LAKE WANAKA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2171, 3 October 1895, Page 23

LAKE WANAKA.

Alburtown, O ;tobin- I.— Since I last wrore the went.H(-r has become oettlMd, and now we have mild spring weather and sunny days, which i<* causing the grass to grow with qic it rapidity, and the gr >und is becoming so dry thnt a shower will be welc me. At the H.nvea Flat I believe the crops are looking very well. Rara Avis.— l uaw au unusual specimen of bird the other day in th>; blnp^of a tern, "r sea -wallow, &3 they are sometime; callel, which w:^s nn^rly black. The liatu-'.il colour is livemier, bill thin ose was neady all rHok u<idernetth i with the exception of lavender r 'lo ired spots whvh th vied invothe block. A'Kve it was black s-pots which ehsded into the laveti'ier. It was somewhat smaller than its companions. LuGfIATE —A telephone station has been opened at Lnugate at the f choolhou'e, and is in charge of Mis* Dickie, the teaoher. The openu^ of telephone Bt»ti»rti< isalwayo a matter of congratulation, as it *hnwß advancement of settlement, and the ally help to make the main telegraph line more profitable

Back to the Sixtiß' —All the f.ri^in>il resuicit-. f-f the W-mku cherish the m-in 'iy nf thes iotl t in.is thoy ! i-d i i the beginning and of tho f reo a d o.tsy lif- that existel then. Everything wa. in a veiy 11 -uiiihiiig condition, work 'beins a' liand aud \vuge3 hign. Money w«s pl6niiful, and buaiivs^ uini givealmo-t .uilimiUd credit, «*o that n>> oh* had the foiute3& ide<» of want. Allthrt firtit r. sid-'iits vtho were tempted aw«y by the i-ttracli >' s <>( fro. hfioMi are pk-^soi to hear news of the Wanaka, and s mi^imoi inquiries are mad-i fiom diff^rout pirts <-f the world as to the pro^re-8 of the distrii'.t, <fee. There areyot ph-uty of people who l-enwmbjr "Jack the D»n«," which was the only name ho wrs known .by, according to the en (loin iv vogue at th*t time. ■Helived here for some tinie in the ea-ly -!i^Uerf. with the late Mr Ilt-nry Nor-uan, and one; h-lp:cl to raft some tlemaph polos down the Clutha river to Cromwell. He was 1 )st sight of for mmy years, but seeing Mi George Ha>si!ig's naiuu in a Copenhagen nevvspapi'r in coon>c .ion with liia Echool at Heddoo Bu*h, he wrote to Mr HaR-insf, who passed his ad-Jresson io Mrßieluid Norm-n, who at once opened up c lmmuiKation with h'ln, and rectived a letter by the last Knglish nuil, in which he Rive 3an inte t sting account of hia colonial wiinderiugs. Mr Chviitenben, to give him hi« propor name, af r ei leavi'ig tho WaHak-», w.rat to the We^t Coast and got a cltim on the OVanta Heach. Thence he wen 1 to Rivei fc 'ii, a .-I after that to Dunedin and Wellington, an>l Vt-u Ke.Uon, in which neighbourhood he got a lm"1 claim and made £l<)b. Thence lie wenl th-[ > 'h-[-Sbourne, following up to Port D^r>vin, \v • ro he ktvt a hotel. Cooktown, Q-ieens<land, followed," and then New South Walec, whei- In kept a hotel, but Kold out and went Home in 1575. He again went into the hotulline, married, :m ' h is i>een third ever since, contented aud proHpuuni'. H<i has two sonß and two daughters, the eldest being 19. One of the daughters writes the letter, which is in very good English, and shows onco pgain how much the English language is prized on the Continent. In cisc any of hia old friends ■vrould like to write to him I append his full name and address : Her Jorgen Chrittteneen, No. 15 Vestervol'lgad*, Cipenhagen, Denmark. Another old Wanaka resident has written to the manager of the Wanaka station (viking for particulars of the old residents, and would be glad if my of them would write to him. His name is William Stuart M'Gill, and he is a partner with Mc-.srs Thomas and William K^Dncriy, who built the first Waoaka woobbeJ and " big hoiue." They have a sheep run on tho borders of West »nJ South Australia, where they have residoJ since they left the Wanaka, over 30 years back. The address is, " Mundra Bulla, Eucla, Fowler's Bay, South Australia." Mr M'Gill did the first ploughIng on the Forks with Mr John Richmond, who now lives somewhere in Canterbury. Mr M'Gill asks for Mr John Stevenson and Mr Robert Uanninj; (who live on the Taieri), Mr 11. S. Thomson (rabbit agent, of Omar.una), Mr C.ileb Papvon (of Makarora), Mr George Williams (of CardronaX Mr Donald Munro (of Tarras), Mr Tobin

(of Queensbury), and several others who are either dead or have loft the district Mr M'Gill would be glad of a letter from his old friends, and he speaks in glowi-p farms of the happy times spent in the W,maka in the early days.