LAKE COUNTY. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Otago Witness, Issue 1640, 28 April 1883, Page 14

LAKE COUNTY. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

April 21st. A Short Cot. — A swagsnian leaving the oi.jwu Terrace last week took a bee line for the point where the main Dunedin road crosses the Saiftburn, and commenced his detcent from the Ter ace into the creek at a very precipitous locality. At first all went well, but by-and bye tho descent became moti and more difficult, and bands as well as feet had to be brought into requisition. Presently it dawned upon tho wayfarer that to return had become as dangerous as to proceed — when, lo ! the weather-eaten rock (rave way below his feet, and he slid down tomo distance, becoming jammed in a crevice between two projecting jaws of reef. Here the luckless man was held, by his shoulders being jammtd in the crevic™, like in a niche • — suspended between heaven and earth. With a>i unscaleable wall above and a sheer precipice ol several hundred feet be'ow. escape was im ossible, even had the man been at liberty to move, for ho had no support for bis feet. In this position he had recourse to the only~means left him— namely, lo "coo-ec" for assistance. The roadmen engaged at the Swiftburn landslip heard the " coo-ec," and at first paid no attention to it, but the continual cry app ared to some to ring with an agony which induced them to look for the person from whom it proceeded. A little search revealed the man and his dangerous position. Kopes, however, being at hand, Hr Robert Phiim lowered himself down over the precipice, and with his assistance the man extricated himself from his unenviable, position. Thus this short cut to the Swiftburn had almost proved for him a short cut to that " bourne from whence no traveller returns," and some years hence a stray rabbiter might have discovered the skeleton of some unknown unfortunate.

"I'hb" Heartlbss Affair.— At the present time, when the attention of the whole Colony is turned to the cure for poverty, " the pious fraud " recently perpetrated at Arrowtown, and exposed in a late letter, is a striking case in point. -Thanks to "your own" and the plucky Arrow correspondent of the Wakatip Mail— who, by the way, appears to be a terror to all the fools and impostors in this district — the affair has been fully ventilated. The subscription lists and the disbursements have been made public, and from them it appears that out of the amount collected (£4O 13s) the Bum of 18s 9d was handed to the widow, the rest being distributed amongst certain tradesmen— ono of the collectors appropriating £20 1U 3d, or rather more than one-balf of the total amount collected ; while the other collector, Mr P. Butel, of the Arrow flour-mills, made the widow a present of the amount due to him-£4 19d 2d and also subscribed £L Is to the fund : thus proving my former statements correct in every respect. The most deplorable part of the affair ia that the recipient saw fit to make herself a party to the fraud by publishing misleading statements, instead of assisting in the ventilation of the nefarious transaction. But the subject may now be allowed to drop. The Rabbits Again.— The large area of unpurchased runs thrown upon the hands of the Government gives the settlers ot the district no small concern, as they look upon it as so much breeding ground for bunny, and the powers that be would act wisely if they lost bo time in placing tenants in possession at any price before the increases of the pest has totally destroyed the vaHio of these runs. There are several gangs of men sent out by Air Bouchier, the Government inspector, at the publ'C cost, but such a system can hardly bo universally commended, though it may do good to some little extent, and a better result would undoubtedly be obtained if the land were in occupation.

biLK Culture, — Mr W. Mason, who tabes a deep interest in the welfare of the district, read a valuable and interesting paper before the local Acclimatisation Society! on the introduction of the white mnlberry tree into this locality, with the view of establishing sericulture, for whioh ho holds the district is well adapted.

PiSTAL and TbliUphonic— Messrs Rose and Logan, respectively connected with the above-mentioned departments, are on a business vißit to this district. The much-desired telephonic communication betweon Frankton and Queenstown is liktly to be shortly completed, and it is also hoped that a daily mail between Queonatown ani Arrowtown, which has been so constantly "mentioned and advocated by " your own" for a number of years pa-it, will be favourably considered, and soon be an accomplished fact.

Landslip at Swiftbukx. — Tho road is now open again for heavy traffic, aud a threatened coal famine has been averted. This road also forms no meau outlet for a large amount of grain freni this district, and tho block has been inconveniently folt.