LAKE WANAKA.

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

LAKE WANAKA.

Albertown, July 25. — The winter weather seems to be upon us in earnest. The frosts are vey hard every night. On Friday morning last, about a' couple of inches of snow fell, but it soon melted except in the shade. About a fotnight ago we had a similar fall, but it melted at once. At Hawea and the Forks, however, the snow wa3 upwards of Bin deep, and it lay on the gound for several days. A few slight showers of rain fell, which by wetting the ground made the fost more apparent. Occasionally there was a keen, cold breeze. Farming operations are at a standstill, and everything is very quiet. In fact, we are simply vegetating at present. School Concert. — The School Committee at Hawea held a highly enjoyable concert and ball in Mr Cayford's Hall on Friday night. All the surrounding districts were almost an well represented as Hawea itself, taking the population as a basis. There was a dialogue by Messrs Frewen and Barclay, assisted by Misses Johnson and Renz ; songs by Mr and Mrs A. G-. Thomson and others; and some new action songs by the Hawea school children. Fatal Accident. — The recent lamented death of Mr Ralph Cockburn, who was killed at Mount Pisa by a kick from his horse as he was fastening the tailstrap, created a painful feeling of surprise, especially as the fatality was caused in so simple a manner. A possible explanation may be that the horse's tail was sore, making him irritable. Something AKout Tailstraps.— The tailstraps supplied with covers are very dangerous things, especially in wet weather. Some years j ago in this district "a horse died of lockjaw, ; caused by the taiistrap shrinking in wet wea- j ther, and/" badly cutting the tail. At a later date a pony strayed away during wet weather, and cut its wither rather badly, with the result that lockjaw followed. The best thing to use for tailstraps is a piece of cloth, woollen in preference, and frequently cast-off clothing comes in handy for thia purpose. To many, of course, these details may seem trivial, but possibly the want of knowledge of them in the present instance caused the loss of a valuable life and breadwinner. Besides, there are annually hundreds of men who embark upon farming who have no knowledge whatever of it, who formerly followed some trade, perhaps, who are sometimes put to much loss throiigh the want of knowledge of the thousand and one little wrinkles which crop up every day on a farm. Every horse has his individual peculiarities the same as men. Once one of mine suddenly developed a habit of jerking forward a hind foot when 1 would fasten the belly-strap. Of course, there is a proper position to stand in while doing this, but with a quiet horse this was neglected. Being dark, and the strap short, I stooped down and partly under him, with the result that when he jerked his hind foot forward, it caught me on the forehead above the hat band, but fortunately with only the effect of a small cut and a copious loss of blood. A Peculiar Accident. — At Bannockburn the other day Mr Wni. Smith lost a horse under somewhat unusual circumstances. Going down the hill in front of Mr Horn'a store, the shatter stumbled, and being uuablo to recover himself, came down, partly crossways and over and under the shafts. Very soon about 40 persons were on the spot, and soon had the dray unloaded and the horse out, when it was found that he was badly ripped by the off tug hook 18in across the ribs, leaving them bare, and going into the shoulder. Some of those present thought that he should be shot — in fact, they spoke of reporting the matter to the police if he were not shot at once. In my opinion the horse might have lived i' the wound had been stitched up, and the horse properly fed and taken care of and kept warm; and as long as he was taken care of the police would be unable to interfere. Without a doubt he was well worth a few days' or a week's trial. A horse is a c\iriou3 animal, for sometimes he dies suddenly and mysteriously while he very quickly recovers from alarming flesh wounds. I have read that a great contrast to the brutality of bull fights is the pathetic spectacle of a partially disembowlled horse feeding as placidly as possible. Chain Hooks. — This accident forcibly brings to my mind the dangerously foolish practice of making the hooks on all horse chains with a Bharp point, when they should be made blunt, and as a further protection, the hook 'made in a partial circle. The 4haft hooks should terminate in a loop, which in this case would have saved the lift of a valuable horse. Another dangerous custom is fastening the bottom of the hames with a chain instead of a strap, for as it is at present, if the shafter falls down or hangs up, there is a considerable amount of trouble in freeing him from the dray. Joined the Majority.— One of the old residents of Cromwell died the other day in the person of Mrs Ann Byron Schade. Deceased came from Lancashire, landing in Lyttelton in '58: and it must be 30 years 3ince I saw her first in Cromwell. She had a, son and a daughter there who died alter they grew up, but I heard that there is another son Dunedin way, who was up on a visit a couple of years ago. For some years she kept the small Mount Pisa Hotel, near the Five-mile, but eventually lost the license, and afterwards the house was burnt down, and some pood Samaritans built her a tidy cob-house with iron roof on the old site. She has had one oi two very serious illnesses, under which -most people would have succumbed, but she reached a good age, being over 65 years. Latterly she was stricken with paralysis, and was in the Cromwell Hospital for sonic months till she died. She used to do a little cropping, and sometimes took a rabbitpoisoning contract. The property falls to Mr William Clark, who by agreement had paid for it in labour during past years. The late Mrs Schade was ouo of a family of 22 brothers and sisters.— Another ftld Cromwell identity died

some months back — viz., Mr James Clark, father of the Mr Win. Clark mentioned above. In his young days deceased was gardener in one of the Queen's castle gardens. . His eldest son went Home some years ago, and enlisted in the Royal Horse Guards. Mr Clark had a nice garden and orchards, and always appeared to good advantage at the horticultural show. I stopped at his house one night when he was invalided, but he_ bore his trials with a hopeful and cheerful spirit. Mr Clark left a widow and family, some of them quite young, for he married a second time.