CROMWELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2358, 4 May 1899, Page 29

CROMWELL.

May 1. — Since I last wrote Cromwell hot been visited by a mild mining boom, whic!: is at present in full swing. The local people have at last discovered that money can be made by promoting claims and by buying and selling shares, and have also found out that miles of river, formerly looked upon as undredgeable, can be profitably worked, and will yield Tegular dividends. The result is that £7000 worth of shares have been taken up locally during the past fortnight. 1 shall deal more fully with this question in my mining notes. '

Improvements. — The ereotion of a largo nev; drapery store by Mr Harris, in Melmore ter lace, fills up a blank on the street line, and shows that the bnttder has faith in the future of the town. The stop is being constructed by Mr P. Thomas. Rabbits. — The furry pests are very numerous this year, and although no rabbits are forwarded from Cromwell for freezing, a considerable area will be poisoned during the winter. The stations are preparing for the winter campaign, and the slain will number thoiu

Bands, but next year the prolific pest will he as numerous as they now are. The individual is mortal; the race, immortal. Marram. — Mr Handley, sand expert from Wangantii, visited Cromwell, bringing with him a load of marram grass plants, which were planted along the back of the town. He is of the opinion that it will grow and thrive, t>ut as horses eat it and as it is planted in a situation exposed to the inroads of stray stock, it will be necessary to fence it in, and perhaps to •wire-net the portion planted. If the grass is a success, it will mean a lot for the town. The stretch of land between the town, and the hospital is, however, covered by only a thin coat of sand, some few inches thick, and as marram grass grows only on the lee of moving dunes of some depth, and on this ground marram cannot be" planted, Mr Handley suggests that this ground be planted with the giant lupines of California, which grow to a height of Bft or 10ft. He visited Sandy Point and planted some marram grass there. He said th*» the sand we have here was really not sand at all, but loam, and, with irrigation, capable of producing great crops. He was rather surprised at the supineness of tho people in allowing the sand to make such headway without taking any steps to combat the trouble.

A Lively Meeting. — The" annual meeting of householders promised at one time to be pretty lively, but after the objectionable person had had his say the meeting became quite orderly, and the rest of the business was conducted in a perfectly proper manner. There has been already Borne discussion _in these columns about the question of alleged religious strife in connection with the school dispute, but when the matter was threshed out at the householders' meeting — where, by the way, the introduction of the question was perfectly irrelevant, and its introduction, and the offensively personal remarks made by the introducer led to" some disturbance — the bottom fell out of the allegations made, and it was clearly shown that the alleged religious strife of which £o much capital was sought to be made was all bunkum, and that no one had endeavoured to raise any religious question at all. The proposal made by Mr D. Marshall that the meeting take exception to that part of the report referring to Mr Warburton ■was carried by 53 to 10, the latter number including a Chinaman, whose vote had been secured for the occasion. The polling resulted •in the discomfiture of the old committee, only one of whose members secured election. The voting was: R. Wishart 60, James M'George 52, N. Thomas 51, J. Mackenzie 51, J. Betts 48, W. A. Schieb 43, P. Thomas (member of old committee) 33, elected. The defeated candidates, Messrs Hotop, Rooney, Sanders, Williamson, Richards, and Ryan, secured from 29 to 24 votes, the latter number bomg the lowest. Every householder in -the town was present, including three ladies, and the occasion led to far more excitement than a Parliamentary election. The result may be taken to be that the householders of Cromwell have no objection to the manner in which Mr Warburton spends his spare time or invests his capital, so long as in his capacity as teacher he does his duty to their children as faithfully and skilfully as in the past, and that they regard the action of the late committee with considerable disfavour.

Hospital. — The affairs ojt this institution are tgain attracting public attention. It is rumoured that the late wardsman, Mr S. Peden, intends to take legal action against tho trust for insufficient notice of dismissal, and so compel them to give him a testimonial. Sweating. — Owing to the large amount of ■work in. the warden's office, caused by the sudden expansion in the mining industry, our local clerk of the court and mining registrar is greatly overworked. There is no doubt that he. ought to be assisted by a cadet. As it is,- he has not only to work all hours himself, but has to get the assistance of his daughter) who does eight or nine hours' clerking work in order to render it possible to overtake the work. The Government legislate with great humanitarian professions for other people's servants, but keep the noses of their own religiously at the grindstone. ' n MINING.

During the past week or two Cromwell has been in a ferment of excitement, caused partly by the magnificent returns got by the Magnetic and partly by the continued steady returns of the Alpine, and fhe getting of a couple Df excellent returns by the Hartley and Riley dredge. Every available inch of river has been pegged off, and three or four claims have been Boated during the week. The shares have gone off like hot cakes, and our local sharebroker, Mr Solomon, is all smiles. There is every likelihood of the Cardrona proving a good dredging field, as good gold was found by the boring rods on a claim at the foot of Branch Creek, held by Messrs Waidie and Russell. A neighbouring claim, held by Messrs Tacon and M'Lay, has also been prospected, and steps are being taken to get a dredge on ■the ground. Several claims have been marked off on the Nevi3, and the construction of at least one dredge has been determined upon. On top of all this good news in the dredging world comes a bit of a quartz rush on the Carrick Range. Several claims have been pegged off on a newly-discovered line of reef. There is a lot of growling at the absurdity of the new mining regulations, by which ihe unfortunate miner is compelled to carry a forest of pegs with him when he goes out to mark a claim. There is far too much legal red tape about the present regulations, and they need a lot of alteration to make them ■vcceptable to the mining community.