LAKE COUNTY;

Otago Witness, Issue 956, 16 May 1889, Page 16

LAKE COUNTY;

May 12.7^-It is n6w some time • since that rabbits have been discussed, and to the needy p&ragraphist the, subject comes as almost an .entirely new item, One of our local farmers, who goes vary expensively into sheepfarming and orop raising, and who has spent as' much as from £800 to £100 d per year to keep 'the rabbit's down on his land andtruns by poisoniug, thus having had considerable experience, now. holds that after all the natural enemy, is the best, cure. The gentleman iv question intends to go at ouoe into ferret breeding, and .adopt the, plan, of a very late date, say midsummer, for the liberation of the ferrets. ,;• ; . , -• , ; , j . '<" . ,' . Oub Sbapobt.— The recent flying survey party sent out to inspect' the count ay between Lake Wakatipu and Milford Sound has added another saddle to that ifound by Mr W. H. Hamer, Mr B. H. Wilmot being the discoverer of the second saddle. ' It is only natural that each should have the greatest 'faith in his individual discovery, and claim for it advantages which constitute hiß particular saddle the best and cheapest route. In a recent issue of the Wakatipu , Mail, Mr Hamer makes some statements which ' should not be allowed to pass without investigation. The Queeostown Committee of the New Zealand aud South Seas Exhibition, or the County Councilor both .bodies combined might with great advantage take up the matter 'and by a timely pull and a pull altogether get communication opened before the arrival, of ..Australian and other visitors to -the. exhibition. ' It is quite practicable, for work to go on all through the winter, in fact, it is the best time for travelling and open air work. And, let it be remembered, no time is to be lost. '. HbtbrogkwbotiS' BBtrPTiONS.'—There is an 1 individual in, these parts who possesses the quality of , breaking out continually in fresh places. Making, his advent here with the early pioneers, he oopa figured as a public agitator, being a busy 'and ?rominent merbber of several public committees, n time he blazoned. forth as a lecturer, and soon' after] developed into a prestidigitqteur. Next he broke out as a mining reformer and founder of miner's associations, then we hear of him as a mine manager, and soon after as a voluminous writer on mining subjects.' In the course of further developments he was 1 transmogrified' into a mining agent— ' HeaVen iave,the mark — and later on erupted a guide book 1 , and a full, blown novel,, which ran for nearly seven months in the issues of the Witness ; and now 'be figures as a "first and true inventor "of a goldsaving, and v a co-Inventor of a life-saving apparatus. ' There is an old Dutch saying which' run«: " Was der liebe Gott nicnt alles. dous'm mansohen, macher can 1 " And here is an illustration 1 df it. ' I have a kind of sneak,ing ; regard for .the 1 individual, and therefore omit mentioning his name, and as he himself does not evince any inclination' to hide either his name or <his light under a bushel there is nob the least need for my doing so. , . „ „ „ . ' 3ha&s.— The local Acclimatisation Society have decided to give Is per head for every shag destroyed, and not a bit too: soon. No one who has, not the opportunity of witnessing the quantity of fish'destroyed iu'ttie back country of this district' by this ; voracious bird, can j form any opinion of the extent of harm, done by it. Besides, ib would appear that the birds in these pacts attain an unusual size. I' remember helping' to. measure one , which covered 9ft between his wing tips. > (■, Thb Mystbmhs of, Volunteebing.— One, of the most mysterious things in volunteering is how the three corps' of' the Lanes managed t6 collect just 49' names of putative volunteers, or exactly one over the required number ,-for every corps. The military art' is, to say the least of it, a wonderful' and fearful; one. For the whole time of, its existence the Arrow corps has never had a balance sheet presented to it. Further, when the Arrow (Squad attends reviews it invariably manages to get' into 'a 'fix, demoralisfng f men and officers alikeVthe inefficiency df the latter boing too often the cause of the mess tthe men get into.i i ■ , • , v . , Changes.— With other parts of New Zealand we have experienced several changes' in 'our. 'financial .heavens— the Banks. Mr Bevin ' the- other week exchanged the Queenstfown branch of the Bank of New Zealand for, that of Gore, while, Mr (3> H. Boyd, who< 'has acted as agent for three years,, at .the Arrow "branch, was last week transferred to Greyinouth' in the same capaoity, Mr H. Black, brother' to Mr'Joh'n ' Black, engineer for Lake ' County, taking Mr Boyd's' ■ place. The 'changes are, on the whole, promotions, < ; and have, as, a rule, a satisfactory ..element about them. In public houses, too, changes are the order of the day. Mrs 1 Welsh, landlady of the 'Ballarat Hotel, Arrowtown, remove!' to' Oardrona, Mr Stoddart taking the Ballarat Hotel. , , , Accidents. — Mr ■M'Queen.ofthe Vulcan Foundry, Dunedin, and his son, escaped serious injury, if not death, one day last week, by jumping from a buggy. A jibbing horse was in the act of backing over a'steep siding, at Arthur's ' Point, Shotover. 'Horse and buggy, went crashing .down the hillside, but the animal becoming disengaged got off without serious injury, while the buggy smashed to pieces, James Campbell while travelling at Mid Wariaka, had a nasty fall by being pushed off a narrow track by his ' ' swag striking a jutting point of rock, and fallingaconBiderable distance. In spite of the.'injuries sustained he managed to walk to Cardrona, whence, he .was taken to the Arrow Hospital. Obituabv.— Last Saturday Mr Charles Johnson, one of our early and successful settleca, died at the Arrow Hospital of heart disease. Of late years deceased had giv.en up farming, having bought the i Vicbqra Bridge Hotel, Kawarau. , He leaves a' widow and .a family,, mostly grown up, in easy circumstances.r — A' Chinese miner at the Shntover branches died last week of peritonitis, his stomach being fdund perfectly. riddled with holes. ' At' the post mortem examination, Dr Douglas, who conducted it, expressed the opinion, that the .deceased must have .been suffering for years from the djs,ease., " I/ECTUBB.— Mr J. Gammelhas delivered His series' of three lectures at Queenstown, but the audierices were'- anything but large.' Lectures' in up-country towns dont go down', somehow. ■ ■> FooTBALL,:-The. Queenstown Football Club has been resuscitated, and a good committee appointed.' At a recent meeting hela at the Harp of Erin Hotel, It was'agreed'to challenge bhe Arrow Club to a' match. . • " ' '• ' '