LAKE COUNTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2058, 3 August 1893, Page 22

LAKE COUNTY.

July 29.— Our weather has a knack of going from one extreme to the other without any perceptible cause. A week ago we were shivering in an antarctic frost, this was followed by mild weather, and on Tuesday last we were treated to a genuine downpour of rain, the patter of which was accompanied by some prolonged peals of thunder, the whole performance opening with a pretty strong storm from a north-easterly direc tion. Although no very great damage was done by either the wind or the rivers, which were flood high, the rain has swollen the rivers and streams so much that the hope of getting at some of the virgin, auriferous deposits in the Molyneux must be given up for this season. About 2 p.m. on Tuesday last things looked very gloomy. The rivers were up to flood level, murmuriDg brooks were transformed into roaring torrents, which did not only seem to be inclined to go on for ever, but appeared to do so in a desperate hurry ; landslips of moderate dimensions occurred in all directions ; the hills seemed to have broken out into a state of perspiration, the moisture running down their sides in streams everywhere, so that altogether it looked as if we were in for a regular flood, when suddenly the change came, and averted the deluge. However, even as it was, some damage was done. At the Crown Terrace the Royal Burn encroached upon and washed away several acres of Mr Wm. M'Kibbon's Hrad several of our main roads were rendered impassable for vehicles for a time ; there was no Cromwell coach on that Tuesday evening ; telegraphic communications with Dunedin and intermediate stations were interrupted ; some small damage was done to property; and many householders were thoroughly alarmed by threatening and imminent dancers, which luckily were averted. Political.— Mr W.^raser has replied favourably to the requisition asking him to come forward as a candidate at the next election, and announces that he is prepared to assist in forming a country party to curb the growing ascendency of the towns ; to maintain our national system of education ; and to effect much-needed reforms both in the system of local Government 'and in the present mode of dealing with charitable aid. Stripping the rumours that have been flying about of likely and unlikely candidates of their inherent nonsense, it is safe to say that the candidates will be, in the order they came into the field, as follows :— Mr Henry Graham, mayor of Arrowtown ; Mr John O'Meara, late Lake County chairman ; and Mr William Fraser, of Earnscleugh station, chairman of Vincent County Council, with a strong probability that at the poll this order will be reversed. , , , . High Falluting I— There is a good deal in adaptability to circumstances. Times were when in the opinion of experts wheat would never ripen here ; that it was no use bringing drays and waggons into the district, for roads could never be made, or if made, could never be maintained 5 that in a few years all the gold would be dug, and the place would relapse into a sheep walk, and so forth. But* the place did not relapse, and.we have now dray roads over our mountain saddles rising to altitudes of over 3000 ft, which touches the winter snow line. Of these the Cardrona road is the most important, and it is satisfactory to bo able to record that during an ordinary

winter the road is always passable. Mr Fred Brown, the intrepid John; of the*QueenstownPembroke coach, has run regularly every week all the winter, and the other day Mr John Cherry came through with a loaded waggon and a team of eight horses. These facts say a great deal for our roads and enterprise of our teamsters, especially when it is remembered that croakers decried the bare possibility of a dray ever getting over the saddle, and asserted that the cost of the road was money flung away. In the face of all this the Cardrona road has become one of the most important and useful in these parts. I remember when people assaying the old road over the Crown in the winter took shovels with them to dig their way through, and when one gentleman bedecked himself with 17 porous plasters (more or less) to keep out the cold. But we have altered all this now, and even ladies come and go in all sorts of weather and at all times of the year without any great personal inconvenience, showing that either we are hardening or that the severity of our climate is relenting, which in either case may be taken as an adaptation to circumstances.

Later.— The rain of last Tuesday has been very severe on the Crown Terrace, Arrowtown, doing a great amount of harm to the farms of Messrs W. M'Kibbon, H. M'Kibbon, and J. M'Kibbon, three brothers holding adjoining farms on the northern slope of the Crown Range. Many acres of growing crops have been washed away from every one of these farms, covering up large tracts of the same or adjoining paddocks with debris and rubble —the damage being the heaviest on Mr W. M'Kibbon's land, where the soil and gravel washed down almost completely destroyed the welMaidout and planted garden and orchard about the dwelling house, covering the soil in some places to the depth of 18in. The downpour was the heaviest that has been known to visit the locality since its settlement. Snow fell last night, and the weather is very unsettled, so that considering we are now near the breaking up of winter, it will be wise to prepare for a spell of bad weather, and even for floods of some magnitude in all our rivers.