LAKE COUNTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2433, 31 October 1900, Page 33

LAKE COUNTY.

October 26. — Now is the time of year when the weather is more difficult to xuiderstand than at any other season. Rain, Bnow, wind, sleet, cold, heat all vie with one another to make themselves as disagreeable as possible. And through it all runs the apprehension from threatened danger, the nature and effect of which, though thoroughly understood, give no clue to the extent of the risk we run. However gloomy this may read, there is also a fhread of hope that things may not turn out so bad %.s they look, xsesides there being no means of controlling the weather, there is nothing 'left but to take our cha-nce, as with everything else, dredging included. The Sabbath Journey. — A few weeks ago I mentioned that Sergeant M'Kenzie, Queenstown, had prosecuted a number of waggoners for working their horses and trading on Sundays. Some six carters were summoned, and the changes in all cases being exactly identical, a test case was heard, Mr Warden F. J. Burgess reserving his Jecision until the sitting of the court .at Arrowtown on Tuesday last, 23rd inst. The verdict was to the effect that working horses on a Sunday at ordinary work was illegal, and punishable under existing Acts, except in cases of necessity or charity. It was also pointed out that travelling with an empty waggon on a- Sunday was likewise a. breach of tho Act, and that parties guilty of it would be cited before the court to show reason ,for their action, and if they could not give satisfactory grounds a fine -would be inflicted. The fine in the six or seven cases before the court was fixed at 5s and costs. This puts the case of Sunday carting in a very clear light, and when it is considered that some 500 or 600, and perhaps more, horses are affected by it, ,the importance of the decision will be seen. /The pol.ice are to he. complimented on the prompt action taken, and the skilful manlier in/which the test case was worked up, while the decision of the warden is received with mucH probation by the general public. Out of Their Latitude.— Mr P. Butel, of the Arrow Flour Mills, seeing a pair of New Zealand bitterns the other day near the mill pond on his farm, managed to secure one of them. The bird proved to be a full-grown specimen, weighing nearly Blb ,Mr Butel had the bird stuffed, and it now forma quite an, imposing ornament for th<? mantle. This kind of bird,

is becoming very scarce, and it is rarely, indeed, that it is mot with m settled parts. In this ease the birds, for its mate was also shot, had to pay the penalty for going out of their latitude.

Settling the Back Blocks.— Tho present Liberal Government are foud of boasting of favouring tho settling of the people, on the land. Milions have been spent for the purpose, and the spending is still going on. Special legislation lips bsen compiled by the hundredweight, lawyers have grow^i fat, fed by ice simple, and fee unlimited, by mortgages "and title deeds ; while value-IE, inspectors, and land-jobbers of all shades archiving m clover, thanks to the ramifications ol the unearned increments piled up and created by a Liberal Government for the special benefit of the parasites at tho expense of tho settlcis, -without whom neither parasite, nor unearned increment, nor its ramifications, nor Liberal Government could have had existence and being. This somewhat fearfully and wonderfully-made sentence requires study to be understood properly, and when understood — but I am getting tipon the- wrong track. Writing upon the misdoings of the present Liberal Government the clearest intellect urns the danger of getting mixed up, and the purist style is apt to become corrupt. The pi eoent trouble is railway tinkering. The lailway department, in its wisdom, has seen fit to once more display its ingenuity in rearranging the timetable and the mails between the Lakes and Dunedin, and down country generally. It seems that in doing so things can'only be done by halves, which means that in the end we aro left worse off than we vreie before. In the present instance, it is proposed to shorten the journey between Kingston and Dunedin by one hour, starting half an hour later and arriving half an hour earlier at either end. But for this concession the Friday train is to be done away with, reducing us to three, instead of as now foiir, mails a week. This, in view of the growing dredging industry alone, is preposterous, irrational, foolish, and every other adjective synonym of this class. As it is, the railway has sometimes not been able to cope with tho demands made upon its carrying and conveying capacity, and now this capacity is deliberately to be leduced. Besides, the Wakatipu is the remotest and most isolated of the 6ettled parts of Olago, for which reason people are constantly leaving it who, with more ready means of communication, would have settled down here, and by so much increased the popiilation. For many years the population has been stationary, until of late, when there has beeii a decrease. And this is settling the people upon the land! The Wakatipu is to be starved that other parts of Otago may thrive. As may b9 supposed, the greatest consternation has been caused by the proposal. Telegrams are flying to and from Wellington and other seats of the evil-doers ; petitions are drawn up and signed ; public bodies and their functionaries are on the alert; and everybody who "is somebody has his peace of mind seriously disturbed. At Queenstown the mayor, Mr F. St. Orner, has convened a public meeting to protest, and it protested with a will. There seems to be a feeling abroad that departmental obstinacy will have to be battled with, perhaps the worst of all obstacles. But we shall soon hear what the outcome of it all will be. — [It will be seen from a telegram elsewhere in this issue that the Minister has decided to keep the train running. — Ed.]

Martial.— Major Jenkins, Arrowtown, having received intimation from Colonel Webb, commanding the Ota go volunteer district, that the services of a niounted rifle corps at Arrowtown would be accepted, a meeting has been called for the election of officers and the arrangement of other preliminaries.