LAKE COUNTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1901, 17 July 1890, Page 18

LAKE COUNTY.

JULY 14.— We have had a few daya of unsettled weather, but no downpour of either enow or rain. Serious chough this ii for the sluieers, it is not without itfl compensation, for rabbltera have been doing a flourishing trade, and the protracted drought has reclaimed many patches of fern, which have been eyesores to sheepfarmers ever since they made their advent here. This dying of fern proves that the long spell of dry weather has been without a precedent for a very long time at least antecedent to settlement amongst these hills, Burnt Out.— Two young men, Cowan and Shenahan, who had been rabbiting mates, upon working out a piece of ground divided the spoil, Oowan with his share of the skins moving away, leaviog Shenahan in possession of the tent and about 1000 skins as his share of the raid. In some unaccountable manner, and during Shenahan's absenoe, the tent caught fire, destroying the poor fellow's clothes, blankets, and skins, whioh at least were worth £10. Travbllhbs Bbwabk.— Mr J. Black, Lake County engineer, announces that traffic over the Victoria bridge, Kawarau, on the road between Queenstown and Cromwell, is su»pended between 8 o'olqck a.m. and 5 o'clock p.m., except when the mail coach pauses. Travellers had better tnke notice of this. as the repairs will be of a p-etty extensive nature, and will take some time to complete. Inspired— l do not know whether a country correspondent of the Witness has any right or business to be inspired, but I know that when he «s he must, either let out or " bust. It is something like having entrusted to you a secret, with the aaored injunction not to tell anybody, with the difference that in the case of the inspiration there ia no iujunoMon. and consequently you don't violate any promise, and are also saved the annoyance of finding out, after you have made the most desperate efforts to keep the secret, that everybody Jjaw all Rlwut it i°Pg fafow y°u did, IbJ»

makes a man feel mean, and gives him a kind of moral toothache, or gnawing at his vitals or something of that sort. About the inspiration bust' ness there is nothing of this kind. But to come to the inspiration itielf . I have seen something of a rather unique exhibit prepared by Mr J. A. Miller, of these parts, for the London Mining Exhibition, consisting of a Miners' Guide, for whioh Mr Miller claims that he has compiled a thoroughly practical treatise on mining, in which by processes easily understood and performed results are obtained quite as reliable and accurate as If tbry had been evolved aocordins to the most solentifio methods, and that, too, without sacrificing any information of real praotical use at whioh the most elaborate) treatises on. mining have aimed. The work is illustrated with diagrams, drawn upon cartridge paper, the more elaborate ones being works of art of their kind, though, perhaps, I should not say so. The full title of the work is " The Mining Investors and Working Miners' Guide," from which it will be seen that the author has also a word to say to the mining investor as well as to the working miner. Mr Miller intended to have exhibited the work at the reoeut New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, but the idea oocurred too late to him, and he only finished it just in time to send it away by the last 'Frisco mail, a great portion of it being produced under pretty high pressure, and the fear of being too late, during the past two months. It is, of course, Mr Miller's intention to publish the work in London, that is, 'provided he oan find a publisher, in whioh I am sure I wish him I every success, though perhaps I should uot say so. I. Elbcbioity.— The residents, especially those of Queenstown and district, are much addicted to eleotrlolty, and they had only a very narrow escape from having the whole town lighted with gas a couple of years ago. As It is, there is probably the most powerful electrical apparatus in the colony at the Phoenix mine, Skippers (80 or 100-horse power, if I reoolleot rightly) and two others near by as powerful are now in oourse of erection at the Sandhills. In addition, Eiohardt's at Queenstown is now completely lit up by the new illuminant. which gives the!u(most satisfaction, to say nothing of the greatly increased seourity, which taken altogether with the faot of the house being a stone one, it may be pronounced as fireproof, aud as Bafe to stay at as any In the colony or anywhere out of it. House Warming.— One would almost think that the old times have oome baok again as for the second time in little better than a month there has been a housewarming at the Shotover, when Mr and Mrs Stone, late of Riverton, entertained their new friends of the Shotover to a free ball And supper, and when It is said that the whole affair was an unqualified success, and that all and sundry enjoyed themselves to their heart's content. Snow.— There was a snowfall last night, but so little fell that it scarcely covered the ground, and it will all disappear before noon.