LAKE WANAKA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2623, 22 June 1904, Page 34

LAKE WANAKA.

ALBEttTOWIS', June 11.— The fine weather b.oko immediately after I wiote my last letter, and ram on the low country, with snow on the hills, has since occurred so frequently that wo have lest all remit of the stormy days. Sometimes we have had quite shaxp fiosts at nights. On odd moTi.mgs there has been a heavy fog on the Clutha River., whilo quarter of a'mile away the stm was shining All the weather glasses weie phenomenally low, but they have gon« up considerab'y c'.imng the week. Ihe stock are looking very well, and there is plem^ 01 grat-s, and as the rabbits are being kept coivn, stock should be in good co.idit'on 111 the sprir.g.

Station Propeity. — Mr Theodore Russell, of Pembroke, son of one of the pioneers there, latel} bought thj Cattle iTkt station as a going concern.

Suicicb — A Chinaman named Ah Kit hanged himself near Cardrona, this being th-3 third occurremce of the kind in about a year. A veek or two previously he was coming to Pembroke, and this caused a little scare, when woro was sent ahead of him that hie was out of Lie mind. On arrival Constable MarEih in-

torvic-wod him, and found him perfectly sans and clean aaid tidy. A few days afterwards the constable ascertained that he was prospecting with another Cluuaman. His pge was 73. He had plenty of piovisions and clothes, and some ready cash, so that it was not want which ii.cuoed the act. On more than one occasion ii hrs been pointed out to me that the wamt of opium is telling very severely on the Chinese, and is the cause of these suicides. A^'her a Chinaman is worried snd depressed shout anything he has not now this solace to tide him ov<r the bad time. Theia used to be a lot of Chinamen working on the banks of tho Clutha near Laiggate, and as they were doing well they used plenty of opium, aiid some of them appj.ared to have the palsy as a lesult cf over-indulgence. Afterwards they got a 1 bit hard up, and were only able to purchase ; a few shillings' worth at a time, which would , come from Cromwell by coach. If the opium I did not arrive, their brokeii-hep.rted, dejected looks showed that the w-nt of it was a severe deprivation. With the European it is different- he has always gob his beer to fly to. Constable Marsh went to Slaiarora last ws«k, end bi ought away on elderly Italian of unsound mind. It appears he is a quiet man, but among othei things imagined that the air was so thick thai; he had to tack like a shdp in a head winci io get through it. For years past ha has always dcolircd that the 'final letter 'of .his name must be ia capital, as a '•htt'o one" would whirl round and fly away, ; fltid he lefused to receive his stores tin-less his : r.tme on the address was sneli'od "with a big j ' R ' at the end." } SpEisters' Bail.— The spinsters of Pembroke ; had a very enjoyable ball on June 3 in Mr ! S&chtler's hail. The committee held their ■ several meetings in Mr Allan's house. The p.ttendnnce was not so large as was expected, owing to the bad weathr.r; still, the. hall was ccmfcrtably filled. Everything passed off 1 without a hitch, pud €ho people enjoyed themj stives very much. There -was some good 1 music, Mx J. Betts, jun.. playing the piano, i Mr J. Partridge tho violin, -&iiA Mr "Webster f occasionally assisting with the cornet. Mr J. Ferrcw was_ M.C. till midnight, and after that Messrs G. ixigan and A Bremner divided the honours. On this occasion the ladties did not ask the men to d-ance, which was a disappointment to the latter. There were- some nice dresses, of which a description is to be sent to Eromeiine in due course. Two songs were sung, first one by -an old favourite. Miss M. E. Allan, of Pembroke, and the other by Miss B. M'Lennan, a new favourite from Ha we a, who has a voice of much volume and pewer. When the audience looked round for another old favourite, Miss D. Barclay, from J Hawea, to favour us, it was ascertained that she had charge of -a, post office at Colac. An excellent supper was held in Mr Sachtler's dining room. ancH it presented a great variety, beiug prcvicJiad,. by the married ladies. The large amount of sweetmeats wa3 a noticeable feature. ■»

Decreasing Population. — We a.re continually losing some members of our community, and there are scarcely any 'taking their places. There (ire plenty more anxious to leave, only they cannot sell out. The nuw flour-milling company Ina.s now taken over the flour mill at Luggste from Mr Anderson, and out of about 20 applications it selected Mi Morris, of Skag Valley -way, as miller. He has had n any years' expener.es in the Crown Mills in Dunedin as miller and at other places 0130 Mr John Kane, jun., of Luggai*e, has been esgaged as assistant. Mr Anderson and fnniily have left to go to their new horoa. near Mossburn. So many leaving- in one family is a big loss to the district. Some of them are grown vp — in. fact two of them have run the mill for some years past, while Mr Anderson attended io th?' tiicck and irrigation of the land. It was intended to get up a dinner to Mr and Mrs Anderson, but Mr Anderson declined, so a presentation was made to Mas Anderson for her kindness in attending to cases of sickness and such like. The, sons are co:i-Bpicuo-a3 in athletic circles and social gather- f ings, and will be misaed. Mr Anderson came here in '60, and has been in the distuct ever eir.ee. He is a progressive man. When the flour mill was built first, Mr Peter M'li.to&h, of Tarras, vraj his partner, and there was only ; three months' gristing, but they hnd faith in j t'->e cnoerprico. Mr Anderson afterwards took { up GO acres adjoining the mil], and gave the. first object lesson in the practicability of taking a desert in hand and by means of irriga- j toll,t '011, jrakmjr, it grow enormous c-ropj of grass. 1 Aiterv.wrds he took up several hundred acros ■ more land adjoining, whioh is now in s, fair way of becoming very profitable. Tree-plant-ing went on all the time under his regime, and in a few years, when the young treas grow up to the size -o£ the large ones, the place will be ocnlinually increasing m -value. Some years before starting the flour mill Mr Anderson went to the Taieri amcL bought a fine lot cf

dairy cows, with which' he "ran" a good dairy farm at Quccr.sberry. " If' any one' wanted seed wheat or was starting framing, Mr Andersen alv ays helped him along, and often gave long credits. Typhoid. — The fresh outbreak of typhoid afc Mount Pisa is causing a determined effort by the managei, Mr Scaife, to stamp it out. A. Jet of the ground is to be ploughed up for the wintev irosts to sweeten it, and lime is to

b3 sowed, on it. I heard lhat the men's quarters are' to be burnt, but it seems a pity to wa.sto a builci'ing when the whole of the interior could easily be sprayed by a garden, machine, throwing diluted carbolic acid into c\ery crevice, aftsr the lining and bunks »ra removed rod before being painted!. Be Bauch's patent steaming apparatus, as sold by Thomson. Bridger. and Co., would be a grand purifier, as with a flexible tube a jet of steam cruld be sent anywhere. This would be a gcod purifier for a fowlhouse. I saw ome in tha Dunedin winter show last year, md the way it cooked ha>lf a bag of potatoes by steam was a surprise. Perha-.w tho site of the building is not good. I" do not know if it has beer oone, but it would be a good idea ti tiace the water supply to its source up to the top of tha mountain, to see if there are anyforeign substances in it that would spoil tha v, ater. The Wanaka shearers" hut gave some trouble through typhoid some years ago, bub now it is healthy. Somp small swamps, were drained and trees planted, and a new supply of pure waiter was laid on to the cookhcttse, and the dog kennels were shifted farther away, and wire netting put lound the building tc prevent stray degs from getting underneath. One of our youths took ill in the neighbourhood, and his father ascertained that he had. drunk a lot of water a few days before. The household water race was than inspected, and 9 d^sd gcoso m an advanced state of decay v.-a 3 found in ,t. This was the solution of ths mystery, and it cost altogether nearly JE2O to solve it. It is believed by many that running water purifies itgs'.f, but the fallacy of that uloa, is thus proved onca more.

Fresh "Olcod. — Messrs Barker Bros., of C'rleccih-a, mto lately bought a four-year-old roa:i chestnut Clydesdale entire, 17 hands- high, fioru Mr B. "Naylor, of Clyde. He is of a-vfci-y quiet Tind tractable disposition, and it is intended to work him regiiiaxly. Irrigation. — Some fine clover paddocks are to be seen hole in. summer, the perfume from vvljich is plainly famelt over half a mile 3-way. This is the result of irrigation. We cannot too highly praiss irrigation. Wedding. — A marriage has lately been celebrated iv Christchuroh which ia of considerable interest here. Mr Geo. Cope, who has been working oa different dredges hi the district, for some time past, was. the bridegroom, and Miss Maggie Mill&v. of Mount Barker, the bride. The family was well represented at the wedding and Mrs Cope is livmg at Kaiapoi. MrCope lately obtained a dredgeinaster's certificate, acd, or. behalf of ■» H5 company, weat to West Africa to inspect the fields there.