EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26781, 26 May 1948, Page 4

EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

FROM THE FILES OF THS ©taqo Bail? ©me* DUNEDIN, MAY 26, 1863. “The escort which arrived in town yesterday afternoon brought the following quantities of gold: Dunstan, 83820 z sdwt; Wakatipu, 2970oz;—total, 11,3520 z sdwt. Of the Wakatipu gold, 22400 z were from Queenstown and 7300 z from the Arrow township.” “We learn from the Melbourne papers that a Bill is to be introduced for the purpose of adjusting the question of mining on private property. The proposed Bill is intended to legalise agreements respecting mining on private land, and to convey to owners of property the gold found in ground designated in those agreements.” “The labour market has been very brisk during the week. Good female servants are in great demand but are very scarce. The wages average as usual. There is more demand from Queenstown and the neighbourhood for barmaids than from the Dunstan. A few married couples are in request, but there is very little demand for single men at present.” A correspondent of the Daily Times reports that fuel and timber are very scarce at the Dunstan. The latter, he says, is supplied from the forests at the head of the Lakes, whence it is floated down in rafts. Firewooa is difficult to obtain and .is _ very dear, but very rich beds of lignite exist on various parts of the banks of the Clutha. That at the junction of the Kawarau is very extensive, and the fuel is of superior quality. “At a sitting of the Resident Magistrate’s Court before Mr A. C. Strode, a man was charged with assaulting his wife and threatening to kill her, so that she feared he would do her bodily harm. The defendant pleaded guilty to striking his wife, but said he did not threaten to kill her. The fact was she was away seven or eight days, leaving him tb take care of two young children, and then she came back drunk. He did strike her, and he knew it was wrong, but indeed he had a very great dealt to put up with. Five times she had left him. The defendant was ordered to find two sureties of £5 each, and to enter into his own recognisances of £lO, to keep the peace towards his wife for three months.”