LAKE COUNTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1911, 6 July 1888, Page 17

LAKE COUNTY.

July 2.— The weather is etill the trouble, e'xeesiive 1 wet p-evailing all the thrie ; arid while complaints about tho cold would bs dut of seasdn at this tiiri 3 of tho year, there is every reason for expressing unmitigateddi&approval of the additional and altogether unnecessary adjunct of continuous rain«. It may ba said without exaggeration that since February fast we have scarcely had a week's continuous flue weather. Onalflnnds the query is asked: Where does all the rain come from? The only answer vouchsafed bein^ further downpours; to the Increase of Hie general wonderment* Burned to Death.— A fatal lire ocicui red last week, resulting in the death of John Martin, a miner well and favourably know on the Upper Shotover. Deceased audhis mate, Sanouel Bd wards, h,ad enjoyed himaelf after thefashion of thoselatitudeso'veragallon of liquor in tlieir own hut, entertaining some of th'fir friends to the treat. At the end of the whisky the company dispersed, Edwards going to sleep, only to be awakened by a sense of danger, which presented i'self ia the shape of fire, The thatch of the hut was üblnze, and the unfortunate man Martin seemed to be enveloped in flames. Edwards made bis escape, with comparative little injury, but the deceased was found, when the smoke and the heat had subsided, with the upper part of his body outside the threshold of the hut, while the lower portion had been almost completely consumed by the fire, lifii, of course, being extinct. How the unfortunate man got into that posit'on there is now no means of ascertaining ; but it appeirs to be a face that the remains were allowed to he undisturbed in their original condition am mgat the still smouldering ruins until the constable arrived the f blowing day. owing, It may be expained, to the idea pre vailing amongst the spectators that it was uilawful to remove the bddy until it had been viewed by one in authority. The inquest held on the remains resulted in a verdirt to the effect that the deceased was accidentally burnt to death. It was only a few ye^rs ago that 'a similar calamity was prevented in the same neighbourhood by the merest accident, tho actors barely escaping with their lives, but losing all their worldly possessions except the clothes they stood in. Such incidents as these vividly recall the early days of the goldfields, when there was no other relaxation or amusement upon the digging! but the fire-water, and it is appa'ling to contemplate the number of livns lost through its agency. It would, however, be wrong to lay too much blame afc the door of the infatuated victims, for whose overflow of spirits there was no other outlet, and who fell into the temptation by force of the surroundings. Thk Lakis District lliFta Association held its fourth annual meeting the other week at Queenstown, when the three orps of Cromwell. Arrowtown, and Queenstown were well represented. The balance sheet, properly audited, showed a credit balance of £17 10s. The spirit of the association was proved to be excellent, and a meeting for the Bth and 9th of November next arranged for, to be held at Queanstown, which, together with the band contest, will certainly draw a large crowd, providing the weather be favourable.

Pastoral —With the decided decrease of rabbits and the increase of food the squatter of the olden times, who was fast becoming as extinct as the moa, should show signs of reviving cue would think. There is now miles upon miles of country lying vacant which 10 or 12 years ago would have been greedily coveted, and run up to a goodly figure. County Affair*.— The Lake County Council will meet to-morrow, when it is supposed that a rate of }d in the pound for the year ending March 18 S 9, will be struck. The council is slowly retrieving its financial position, and, thanks to the depression and the b.mk, is now nearly out of debt. Mblbourne Exhibition.— The Queenstown Exhibition Committee sent off a collection of exhibits the olherweek, but numerous as the cases and parcels were, the leading local industries— viz., farming and mining, are but poorly represented.