OUR WEST COAST LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2130, 20 December 1894, Page 39

OUR WEST COAST LETTER.

(From Our Ows Correspondent.) Hokitika, December 13. A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Santa Claus is at our doors— is with our expectant children. In every full-leafed tree, goldtinted fern, and rich-blown bloom the music of the miduight chimes is tuning; the majestic mountains and the lonely gorge are reawakening to cva\'lnsUng memories; tue fauna ai.d the flora are quivering to add their chorus to the old, old song of rcice ; all Zealandia greets the Advent with her Christmas l>ll«i All hail to the Prince of Peace! I his is His birthday— an old yet ever new-born glorious day 1 Hail to ourselves ii« goodwill only 1 Hail to the faith pictures of the future ; veil sad memories of the past I Revere the memories of our blessed dead 1 Roll out another merry pe^l, ye bells— ten thousand peans ; let your gladsome tongues resound the tale of joy throughout all corners of our seagirt isle 1 Are all hearts tuned and swelling to that mystic, mightiest annual anthem ? The sadder notes touch long-forgoiteu chords, melt sterile stony places, refresh with drops that sparkle as the diamond morning dew the dry-blown, arid, lifele a s desert ; rekindle withered hearts seared, awearied, ana forlorn of Life's hard battle, and flash them back that glimpse of an everlasting lost gay morn of sprightly youth I Another symphony, ye silent bells ; the port's soul bathes in the Elysium of thy melody, and every breeze that blows bears on it* Boiean wings the sweetest cadence of tbine JEol an lay, and lightens up the darkest places of the earth 1 Ring on, blot Evangel of a nobkr, truer life beyond the grave I "l'wa.B always so 1 "f will always bo so till thr end of Time ! Ring on 1 RinK on 1 Earth's cities, ships, and nations in thy gladsome melody, moved by many strange emotions, reciprocate thy greetings I

VICISSITUDES OF THE SEA.

North-east by north, slightly li-ted towards New Zealand's alpine chain, her gilt topped, arrowy nmsts nodding to Mount Mcta, lies hinh and dry upon the sands of the Arahura the schooner Heroine. One hundred feet long, with 25ft beam, and clipper-built only nine months back, she looks a perfect model. Last Friday, at the invitation of her courteous captain (Mr Ma- on), I visited her, and from the lips of the mate (Mr Crentaur) learnt the following tale : — " V esterday night three weeks ago we were anchored in the roads off Greymouth. and as it came on .to Wow great guns right on to the shore, and our anchois beni«n to drag, we were obliged to slip them and wear out ►eawards. The night was as duk as pitch and the storm increased momentarily, and after struggling along the southern ihores for about 14 miles, we found ourselves among tho breakers and fa t drifting lwndwanls. So the skipper about fillip and set straight for the land, the sea making clean breaches over our <>raft. Just th^n a heavy sea struck the main boom, breakingitawayfiomits lashings and swept it act oss the poop, it sinking Captain M«son a stunning blow <>n the back of the head, and knocking him down. He was up again ia an instant, and shouted his orders through the roaring tempest, until the Heroine's nose ran right up on the sands, aud when he found the tide ebbing and we fast he said, 'Tell tho meu they can safely turn in now ; I can't see, 1 and then ho reeled and would have falhn, but I cuight him and carried him below to hi 3 bunk, wh^re he lay uncons-ci-.us. Next morning he remembered nothing of the blow till I reminded him. The Heroine lies very snugly in a little bay, and as she h»3 not started a plank, is brand new, and her contractor for launching appears to be a man who knows what he is about, the New Year should see the graceful beauty in her natural element.

A NEW INDUSTRY.

Nestling well under the lea of a low, pine-nlad, cresent-shape i mountain, the horns or points of which stretch out almost to m^et the waters of the Tasman Sea, and a mile or so south of the Mikonui river, is the charming home of Mr Charles Shfarer, cattle-grazer, scientific agriculturist, and bee-farmer, the last beinga specialty. Going there last, week as your representative I found this intelligent settler H work, and he not only made me welcome, but gladly showed m<; his numerous agricultural implements, One of which, the new hoe just out from Phila elphia, is a perfect treasure ; his latest methods of beehive frame-making, wax surfaces, and honey-strainer, and his bee t<irm, from which lust year he_ exported two tons of pure honey lie told me it is the best paying industry he knows of, and that he anticipated selling three tons this year. Mr Shean-r, who has most of the bee annuals published and who seems to hold the interesting art at his ringers' ends, gave me quite an obie'e les-on. He has been located there 29 ye*rs, and a viuit to his f«mu is one of the coveted pleasures of South Wcsfclandera.