LAWRENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2734, 8 August 1906, Page 34

LAWRENCE.

August 6. — Thy winter is i.ast, but not th* wintry weatp.fi, as this Tnoxricg the -nu.v was lying ?~i) around. althoi;gti rot to any grea. depth ••n low levels; but the higher country seems to have a heavy coating. Thfc glass io now very high, so we may have ar little spring weather soon.

Amusements. — We have had quite a variety of entertainments here <turing the past month, and more to follow. This week wo are to have amongst others a Public' Service social and dance. It is> the first of the kind held here, but I understand it is meant to be an annual function, and from the coruyiete arrangements mads I have no doubt it will be a most successful and pleasurable affair.

Lawren«.^.-Roxburgh Railway Mattel i.— The local leagues, in view of the near Session of Parliament, are wakening up to the necess* . of endeavouring to get a fairly large vote placed on ttte Estimates to enable the works to be pushed on with greater celerity than at present. There is some dissatisfaction, I underctand, amongst a f«w • farmers in regard to the location of the Evans's Flat siding. The p sition chose? by the Public Works Department is, 1 beiipv.-, from 30 to 40 chains from the main road, about midway between Messrs J Hogg's and G. Henry's. The objectors say it is too far down the flat, and should have been at the junction rf the railway line and the Cockleshell Hili road, but they apparently do not consider the practicability of the sit© tbey mention for such a purpose, so far as leve.'s, otc, are concerned. I believe at this point the embankment is over sft high, but apparently some of the farmers look on such obstacles as very small matters. One with whom I' had a t*lk on the subject said there should not b» any embankment there at all, and he could have laid off the line in a way that would have saved the country thousands of pounds. What the upshot of the objections will be remains to be seen. It scents to me rather amusing that for many years settlers cart their produce 10, 15, or 20 miles, without grut.bfong, but as soon as a railway comes within a reasonably short distance, then they want it »s near th«i* own respective doors as even to the matter of a few hundred yarda. • Which reminds me of an incident in a railway carriage a week or two ago on the MiltonLawrence line. A couple of young fellows were growling and grumbling at the stoppages en route vnd the time taken on the journey. I quietly listened to them for a time, tffen remarked tiiat if they had lived in the district in the early days of the pottlement. when the coaches took fromt 6 am. to 8 p.m. from Dunedin to Lawrence, and passengers often had to walk from< Manuka Creek to Round Hill through th* mud, and pay 50s coach fare for the trip, instead of 5b per rail as at present, the" would probably better appreciate the pri» leges they now enjoy.