Lake Wakatip Mail. QUEENSTOWN, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 26, 1873.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 785, 26 November 1873, Page 2

Lake Wakatip Mail. QUEENSTOWN, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 26, 1873.

Elsewhere will be found a report of the proceedings of the Upper Shotover Miners' Association in connection with the sale of the runs by the Government. The action taken by that recognised body would, if allowed to pass unnoticed, be tantamount to saying that there is a split in the camp. But from enquiries made by us, and statements by correspondents published elsewhere, we find that the proposer of the amendment in favor of sale of runs is not a miner in the truesenseof thewordor one w"ho commands the attention of the miner, and that the seconder is a large sheepowner, and one directly interested in promoting the sale of the runs. We find further that the meeting was not fully attended, and that doubts existed about the object of the amendment which was declared carried. Indeed, we cannot accept this expression of views by the Mining Association as one binding upon the miners of that district. We have lately seen a petition against the sale of the runs, to which was attached the names of most of the miners and residents of this portion of the district protesting against the sale of the runs in toto. We therefore arrive at the conclusion that the meeting we are noticing was not a representative meeting, otherwise the very broad and clearly expressed views contained in the resolution that was rejected would have found more favor or been discussed at length. We are aware that at Skippers, as in some other parts of the district, that small cliques advocating the sale of the runs exist. They are composed of parties deeply interested in the sale of the runs, and, as traders carrying on business, they use their influence or bring pressure to bear upon persons who do not openly care to resist. But when such efforts are at work to secure the sale of the runs by parties so deeply interested, we may inform them that they are attracting attention to the very valuable character of the country and are inviting the attention of large sheepowners who want room*for culls they are weeding out of their flocks—culls, not in the ordinary sense of the word, but drafts of sheep not so well bred as those that will replace them. Thus the large sheepowners obtaining a ready market, a splendid grazing country, can afford to pay a higher price for these tracts of country than those whose all is invested in their flocks and who must borrow money to purchase the right of pasturage.

We, this afternoon, received a telegram to the effect that a child of Mr Lafranchi—late of Macetown, and who has recently opened an hotel at Cardrona—had fallen off a chair and was killed instantaneously. An invitation ball was to have been given on Friday evening by Mr and Mrs Lafranchi, but it is, we are informed, postponed to sth December. We understand from Mr William Powell that the following tenders have been accepted, and that working operations will commence forthwith :—Koad, Skippers to Branches, J. Firrel; 25-Mile to Glenorchy, G. Hamilton; Bridge over Arrow Kiver, road to Bracken's, John Letcher; and Macetown street, L. Eesta. The District Court commenced on Tuesday last, before his Honor Judge Gray. We, in common with the whole community, are glad to see Mr Gray sufficiently recovered from his late illness to be able to take his scat on the Bench, although he is yet far from strong. The cause list this sitting is not numerous, but involves cases requiring great penetration and patience —notably, that of Barton v. Grace, claim for £750, commission, &c, for floating the Shotover Company. Next week we hope to report the business transacted. We are indebted to the Secretary of the Shotover Miners' Association, Mr J. Kdgar, for report of proceedings of that body on 22nd instant. At the last meeting of the Waste Land Board an application was made on behalf of Messrs J. W. Kobertson and Co., for a pastoral lease of 1(JO,000 acres, to the north-east of Pyke's Creek. The Board decided that the land should be sold by auction on the usual terms. The country applied for comprises a square block from the junction of Pyke's Creek with the Hollyford Kiver and Cosmos Peak to the Canterbury boundary, and was prospected from the Head of Lake Wakatip. We are glad to see a likelihood of this country being opened up, as it will facilitate the search for gold and other minerals, and eventually lead to settlement. A large portion of the area applied for is unexplored.

Farmers and owners of grass are in high glee —the weather at present is all that can be desired. Shearing operations are now being vigorously pursued throughout the district. There will be a considerable increase in number of bales sent away this year. By an error in our report of the Jockey Club meeting last week, the name of Mr O'Kane, Frankton, was omitted from the list of Com-mittee-men appointed. Amongst the reserves set apart by proclamation in a recent Gazette, is one for the Acclimatisation Society of the Wakatip District of ten acres. The locality is that area between the Cemetery and Messrs Huff and Aitkins' homestead, and includes the well-known Silver Lake. The area so reserved is of some va'ue, and would make an excellent paddock. The original Acclimatisation Society has never yet been dissolved, and it would be well if the Society was reorganised and steps tiken to procure some valuable birds or animals useful to the district. Pheasants are found to be valuable for destroying sorrel, and there cat be no reason whv deer should not thrive here; and as for bush for singing birds, we have in the district large and suitable areas. For pond fish, such as tench, perch, &c, the Silver Lake itself would prove all that is wanted, as either a Weeding receptacle, or a permanent home. Under these circumstances, some action should be taken, as the revenue to be derived from a judicious use of the reserve would assist to pay for theUransport of birds, animals or fish procured. The reserve has been previously proclaimed, but we observe that the Chinese gardeners hare assisted in despoiling the shores of the Lake by cutting and carrying away the earth from tliein. For this compensation ought to be paid. jSow that . we have attracted attention to the subject, we hope action will ensue and fresh acclimatisation efforts prove the result. We have received No. 1 of the Western Star, a weekly journal published at Kiverton. For a first issue it is very well got up, and gives promise of improving. Its business eolumns present a pretty fair show of support. We wish our contemporary every success. It is announced that the Hon. Mr Sewell has resigned his seat in the Legislative Council; and that Mr A. S. Collins has resigned his seat in the Assembly, The opponents of the introduction of Chinamen into the colonies on the ground that they only come to gather all the cash they can and return to their native land, might have had an illustration at the Grey mouth Court recently (says the lpcal journal) showing the erroneousness of such an opinion. A Chinaman named Tsenui, was sued by another named Ah Yung, the former appearing to answer the demand after the service of a fraud summons, calling upon him to show cause why he could not or should not pay. Defendant admitted that he had been in receipt of-a salary of £2 per week and board for the past three months. He had been regularly paid, but his inability to meet the present claim, he stated, was attributable to the fact that he " spends a good deal in drinks and billiards." The Magistrate doubtless tickled with the novelty of the excuse of drinks and billiards, took his cue from the defendant's statement and hazarded an opinion that neither the Court nor his Yung friend would deem the excuse satisfactory. Therefore while on the spot, he hoped he would pocket the advice of no longer indulging in the science of chalking down, but practice more the art of tipping up, seeing that he could make such a good screw, and accordingly ordered him to pay 10s per week, commencing next Friday but "John before leaving the Court preferred handing his solicitor five weeks payment in advance rather than be compelled to knock off his engagements once every seven days. For some time past the resources of the Wakatip Hospital have not been so severely taxed as they are at present. A considerable number of cases have come in, most of them of a serious nature. In two cases, death has ensued during the present week—one being a Chinese, and the other a European. Some of the serious cases are accidents, and two of these patients are boys of 5 and 10 years respectively. The others are men. Several Chinese are in the Hospital, and have now a ward to themselves. This class of patients, partly from opinions arrived at in Victoria, but chiefly, we are inclined to think, from information acquired by some of their countrymen in Dunedin, are inclined to look upon the Hospital as a Government, or free, institution. Naturally they would arrive at this conclusion, as in Victoria, Government officials send them to the Hospital; and in Dunedin it is supported by Government solely. We throw out a suggestion to the Committee to have a few of the leading principles and rules of the Institution written in Chinese, and get them hung up in two or three of the chief stores belonging to Chinese traders. Subscriptions would, no doubt, be the result, or at any rate they would not lead to bargaining for admission upon rates of 10s to lis per week. The General Government are bent upon relaxing the Immigration Kegulations. An advertisement elsewhere notifies that persons may be nominated by their trade or calling. This will be a great boon to persons starting new industries, as friends in other countries will thus be enabled to make selections of the required class of labor. Will the Government, we wonder, recoup those who, just previously to the free Immigration Regulations coming into force, made remittances under the assisted code. Frankton racecourse will present quite a different appearance before the first of next year. Fencing operations sufficient to enclose the racecourso, with the boundary fences already erected, are approaching completion, and the stonemasons are hard at work at the new grand stand building. The Club, we believe, will, for the present, use the old course, as the new one laid out by Mr Spence could not bo improved in sufficient time for the next meet. Many persons no doubt will remember a paragraph which appeared in this paper some time ago, in reference to a woman named Ellen Martin, who appears to possess an extraordinary propensity for stealing. The facts of the case were these: She had been convicted on the 26th of May last, at Queenstown, before the Resident Magistrate, of stealing a parasol, for which she was sentenced to three months imprisonment. But while in the Lock-up at Lawrence, on her way to Dunedin, she purloined several small articles of clothing, the property of the constabulary, for which she was sentenced to a furthur term of three months' imprisonment, which would have expired on the 23rd instant. Since her incarceration she has ,been principally employed in washing, and, availing herself of an opportunity, she stole a chemise from the clothes-line in the Gaol, and secreted it in her bundle of private clothes, which were in her possession, and being made ready for her discharge from gaol. For this offence she was on Saturday brought before I. N. Watt, Esq., R.M., and Mr Logan, J.P., Visiting Justices to the Gaol, and, the offence being proved, was sentenced to a further term of one month's imprisonment, to take effect from the expiration of her present sentence.— Guardian.

We observe that Mr J. T. Thomson has resigned the office of Chief Surveyor of Otago, a position he has held with advantage to the Province for many years. Mr M'Kerrow is his worthy successor. The Provincial Gazette of 19th instant contains a statement of the receipts and expenditure of the province for the quarter ended September 30th, 1873. The receipts amounted to £110,228 3s 7d., and the disbursements to £124,097 18s 10d. We are informed that the Arrow River Company have entered into a contract with Messrs Kincaid, M'Queen, and Co., of Dunedin, for the supply of the necessary machinery for the working of the claim. Consequently the mine will very shortly be in active operation. The terms upon which the machinery is to be made and erected are highly favorable. Mr M'Gregor, C.E., has been visiting the Hospital with the view of examining into the best means of supplying that institution with water. We believe that the opinion formed is in favor of raising water by force power from the Kawarau Kiver. A meeting of the Queenstown Cricket Club was held at Cash's Victoria Hotel, on Saturday evening. The attendance was scant, but those present made the necessary arrangements for at once bringing the Club into active operation. Elsewhere will be found the programme of the Lake District Annual Race Meeting. The prize-list is not so large as last year. We believe it has been found necessary to curtail a little the stakes offered on account of the expense incurred this season in placing the course in a permanent satisfactory condition. From the Daily Times of Friday last, we have pleasure in reprinting the following paragraph : —" We are informed that Mr M. Hallenstein, the Melbourne partner of the firm which is largely engaged in commercial pursuits both in Victoria and New Zealand, has completed arrangements to start shortly in Dunedin an extensive clothing factory, equal to the largest establishment in Melbourne. The manager, with a complete and experienced staff of hands, will shortly arrive in Dunedin from Melbourne. Mr Hallenstein has also arranged with the Government to bring out a number of artisans from home. The firm intend to use largely New Zealand made tweeds, thus stimulating in various ways native industry. In the hands of an experienced, energetic, and wealthy firm, this new industry ought to prove a great success. During a recent visit of the Goldfields Secretary to Lawrence he was interviewed by the editor of the Times, regarding the leasing of the runs in the Tuapeka district. Some information was elicited, which is more than has been afforded those interested in depisturage in this district, From Mr Bastings it was found that all the country the Government propose leasing in the Tuapeka District is situated beyond the Tuapeka Basin, and will only include land 1200 feet above the sea level. The conditions of lease are that the land must be fenced in, and the boundary well defined. Every miner or business license holder on or in the neighborhood of the ground, will be allowed to run three head of cattle. When this land is leased, all sheep on other portions of the commonage will then require to be removed. The lease of the land referred to will bo offered for sale in January next, and we (says the Times) feel confident that the right to the whole of it will be purchased by two or three individuals ; whereas, were it under the management of a Board of Wardens who would appoint a boundary for sheep, the grazing rights might be enjoyed by all who preferred depasturing sheep to great cattle. We have done our best to induce the settlers and stockowners of the district to agitate for a Board of Wardens, and if they will not act for themselves, they must be content to submit to what the Government provides for them. " Methiuks I should like to be a brewer," says "Loafer" in the Canterbury Press. "A brewer can float about town in a very businesslike capacity getting orders for his beer, while, should he feel so disposed, he can remain under the shadow of his own fig-tree and drink quarts of'old mild.' Fancy quarts of 'od mild' all day long! He thus lives a double-barrelled existence on the strength of his treble X. In the latter phase of his existence he has many visitors. You would be quite surprised at the number of people who make it convenient to call in a friendly way on brewers during the day. I interviewed one myself in a casual manner lately, and he told me the following nice little episode:—A gentleman called upon him to order a five gallon keg. He was told that the firm was not in the habit of supplying less than ten gallons. '1 he gentleman stated he thought this would be too much, as it was only for his wife, he himself not being a beerist, so to sneak, and move than five gallons therefore would not keep. The brewer, how ever, assured the wouldbe customer that his beer, like Madame Rachel's clients, remained beautiful for ever, and suggested that he s'lould sample it, to which invitation the would-be customer was nothing loth. For a professed non-beerist he was a considerable success as a sampler. The contents of three full-sized beakers disappeared with marvellous rapidity down Ids gullet, and upon entering upon the fourth, the brewer remarked' ' Do you know, sir, I don't think you will fiud a ten-gallon keg too much/or your wife.'" "An Outsider," in the Guardian, writes regarding the Melbjurne Cup:—"The great race of the year is now run and lost, and has been won by a horse that has undoubtedly proved himself to be the 'best horse in the land.' Though the result has been a great surprise to us here, it was not unexpected in Melbourne; and, indeed, the first Saturday's running had reduced it to a matter of as great a certainty as there could be on the turf. Don Juan was purchased some couple of months ago | by an up-country gentleman, tor stud purposes ; ! but the clever trainer Wilson, in whose stable he had been located for some time, believing he had a great show for the Cup, entered into an arrangement, and leased him till after the Cup was over. Immediately this became generally known, the horse was made first favorite—a position he occupied for some weeks, being backed at as short a price as 10 to 1. As he, however, trained away from Flemington, and the stable were quite content to keep him dark, he gradually receded again to 20 to 1. On the first day's racing, after he defeated the great favorite, Horatio, and the speedy and game Fitz-Yatteudon, in the Esseudon Stakes—the race that has so often pointed to the actual Cup winner—it was not much wonder the Cup was regarded by the knowing ones as being as good as over. Not having the particulars as to how the race was run, we cannot comment upon it, but would point to the grand performance of Dagworth running second, with 9st 91b upDagworth has been regarded, since last Kandwick meeting, as the best weight-for-age horse in Australia, and when w« see that on Friday he had to succumb to Don Juan, carrying 9st to his 9st 91b, it shows conclusively what a ' moral' the Cup was. It will bo seen from the above that the remarks which have been ignorantly published that no one had the slighest idea Don Juan could win, and that he was such an outsider that his name was never mentioned by the touts, were entirely incorrect."