LAKE WANAKA

Otago Witness, Issue 2651, 4 January 1905, Page 35

LAKE WANAKA

Albertown^ -December' 14: — We had a fine downpour, of rain last Tuesday morning, which •would keep both crops and" grass growing, ''and the stock consequently -will be thriving all the time. Although there is a lot of rain, it is found profitable to irrigate -the land between the showers. At Queensberry, -Mr Chas. Harding waters all" his oats -early in December. One good soaking is found sufficient. There is invariably snow on the hills with each downpour of rain. It is" very bleak and cold for summer. All the peach trees are .spoiled by the ourl in the leaf. Just before I wrote my last letter, there was a fall of snow on the flats, the flakes being very large and feathery. In many cases the snow melted almost as soon as it fell, owing to the previous downpour of rain ; in other cases there was a depth of over 2in, but it was all away in an hour or two. It did a good deal of- damage tdMr Roger Halliday'e wheat, as it wjas just coming out into ear, hy flattening down at large quantity of it, breaking a lot of the straw; but the wheat is still continuing to 'grow. Bunny.— The scarcity- of rabbits is still m, noticeable feature. The flat country has been carefully fearreted late in the winter, during the last two years, with the very best results. There is no question that wire-netting is a remarkably profitable investment. Nevertheless, the netting requires to be as cheap as possible. In Invercargill the price is 25s per 100 yard roll. In- Melbourne the "same quantity is 14s 6d. and as netting is admitted duty free, it •would pay every purchaser of as small a quantity "as a mile to send to -Melbourne for it. "When we read of tihe large, trapping tallies made down-country, we are never able to realise them, except that there must be 20 rabbits for every one we have here. The County and Its Punt. — The punt question here is still an interesting subject of discussion. Mr Howejohn put in a claim against the county of over £2 for stamps and stationery ■used during his long term of service, a-nd the council granted him a montu s pay, which should meet with the approval of the ratepayers. Mr Collins left iho upper punt before Jua month's notice was up. and Howe-

John then had "to work the two. He also worked his own punt for over a month after the month's notice terminated, so as to enable Mr D. Grierson, the new punt man, to complete the approaches of the upper punt. Many loads of stones and gravel were carted out, so as to extend- the roadway into the river, much of which was on the lines mat Collins advocated during his term. I heard it suggested that a memorial should be presented to the council asking that there should be a man for each punt, and hinting that election day Tvoulcl -come round. On this latter point, I remarked, the councillors are perfectly easy m their minds, for they seldom or never address the electors, never give any •extra- information through the press, and are practically "lifers," and often leave the ratepayers out in the cold. As a matter of fact, the ratepayers themselves -take very- little interest in country affairs. The new punt man, Mr D. Grierson, is working away, and is kept very busy sometimes. | The-Xtounty Council bought the late Mr Geo. Mackenzie's house for his residence. He has j been the victim of some adverse newspaper criticism, the writer of which, apparently, i 3 unaware that during Mr Grierson's 35 years' residence Jie has always had the reputation of being a. just man. The articles are meant to be very funny, but illwill is apparent throughout, and the last article omitted to state that at the termination of r recent "Hiwea ball Grierson crossed all the Pembroke contingent at 3 o'clock in the morning> If we abolished all county councils and ran the show on the same lines as in Sweden- and Norway, i± would be -of -great benefit to the community, and the ratepayers, would get good " value for their . money. This is-an outlined the case if we ran it on Scandinavian lines: — There would be a number_of r'oadmakcrs continually at work gravelling, metalling, an"a repairing roads. Then every tinie Mr F. J. Burgess, S.M., visited. each centre in his judicial capacity the' chairman of the various honorary road boards would wait on^him- with a list of wants, and h*e"would authorise the work to be done, and sign vouchers for the various payments and expenses, to be padd out of the Public Treasury, the rates being paid into the Consolidated revenue. In the present case, half the -county's revenue is lost in office expenses, members' fees, and travelling expenses. Accident. — A rather painful gun accident happened at the Forks the other day. Mr Wm. Kingan's 'son John was out shooting rabbits one evening with a ;£3 10s gun, when it burst, a ,piece blowing clean out and taking off the • first and "second joint of his left thumb, and somewhat shattering the remainder. Mr T. Rankine, teacher of the Forks school, who passed a couple of medical examinations in - Scotland, but relinquished the medical profession owing to failing health, dressed the wound amd-made it *11 safe, and then^recommended that the patient should be driven to the Cromwell Hospital. A messenger was despatched to the upper punt to if the - party could get across, as it "was then after hours, but Mr Griereon Hid not .hear . the cooeying, and the messenger had to come back with a- negative reply. They_then "drove round by tihe Ha-wea "bridge and straight to Crom■well, via the bridge, getjjng 'there by about breakfast time. I believefiae patient is now quite out of danger."" Mr, Griereon "was very sorry when h-e h#ard-{nexi .day ihe purport of ; - the messenger's -vistts'^Ehe^upper.'punt^ closes -at 7-.b'clock7at nightf-wnich. is ioo early, in the summer time., "though. 'it might Tjb right enough , in "the '-winter. , - "Bazaar. — The Presbyterian people in ihe dis- * trict held a vverty t - successful bazaai in Mr -..JSachtler's Sail, -in" aid of the ' new church in - Pembroke. With subscriptions, the Building Committee has about .£IOO in hand, and expects to-be able-toiaise .another .£SO, -when -;the grant 0f .^150 from the synod will enable" the church -Woe built. Tlie Anglican body -wafe not asked to contribute to -this "bazaar, which action of the committee did not meet with the approval of the adherents of either church. I suggested that as the Anglicans had just built a church, and being a small community, the Presbyterian -body thought they ought to have a little breathing time. However, hitherto, both bodies had helped each other in quite a fraternal spirit, and in accordance with the best precepts -of Christianity, and the Anglicans were quite prepared to recognise past assistance. - The deciding of the site for the new church caused quite a little flutter of excitement for a week or two. There is a section at the back of the post office, and when Mr Win. Allan shifted his^liouse, he offered the site for £10, which is reasonable, considering the trees growing .on it and the grass and clover, also the irrigation from a neighbouring spring. The Presbyterians turned out to church recently en masse, and voted on the question, and there was a decided majority in ' favour of Mr Allan's site. Much may be said on both sides, but a section that is fenced, planted, watered, improved, and made beautiful is certainly the most attractive.