BOUND ABOUT OREPUKI.

Otago Witness, Issue 2369, 27 July 1899, Page 29

BOUND ABOUT OREPUKI.

(By Otjb Tbavelling Cobresfondent.) No Southland village has become so prominent lately and assumed so flourishing a state as Orepuki. The township of a year ago is a town to-day, and judging from close personal observation I consider it will soon outdo Riverton in the strife for industrial supremacy. Sawmilling, gold and coal mining, and the shale industry have been the means of atracting large numbers of working men from almost all parts of Otago, and at present over a hundred workers live in tents, so difficult is it to get house accommodation, although buildings are being erected apace. New businesses have been opened, old one 3 considerably extended, and every trade is now fairly well represented. There are two large (hotels here conducted by Mr F. Wilson and Mr Robt. Caesels respectively, while Mr Metzger has a large and commodioug brick building in course of erection, which said building us intended for an hotel also. These hostelries occupy convenient positions in the centre of the town, where building sites are not now procurable for " love or money." A large traffic is done on tho railway terminus, while timber is largely transported, although local demand csuinot be coped with, foreign orders are continually coming in and have to be supplied. The member for Wallace is agitating for a light railway extension from here to "Waiau, and should this be constructed it will enlarge Orepuki by giving an immense amount of employment and toy establishing trade with the Waiau. A light branch' line runs from the terminus to the shale works, and carries t/he company's locomotive. The roads around Orepuki are belter than sludge channels, but are no credit to the County Council, and little wonder tliat strong comment is made on the old-fashioned system of expending ratepayers' money. Accidents are of common occurrence, and ibheir frequency enticed a medical man — Dr Stockwell, of Wyndham — to permanently reside here. I*ast week a man was crushed while standing on the outside part of a truck going through a cutting on the Shale Company's line. How the man escaped from instantaneous death is surprising. He is now improving rapidly. Minor mishaps are too numerous to mention. Sluicing is the ohief branch of mining, and is extensively worked in the large gorges that everywhere intercept the wooded ridges. Hunting the precious metal is. likely to be the chief occupation of the people for many years to come, and in my next article I will deal with tho industry fully. The miners are a good example of young New Zealanders who have the welfare of the working man at heart and who never fail to show their loyalty to the cause and advancement of labour.