RIVERSDALE.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 17, 3 May 1895, Page 3

RIVERSDALE.

If the corairg win- ?r is to be judged by the first day, we are in for a very wet one, as the first of May up this way was anything but bnlmy. The roads, which were I'kely <o bo dry for the winter (as most of the hea*y aiiic ?s over), are now very soft, and a fjw days' carting on them will make a fine mess where there is no gravel. While talking about the roods, I would like to wan the public that the black bridge over the Mataura on the road to Waikaia is in such a iotten statD that traffic has beon sfoppod while repairs are go : ng on, and it : s expected that nearly a fortnight will elapse before the bridge ran be used aga'n. The time is very inopportune, in view of so much grain crrt'ng going oj, and the ford is not one of the best, but it was a case of doing I th's or having somebody's dray aod team ! go'iiis thiough info the river, the bridge be ng in svcha rotten state. The wonder is how it stood at a 1 ! Ai ususl, fhere has been a great rush for (rocks at our railway station, but the difficulty seems to have been met very well, and very few peoplo have had cause to conmlam. Some great trainloads of grain have gone down tho Waimoa line, and I don't think it is possible for the railway authorities to bring out a balance-sheet showing that the lino does not pay now-a-days, even should they not giye it credit for tho freights running over it coming outside of Gore or Lumsden. We are having a loncer visit of the fire fiend than is u?ual in this district, the latest victim being Mr W. Hall, who has had about 400 bags of oats burned, and no one knows how it happened. Unfortunately, thore is no insurance in this case, the aggravating part of it being that the oats wore insured up to within about a week before the fire, but Mr Hall did not think it worth while to renew, as ho was going to cart the stuff away. The dairy factory is likely to be an accomplished fact fit. last. I honr the Colonial Bank is going to advance the needful, on the strength of a bond from tho settlers, tho money to bo repaid by deductions frnm the milk monies monthly. I think in this cose tho settlers are making a great mistake, in (hat they do not apply to tho Government for tho money. lam under the impression that thore is somo provision for borrowing to orect dairy factories ; at least, if thoro is not thf'ro should be, ai there in no surer way of assisting a farming community than establishing a faeforv whevo wanted ; ami if, as I soo, tho Government can borrow money for throe per cent., they can afford to give it to the farmer far cheaper thau the Colonial oj any other