BALCLUTHA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2198, 16 April 1896, Page 28

BALCLUTHA.

April 13.— Easter has come and gone, and although the holidays opened with tbe usual Easter drizzle, it cleared up afterwards, and the holiday-makers had a good time on the whole. An Unusually large number travelled by the trains passing through here, and a good many went to CAtlins on shooting bent ; but with the close season for pigeons and the ranger clo^e at their heels not much shooting was done. Pigeons are plentiful this season, and I was told the other dayof 30 being seen on a singletree. Notwith*aanding this^ the close season is a wise provision, and despite an occasional close season as the bush becomes opened up the native birds will gradually disappear. In order to protect the pigeons only a short shooting season 3bould be allowed each year, and a license should be required. That would be the only effectual way to preserve thesp birds, which breed very slowly. If is different with the wild ducks ; they have numerous broods, and would soon multiply if left alone. s 'Cycling Sports.— On Easter Monday our local cycling club held their annual sports. The day was fine, but the attendance Rmall, as most of the town people were holiday making, and the country people were too busy. The events were only fairly contested, and the day's proceedings resulted in^a loss to the club, which will not be likely to put off the sports so late in the season "gain. As w« have neither Caledonian society not racing club here now the cycling, club has the field to itself, and ought to be able to get up fir.ft-rate sports. Concerts, <fee— On Monday night the Cathnlics held a concert in aid of their church funds, which proved in every respect a success, both as to attendance and performance. Then on Friday night the Wesleyans held their annual social, which was also a great success, so that we have not been badly off for amusementß for the holidays. ' Harvest.— lt seems rather late in the day to be writing of harvest ; yet in the Clutha district this important operation has not yet been completed. Moat farmers have their crop safely stacked, and many bave it threshed out and sent to market • but there are a few who have their crops still standing in the field in the stook. It is certain that any grain out now can hardly thresh out a good sample, as the weathpr.has been wet and cold of late, and not much like harvest weather Those who have thre3hed have found the yield better than they anticipated, mo3t of th< oat crops threahing out well. Some, of course, nqd the result rather disappointing, as the wind shook out a good seeding. The experience of those who have crops still out in the field ought to be an object lesson to them in favour of early sowing. The early-sown crop is always the best, and were it not for the destructive rabbits and the ravages of the small birds on the early crop, much of the oat crop would be better sown now. Tbe best crop of oats, I think i ever saw was sown in the month of April. River Trade. -The steamer, having brought all the wool down the river from the stations upriver, is now busy with the grain. Already the river has fallen pretty low, and the marks of the summer floods are making themselves apparent. It is more than probable that when the river falls to its winter level it will be difficult of navigation by the steamer, as the river bed has been considerably altered. Where deep water w»s befo.e, sandbanks now arise, and where there was a single channel at one time, there are several now. The River Board has in the past spent thousands upon groins to alter the river channel, but a single flood will undo more in a week than the River Board could do in a year. The time is undoubtedly coming, if the river is to be maintained as a navigable highway, when dredging will have to be resorted to, and the sooner the River Board recognise that the better. A Chapter of Accidents.— The past week was made memorable by a list of accidents such as, let ua hope, we will not see fat (mother week

again. On Easter Monday a shunter at the station named Patrick Sheehin had his leg mangled by a railway truck running over it, and it is very doubtful whether the limb can be saved. He is lying in the Invercargill Hospital, where the doctors are awaiting developments bofore deciding the fate of tho wounded limb. On Wednesday evening we were startled by rumours of a railway collision, which only turne i out too true ; but it was with a feeling of intense relief that we afterwards learned th»t no one was hurt. The escape of the excursion train is almost miraculous, as had the two trains met in the hollows of some of the inclines between Waiwera and Clinton, when both trains would have been travelling down hill at fast speed the result would have betn terrible. A collision fs unpardonable with our slow trains and limited traffic, and that such a collision should havts occurred shows laxity of control somewhere. As the result of the inquiry, no doubt the true facts of the case will be brought to light. Without wishing to prejudice the issue in any way, I may refer to the fact that our local stationmaster was in bed that day— a victim to influenza. The duty of looking after the station therefore fell upon a clerk, who in addition had the auditor with him all day at the books, which alone was quite enough for any youth without having to decide the running of special trains.— On Thursday an old man named William Condon was rather seriously hurt at Glenomaru. His duty was to pump water into tanks for the railway engines, and while so doing he had ta stand on a temporary platform of Bleepera at a height of between 20ft and 30ft. While pumping on Thursday morning the bottom valve of the pump broke away, and suddenly releasing the pressure, the old man was pitched head foremost into the rocky bed of the creek below. He waa bad!y cut about the head, sorely bruised about the body, and had hia thigh broken besides. ' Here again «omebody blundered, and why the pump should be high up in the air instead of near the ground, only the railway authorities can expliin. Our Government hedge employers round— and rightly so— with all manner of conditions for the protection of employees, yet take no sort of care of their own employees. "Old Bill," as he was familiarly called, is an old Crimean veteran with several medals, and nowlies smashed up and in aprecarious condition, all because some official wanted to s»ve the expense of a force pump, aud made an ordinary suction pump do instead.