CROMWELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2167, 5 September 1895, Page 23

CROMWELL.

SF.n'EMBER 2.— The cold and frost and an unusually hard winter have disappeared, and spring has arrived, a month later than usual A thunderstorm of unutnal fierceness raged last Wednesday night, and the rain fell in torrents till midday on Thursday. A fiiod seemed imminent, but the .snow is frozen so h-»rd that, it romes away slowly, 'ill- river*, tbo );;h !r«h, vie at pre-eut Sft or 10ft b low the levtl they w«.'ie .v latt June during the rainy w rather ne'twn liiid. The anticipated iloo'l is, I think, now out of the quest : on. Mining —It X eudent my informant made a mi-take when supplying me with the information that the Bannockburn dredge was on payable gold. 'Jhe fact is the dtedge got a little gold at a certain place ne*r the bank, and then r*n into jjround that had been pad docked out in the early diys The dredge i* waiting for some piece of machinery from Dunediu, as the pictent machinery does not ruu smoothly enough. Sluiciog is now in full s*iog again, water being very plentiful and the miners keen to make up for

three or four months' enforced idlene-s. At Quartz Reef Point the frost delaysd washinjj-up operations by freezing the wash as it was stacked at the shaft head. Hayes and Chapman expect to get about 120oz for three months' work lor three men

'•PniATKS op Pknzvnce "—The Crom well Amateur Musical and Dramatic Uirou— that if, I think, th« full and legal title— tiavelli> I to Alexandra last week, and played to the sntisfucMon of a crowded house. At present the "Pirates" aie engaged in the piratical pastime of hunting for scalps— those of critics preferred. The average amateur is not excessively modest, and the local sample is fully up to the mark in hungering after praise. The few mild criticiims I made have caused great annoyance, though I wrote as favourable a critique as my conscience would pormit. The Biinnockburu correspondent of the Cromwell Argus was rash enough to make a comparison unfavourable to the " Pirates," and the conductor is after his scalp in a manner perfectly blood-curd-ling. Meanwhile the general public stand by and enjoy the fun, and praise the beauty of modejty

Fancy Dress Ball.— lt is proposed to hold a fancy dress ball in aid of the funds of the Cromwell Cricket Club some time during the spring. ItPtems a strange thing that the youug men who indulge in athletic pastimes cannot pay for their own amusement without having to come to the public for support. They can generally find money for other pleasure*, often of a character not so high as cricket, yet they cannot afford to pay for cricket or tennis material. But Cromwell is not alone in this respect— other places are just as bad.