RIVERTON.

Otago Witness, Issue 1581, 11 March 1882, Page 13

RIVERTON.

(from our' own corrbspondbnt. j March 2nd.

The crops are all looking very well. General harvest will begin next week, and I think our part will compare very favourably with other districts aa to results. , , We had a great gambling case yesterday with the Chinese. There, was only one' charge' proved, and John, was fined, £lo and costs' for, , keeping a gambling den. i'ij i Our Presbyterian/ ctiunSh has now got so far towards completion" as -,to'|be nearly roofed. When finished,' lt will be a great ornament to the town: .1 believe anbther'denomlnation is going: in fbr a church too. "The more' the merrier. 'The Roman Catholics hold a bazaar hereon tfoei7s, W 6 ? >TOft?'ftfi^!S buying off their debjftn tho church.,-^ thin(t|lt will still' flourishing* 'It if, aitonishing to me that Etir6pean's do not go' in more for, tne^ouMHill disfgirigi. At present ihere we, about 50,0 Chinamen there; and 'mosl. of 4em>^cf^ 'Wff iVfiKM knoW'spiae myseif;makfagXlO T^r week. '.The poprilitlbn of Europeans numbera about 40. 'There is Something wrong.'somewhere.' We I) shall,haye y^they ca}l the >?Mfi »»pe •», fa dlreotjy; Wh tekm fog grtat bobn'^o the district, as the cry. is they* batftgefc water. ' '' Our school' Is fl'tiU maintaining, itff Character under the .'leadership flf Mr Webber,' who, I. think, deserves the thanks' of the.distrlctjtor the'way in wnibh he coix-

, ; ,•' ' ",, „/ „" ,' ' .March 7th.' ' Ttie weather has ( changed frdmpummer.tojwibter, and will interfere with the harvest, aa ,every farmer, now' iB either cutting or stocking. ' Harvest you may! gay' commohcod' this week.,' I nave 'heard' rio com-| plaints at present that' harvest panels are so' tnat if, we pnly,,can get a "few days'of '.fine weattior we ■sn^havc^Hamost of our' crop's, cut. ' Akth'eweatheij is' at, present j nothing, can be'flone' in the way of lia'rj jrestinij./ , \ '.[[" „, " .'.,/'• " ',* ,"» , j" ' ' , j ' The election casoia over, and I. must say it waf carried on'b'y each side with a vbry'bittor"strife',,but Isuppoße ithe hatchet will now bo buried, 'and gad; side, I Hope, will "forgive and forget what, has .beer said and donp, in, the^hoat _of t an,,,ele.ctlon^oontest, where each tries foput liisman'at "the head ofthe The openingof the Nightcapsllne of railway took place last Friday," a -special train taking the Invercargillites, the Rivertonians going by Jihe prdinary/trair? to Otautau. Everything went off well, the fair sex being well represented. This line being now open will be the means 6f supplying the Rivertonians and Invercarglilites with cheap fuel, as II 11I 1 believe tho coal is of excellent quality, and, as the Chairman remarked, it Will be sold so cheap as to cut out all others in the market. The opening of this line, will also bring a deal'of gpdd agricultural land into position. I' expect that a'greiit many farmers', will select land now on deferred 1 payments, whefd, had this line not been constructed, they could not cOmpeto with other districts, owing to the state of the roads handicapping thorn. in bringing their produce, to market. , t „' We had a very nasty accident, through a trolly jumping off the line last week, by which a man named John Henderson, employed on the line, was thrown off. He was picked up insensible and conveyed to our'hospital, but never ga'inod consciousness, and died on Saturday morning, his death being, I believe, caused by concussion of the brain. It seems that a block of wood was left on the line by one of the carpenters, and, the trolly going at a good rate came against ijt and waß thrown off i

Our races are fixed for the 17fch' March, and I see they have advertised eight races. No doubt we shall have a good meeting, as .there arc, a few good hb'rses' in the district, and, it will a good outsider, to wipe some of them "out. " > « Kound Hill is still looking up. Mr Bernston, one of the owners of the biff race, is forming a company for the purpose of bringing up a sludge-channel, as at prosent all the workings are getting blocked up with tailIngs. Ho purposes bringing np * sludge-channel about 2J miles from the sea, by means of which all the tailings will go direct to soa instead of being heaped up as at present. Thoro is no doubt that the work will greatly benefit the district, »b there is ground that would pay £20 por week if there was any way to sluico it. The proposed channel will open up a face of about two miles, all known to be payable ground. I wish the projector luck in his undertaking. J , , j The Longwood is comparatively, quiet, although thoro are ono or two good reefs which have bean tested thoroughly. One of these ia Mr Port's. I feel certain that once he gets his claim in working order, the Longwood will be better prospected than 'over. That thore are good payable reefs in it no one hore has the least doubt, and if we only had a few suoh energetic persons as the Porks, our reefs would not lio in idleness long. 1 only hope that the Ports may bo richly rowardod for the way they have stuck to their claim, and I hayo not the slightest doubt in my mmd on the subject. I sometimes feel surprised that some of tho Dunedinites don't. start a fish-curing establishment down hore. As it is at present we have to pay very nearly as much In Riverton for our fish as you, do in Dunodin, although the Straits are literally alive with all sorts of flsh, and you oan get them winter or summer. There are two or three crafts occasionally employed, they go out and make a good haul, and then thore is a rest, or, as they say, the weather is too bad, and so 0I At the inquest held on the body of the late John Henderson on Tuesday, at tho Hospital, a verdict of accidental death was recorded. The deceased seems to have been a very steady man, as ho had in his hut deposit receipts amounting to nearly £300. He was not known, nor is there any trace of whore his family are. The only thing that came out at the inquest was that he was a native of Glasgow, and had been in tho Colonies about 25 years. A witness also said that he spoke at times of ft brother yrho he believed was in Scotland.