LAKE COUNTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1932, 30 November 1888, Page 17

LAKE COUNTY.

, Novemdhh 2j6.—As we are now nearing the

longest day in the year, and have had only a few weeks of spring weather in .September last, crops j are rather backward, and the anxieties of the farmers are inoreased beyond the usual limit, : It is questionable whether wet have had ever so, cpld and weta.spring as tha present one. Every shower of rain falls as snow upon the, hills, lying; too, very unpleasantly near our own^level. The temperature, day or night.reminds ,iis more of winter than the near | approach of. summer, while the earjy mornings are ' often downright frosty, , , „.. , ; ( , . HoiD, Enough.— The " sports *' of , Arrowtown are making preparations for a day's racing at Miller's Flab during ;the approaohlng holidays. This,, with 1 the recent Spring meeting of the Lake. County Jockey, Club, and its projected summer meet'!tocome off, in about a week after IjTew Year's Day, will make three race meetings in two months, which, with other kinds of jollifications, ia about as mulch as-i the depression will permit us to;, enjoy. , f >Of air aflHotions to which. we have been subjected, 1 dissipations ,without end are, becoming the most unbearable. • ■ ' " < ByjHor.lßawAßß,— That, cats. count amongst the natural enemies of the .rabbit is a well established fact, which, however, up to the present has received the attention it deserves. We have heard of, shipments of cats to the West Coast, but that was'an introduction of pusslutoa new country, and » once there she continued to reproduce herself, thus stopping the need of further emigration, Recently, however, an army of tabbies and their relations, and connections, about 200 in number, passed' through; Queenatown on their way' to Mount, Pisa station to wage a war of extermination upon bunny. Should the experiment prove successful cats 'may yet come to figure as valuable cattle in the' live stock' markets of ' Otago. * • '■ ' "" ' , ',' ' ' A -Hun of Bad Luck.— The p.s. Mountaineer;; trading Upon Lake Wakatipu, met with another mishap last week at Kingston. Whe"n ftbotit being [ berthed alongside of- the pier.'ohe of the hawsers 1 not beiDg fastened in time, the boat' "was blown by the storm then raging upon the beach; Injuring one of her paddles to such an extent as to disable her;' and prevent her proceeding on her journey until the damaged paddle could be replaced. ' The-s.s.* Ben [ LOmond book Con the passengers and mails to Queens- ■ town. ( , , ! I Obituary,— Another of our early pioneer miners has been lowered into the pit for the fast time; no more to return therefrom. Mr Alexander Olsen, who, maY justly bo r called the father of quartz mining in this' 1 district, died the' other week of 'pneumonia,- ats the Frankton Hospital, at the age of 55 years, leavinga widow and young family In not the best of circumstances. The deceased was thfrdiecoverer of 'Q'jite a number of quartz claims at Skipper's Creek, of which the Phceriix, Otago, and British North-American. I are at 'present the best known. AH of these were I opened out for working towards the end of 1833, and I were the" cause of great excitement at the time. Mr Oleen, who was a Swede by birth, was- a man of a- singularly kind- and amiable disposition, preserving to the last that singleness of mind and heart which characterises the race to whioh he belonged. ' ! Masonic— At the last election of th 6 Arrow Kll-" I winning Lodge, 637, S.C. there was a very numerous I gathering'of Masons, and'a goodly number of T f M's. [ The following gentlemen were elected to their 'rei spective offices s— R.W:M., Bro. A. B. Edm6nds (reelected); D.M., Bro. G. Heller; S'M., Bro. 'Ti Cannon-; 5.W.,8r0. CX Stdddart;' 3.W., Bro. fc.,H\ I Preston ; S.D., Bro. R. Lawton ; J.D. Bro J. Keat-i'mg;-I.G.;Brb.';J.Hunter,P.M.;feyler,Bfo.C.^ay 1111 11; 1 i secretary, Bro.''J. F.'Hfeftley; ' treasurer, Brq, ~3J: Bushton: chaplain, BrS. John Eliot. : "" I , . , : •" ' O'i ■„;-:, ,1 .■'•