THE COUNTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2455, 3 April 1901, Page 29

THE COUNTRY.

HOUND ABOUT THE CHAKLTON (By Oub Travelling Correspondent.) Although surrounded by only a few glimpses • ef natural beauty, the Charlton Creek, -ts bed, locality, and surroundings offer by way of compensation many attractions in the manner A** of artificial enterprise and picturesqueness. "Work of Nature that was undisturbed in the early sixties has long since yielded to the enterprising hand of man, and with the excepi tion of the Hokonui borders nothing is left 1 to remind old acquaintances of camps, tracks, and plantation groves of the early days. Indeed, Mr Chubbin, of the North Island, who had a run at Charlton in the sixties, failed to identify any of the old holdings when ona 111 1 sit < to these parts a few months ago, although Lis < . intellectual perspicacity is as clear and^as acT' " live as ever, and the great change which the locality has undergone simply nonplussed him. The old Croydon run, held by Mr Hill, afterwards by Mr Chalmers, comprised the greater portion of the shaded slopes on the Charlton *O side of the Hokonui Hills, while Waimumu W <Dalzell f s), Titapua (Davidson's), Otxpiri (Mac- •■* Gibbon's), and Maorirua (Develmg's) bordered Wt one another; in fact, the flat and most of the _fc> downs between the Mataura and Halfway Bush -were one vast pastoral tract of country, and f remained so until subdivided by ordinance of the Provincial Government, which was passed A in the interest of settlement. Little did anyone think that the close of the century would numerous dredges turning auriferous country to profitable account, and little did our t^» -worthy pioneers realise that the wet, useless >« fewamps — the objects of their often-repeated fck^ anathemas — were destined to become a modern 7^* goldfield. The half-dozen dredges on the Wai- «^ anumu are certainly not giving fabulous reJ> suits, but, considering many disadvantages, w tke operations of all are of an encouraging nalure. .The Charlton Creek seems even more richly endowed with mineral wealth — in fact, on this creek is working the most payable dredge in Southland, while the other dredges on the same water are all doing well. Late prospecting shows that the low-lymg flats here j -•» all more or less gold-bearing, and were it '

not that dredge 3 aro such costly concern", operations would have been commenced long ere this. Talk of scenery! Here we have some of the finest scenic views m Otago, but, most unfortunately, such sights rre decidedly limited; otherwise the fascinating nooks of the Hokonuis might be the cherished rendezvous of many an ambitious tourist. Camera productions of many spots compare favourably with sketches taken in the famous wonderland of the. cold southern lakes , whila here also is to be found a capital imitation of Sutherland Falls. Although little or no bush abounds, the country was mostly all covered with shrubs, ilax, and clumps of bush, which have long since fallen before the devastating fires of destruction.