INVERCARGILL.

Otago Witness, Issue 490, 20 April 1861, Page 6

INVERCARGILL.

ITrom.the Southern News of the 30th ult., ■we abridge the following from its first monthly summary : — . In our first number (February 16th), in an article headed " What we were and what we are,'* we showed that in 1857, when Mr. J. T. Thomson, chief surveyor of Otago, decided on the site of Invercargill, — as our chief town is at present called, — there were but three buildings in the place, viz. the survey-office, a store, and Mr. Lind's " travellers' rest," since superseded by his Albion Hotel, an extensive pile «t buildings shortly to be further greatly enlarged. On the 16th of February, 3861, — and that without the district, town, or port having received any paternal aid or countenance from its late rulers, — the dwelling-houses had inincreased to 210, exclusive of a large number just outside the town but within two miles of the Post-office ; since that last date several more houses have been erected within the i town. The old fern-tree survey and landoffices are still in existence, mementoes of the primitive order of architecture adopted by the founders of this City of the South ; the former will soon be hid from sight by the new Bank, the business of the Land department is conducted much better in the new premises near the Court-house. The duties of Resident Magistrate, Collector of Customs, and Postmaster are no longer imposed on by one I person. Capt. Elles retains the customs and postal appointments, and needs both more room and a more reputable-looking building in which to carry on his duties — for a shabbier shanty than the Invercargill post-office and -customs-house it would be difficult to find in ISTew Zealand ; fortunately we have now two able representatives who will know how to plead our cause when the estimates come ■ under discussion in the Assembly, and we do not think that the General Government will turn a deaf ear to their repesentations. Our new Resident Magistrate is M. Matthew Price, who has a commodious Court-house in which to dispense law and justice. While the settlers of Murihiku —speaking, it is to be presumed, from practical experience 4S well as from personal predilection — bear -warm testimony to the salubrity of its climate, ■there are not wanting those who — it is to be hoped disinterestedly — talk of our district in different terms : we are " squally, rainy, i hailly, frosty, snowy, fiercely stormy," &c. ; ■so exhausting a very long catalogue of disheartening characteristics, and making us appear as if we were far less inviting as a place "*>f settlement than the Orkneys or Western Hebrides. That we have wind and rain like some of our neighbours is very true ; not long since, after an unusually fine summer, we had a succession of westerly and south-westerly gales for eight days, but we had neither wreck nor loss of life to record ; and that burst over, we have had fine clear bracing weather. The inhabitants of Stewart's Island — of which littleknown region we may have more to say on another occasion — declare that theirs is even a milder climate than ours, and that the bays of Patterson's Inlet will be the watering-places of South New Zealand. Speaking of rain, the following was the total quantity of rain which fell at Invercargill in the months of January and -February of the years 1858 to 1861, inclusively :—: — 1858— January, 2.27 ; February, 0 83. 1859 — January, 2.09 ; February, 3.06. 1860 — January, 3,32; February, 1.71. 1861 — January, 2.50 ; February, 1.88. The totals are 3.10, 5.15, 4.03, 4.88. We are ! not in a position to compare these totals with those of similar periods of the year in other Provinces ; but speaking from personal knowledge of a great part of the Colony, we can «ay that there are lew places that can compare with InvcrcargjH in its natural facilities for -drainage, especially iv the character of its soil ; ' so that there is seldom much inconvenience or injury caused by exhalations from damp even after several days' rain, when we do get such * spell all together ; that is the exception, not the rule. It must also be borne in mind that ' the roughest ard worst weather is naturally experienced at Invercargill from its peculiar .position, and that during the late gales of which we have spoken, in the interior of the Jfi^try^diL-faet, witiun~a~lew miles of the ' town, the weather was very fine. There is no \ general disease, neither endemic nor epidemic, "of which the Registrar's returns give evidence ; j .the principal ailments are those incident to women and children, or are traceable to preventible causes. The children born here are unusually fine and healthy. One of the chief "things to be desired is a little more attention ! to the construction of our dwellings — a matter in which reform is required in other parts of New Zealand besides this the extreme South ; and as timber and bricks become cheaper, of which there is a fair prospect, there is no doubt that our houses will be built with .'greater regard to light, ventilation, and , warmth. Even with every defect that can be .picked out in these respects, the mortality in 'this district is small. In 1860, there were

only 5 deaths registered in the Invercargill district: up to the present period of 1861, there have been none ; — the births have been 9, so far as is known, but, as our population is very much scattered after the town itself is left, there is probably very great neglect in registering every birth. In 1857, where Invercargill stands was dense bush and scrub, hardly passable : now, both bush and scrub are rapidly vanishing before the eawyer andbuilder — and the principal thoroughfares, Tay-street, Dee-street, Clyde-street (the commencement of the Bluff-road), and lower Tweed-street (which leads to the steam- wharf,) will bear comparison with those of the oldest towns in the colony, both for width and formation : it would be strange were this not the 'ease, looking to the level character of the district, and the abundance of fine gravel in every direction for metalling. — The number of intending settlers recently arrived has been so great that increased hotel accommodation is one of the wants of the day, and is leading to the enlargement of the existing public and private hotels, and the erection of two others. With merchants' and other stores we are well

supplied, and the opening up of direct communication with Melbourne, Hobart Town, and Launceston, is exercising an extremely beneficial influence on our market.— Our Postal arrangements, inter- colonial and inter-provin-cial, need thorough reform ; the English mail for this Province has been again carried on to Dunedin, so causing us both loss of time and "great inconvenience ; and the Dunedin authorities still starve us with a fortnightly overland mail. This, we trust, will be one of the first matters taken in hand by our Provincial "Government as soon as it is formed. — With steam communication with both Otago and Melbourne we are very fairly supplied by the Prince Albert, the Oberon, and the Pirate : .the iriter-colonial mail steamers also call, or should call, regularly at the Bluff on their jfcay to and from Melbourne. Our sailing fleet is still on a limited scale, although, in addition to our once sole visitant, the •' Star," we have several schooners trading to and from tbi&.port with . valuable general cargoes, and vessels of from 300 to 600 tons register bringing sheep, hOrses, and cattle, for this district, and landing them at the Bluff— one of the finest harbours in the colony. — In 1857 there were not more than 40 inhabitants in InvereargiU, and very few country settlers ; there are now in InyercargUl, including the suburbs, about JOOO. 'At a sale of town sections in Invercargill, W*Hace-town, and Campbelltown, the total amount realized was between £1100 and £1200 about £21. The sections were ? # v ***f r °^ a ? acre each; a considerable f!? n ?M^ were . located in what is termed " the HMz&ML the competition for many of these Rfjordeagratifying proof, of the general conyictipai that the town will soon begin to extend

towards the south as well as north of Taystreet, and that in the course of no long time that street will be in the middle instead of, as now, on the outer edge of the town. — The new premises for the Oriental Bank, though only part of an event as yet, are being proceeded with rapidly, and will be completed in the course of about three weeks. The Rev. Mr. M'Gillivray has accepted the charge of the Presbyterian Church of Riverton, thus supplying a want which has long been felt by the inhabitants of that fine district.

Stewart's Island will soon be rising into considerable importance for its export of tim~ ber, two large saw-mills, one worked by steam, the other by water, having been erected there: both will soon be in full operation, and will have the effect of materially lessening the cost of timber. This will be a great advantage to Invercargill and Riverton and the intervening country, as there is now so much building going on. The reduction in the cost of the material will also lead to an increase in the amount of employment, and we may fairly anticipate that carpenters and all other artisans connected wfth the building trade will be as fully occupied in the execution of contracts as they could desire. — There has been some talk of a, special steam excursion, a species of exploring party, from Invercargill and Riverton to Patterson's Inlet, and if carried out, it will no doubt lead to the commercial incorporation of this fine though rugged island with our New Province. The number of whaling ships frequenting the waters of Foveaux Straits and the harbours of Stewart's Island is again on the increase ; and when they find that they can always rely with certainty on obtaining a constant supply of stores in some one of the bays of Patterson's Inlet, the captains of the vessels that have come this season, say the number of vessels will soon be doubled : that, in fact, Patterson's Inlet will become the favourite port of call for the whalers.

In his report as to the numbers and condition of the sheep in the Southern district of Otago — chiefly, we believe, in what will be our new Province — at the end of September, 1860, Mr. Pinkerton gives the number at 137,197, and states their condition to be very good. He also alludes to the growing conviction of the value of this as a sheep country, and to the preparations making for the importation of large numbers of sheep. During the present quarter, 5879 sheep, of the value of £6176, have been landed at the Bluff for this district. — Our export of wool from this district, for the portion of the season that has elapsed, has been very considerable. Messrs. Calder, Blacklock, and Co. have already shipped from this port (including some from Riverton) on behalf of their clients, about 150,000 lbs; Messrs. T. J. White and Co. (also including some from Riverton) between 30,000 and 40,000 lbs. These figures, however, must only be taken as partially representing our wool export, while it must be remembered that there is a large quantity of wool yet to come down from the distant stations.

We have not the means just now at hand of obtaining any precise return of the number of horses in the country which will be comprehended within the Province ; but we believe we may fairly assume there is a horse to every adult. During this quarter, 53 horses, of the value of £2790, have been imported here. In cattle our weath is increasing rapidly. Between Invercargill and the eastern watershed of the Mataura, there are at least 4250 cattle ; and in the New River District, east of the Oreti, a few of the settlers muster up among them between 400 and 500 head of cattle. These figures, too, do not include working bullocks and other cattle running wild. The import under this head for this quarter has been 98— value, £923.

We have been furnished by our Postmaster with the following statement of business in the first quarters of the present and preceding year :—": — " Letters received at, and despatched from the Invercargill Post Office for the period from January 1 to March 27, 1860, and from January 1 to March 30, 1861, respectively : — 1 860 : received, 1 797, despatched, 1 138 ; 1861 : received, 2057, despatched, 1697." — This shows an increase of nearly one-fifth in the letters received in the first quarter of this year on the number received in the like period of 1860, while the increase in the letters despatched has been nearly one-half.

Here we close our first Summary, partly because the statistics of this Province are as yet mixed up with those of the elder Province of Otago, but still more because we would rather leave other matters of detail to be tested by the experience of another quarter, after we have been our own masters.