ST. BATHANS.—October 4.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 36, 8 October 1869, Page 3

ST. BATHANS.—October 4.

(From our own Corespondent.) There are ill every generation some presumptuous men eager to expound the inscrutable, and to read for us through their narrow spectacles all that has been foreordained by the .Divine Wisdom. Their choice amusement is making an end to the world. They cannot foretel whether their mutton will be burnt at the next dinner time • but when the world will be burnt utj or drowned they tell us they do know year, <ind (sometimes to an iiour. I am not aware if Saxby's prophesies for this week reach such a flight, • but the effect apparentlyupon some people's minds is much the same as if they did. Eumors gather as they roll, and this one, in reaching St. Bathans, has, to some assumed such. ; proportions as to

give rise to ranch speculation la the probable catastropheand, in many instances, the remarks are so ludicrous that one cannot forbear laughing at tne guinoihtj of tins generation. However, I hasten to reassure the timid by stating that there is little danger of the coming tidal rise affecting that great national work the Ht. Bathans sludge onannel, and any hopes of an inundation at our elevation are doomed to disappointment There will be probably a heavy rainfall, and I trust there may be; but as the old Scottish clerk remarked, "It is no use praying for rain while the wind is in the northeast," and he was very likely more rignt than the rest of his Gaivinistic brethren.

"We had quite a field day at the K. M.'s Court last Tuesday. The Sludge Ci-uUiiigl Committee made a raid uj)on sundry claimholders for arrears of enannel dues. Tne verdicts were, in ail cases, for the piuintiifs, so that, with a tew exceptions, toe Committee appear to be doing quite en regie. ihcso decisions will' have the good effcC'L oi sorting at reat several veied questions of local in Lores t. Jhe question of who snail be considered educated men among your contributors appears still to rage. Without being considered impertinent might I suggest to Mr. Morony and his opponents the test of a competitive examination. X have no doubt some of the candidates might be found eligible tor the degree of I). IX, and thus perhaps quiet the wordy strife, which is really becoming painful to sensitive ears.

I It is generally supposed that a.t least one-tnird of the fine gold from claims here is lost by the process now in use, so one sluicing party are about to try an amalgamating trough at the end of their tail box. Should this be successful in arresting the truant particles it will be a great boon to the miner, and I shall be happy in such case to give your readers all particulars at a future date. In mining matters generally there is nothing to report. A few parties are washing up : probably, as in some previous instances, not to start again with water at present prices. Iu fact, the ground remaining is becoming so poor in many localities as 'to preclude the possibility of making wages under the ruling ta riii. _C!ie natural laws of supply and demand will eventually regulate the charges, and possibly "remedy existing evils without recourse to any ! consideration on tae part of' the water companies themselves.