer, " Nobody has any mpney." It strikes me, however, this is a stereotyped remark which will be heard every day till the end of time. Notwithstanding the alleged dullness, it was astonishing how many shares in a certain new Accident Insurance Company were sold here a little while ago, and when any really good investment shows up, Ashburton has always a few pounds to spare. It is with regret that I have to notice the death, on Saturday last, of perhaps the best-known man in the County—viz., John Carter, of Grove Farm, Tinwald. About two years ago Mr Carter took a journey to the Old %>untry, and brought out with him on his return several wellknown racehoi'ses. He gave no small attention to them on the journey, taxing his own physical endurance a good deal more than he ought to have done. The result was a series of illnesses from which he suffered, and from which he never wholly recovered. His constitution gradually broke up, and the worst came to the worst on Saturday, when the last enemy found him. Mr Carter was a kind-hearted man, well-known and well-liked, and there are many recipients of his kindness in tins district who will miss liiui. It is a noticeable fact that the last fare or six stock sales at our County yards, and at Tinwald, have shown very hcav.y entries ofsheop. Last Tuesday over Io,UOO head were yarded, and large entries are expected again l to-morrow. Fair prices are usually realised for the animals, and " cheap hues are the exception. It is also noticeable that buyers of sheep are to be found among very many farmers, who five years ago could not have kept sheep on their farms uc any price. Thanks, however, to the spirit and enterprise of the County Counek, whoso irrigation system has made stock raising possible, nearly every farmer in the district is more or less a flockmaster. As the frozen meat trade develops and becomes more profitable, I have no doubt what the Yankees call the " golden hoof " will bo more depended upon by farmers than the " golden grain," which at present they have very great difficulty in selling at the miserable price of 3b a bushel. Long before harvest I heard a very close

observer of the " times and seasons" prophesy that as soon as the crop was off the ground there would be a lot of land in the market. His prophecy is being realised just now, for not only are there a lot of farms in the market, but a willingness to sell is being evinced by owners of sections in the township, though I cannot say that I observe any willingness to accept any material reduction in the price. Our Courßing Club is a live one. It had a very successful meeting early in the month, and another is advertised for May 7, to continue over three days. Ashburton is about as well supplied with* greyhounds aa any town of its inches 1 know. If the animals are all trained to course, I should say the time is pretty far off when hares will become a nuisance here. Judging by the number of hares slain quietly, and, the number of greyhounds that accompany their masters on Sunday walks into the country, I should say the chances are in favour of " puss " becoming scarce rather than over plentiful. The local Debating Club has been resuscitated, and is once more a living thing. It has elected its officers, and will s-aon wrestle with a subject, so that the darkness of the winter evenings may now be looked for to be illumined with raya of intellectual light. I was speaking above of the Eoad Boards. The annual elections are being held in the various districts, and I notice that in but one or two of the T/ards \?ill there he any contests. In most cases only the number of candidates required to fill the vacancies have been nominated, and of course elected. The nominations for the upper districts, however, have yet to be made, but I do not anticipate any li\ ely electioneering.