Rambling Notes.

Southland Times, Issue 4485, 24 November 1882, Page 4

Rambling Notes.

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glfiiJ^g&^l^p^^^eKSnndaV^ far from my i«enm»i^and ..I: ■would "cot-. - tai^^^iivi^niP^ <afi£> v ro distant. Saturday night, Jmtior accidentally mie^-s fti£ioilli£l^.t!ft<o!ty^^ X' sothei&at-naniedhiawnnon, Fjnday I; nignt;, 1 sdhtti. wnfenge&s^tac.inefet isthebjexpf etobftraiji '- 7o#^KJl^tb.%irall]w&yietatiQn>a T t2l2.s3s>cin ftiicied security, I did not haßfeh>«otar s3 lfiMfetftfjMla]<a£4^ r cwptf^^cta^^to? ( jp % sp,jjeof[ f * timer to see the guard ? £T ! r van^leaVing-ithfe train, nothing remained but to Hoak^tnefb^t > j>^ai>ad}JQbj^^ round the imain .streets, -acting. >sS;:a'majbetir. ing the Ts€KuwaJter,-,m ajperent partg^or, which I saw' *craaks'.ind rents, and could ; stakeH^Byawprxk 1 ...sawjpne ..\yiden; iwhije looking at'jit-^thßughi tbis/.may; mean no-j thing of any importance; and last, brit fi not^lifei3t|^di2iring f the- large force ofr 'wltera'vailable' for 'all- * purposes— even to. ■ -48ying-tae^6^go^a~wMyday:-^This-la&t ia onerof ithe.fiKeateßt benefits the town has i to s^w M%t^;WHf^ well known to Z, -JjeTTmore heayi)y ratedrthan any other town in the'eo'lony.' W.ha£ a benefit it would rje -i'toiWercarffill te^have a M plentiful ; snpp]y * "or water "ibr th^t' purpose alone. I" think" ourj-gtp^eke^pers^rnerchanjts, and pedeb- , trfans— more ' especially,' our drapera-j-A;? wouid)willingjly x tjetstafy, ■ The questionrw|ll. r ' ft Wc;e ,tb ,b.e speedily .sealed here, becaus^ '" when the population increases, as it will, f! p-,,B,UTely dp,,-;itß-,fleed, for sanitary and clpmestiCrjpurposesjt.will be more and more (T-/?afrongly felt, and; we' will be almost in- - rclin€(d: ; to : 'envy< 'the less important to\|n ■ ; f which has had the 1 forethought and co we- : ';'age Jto^burderi. 1 itself, with heavy rates that ]° a?|h%atth'Ful -condition might be ! promoted. pf the year Oamaru is.full \' < ;";pf'^j^pie79i*aii ! |prts/and'Tiianie's' street on . jaigM just now presents rather a busier spectacle than our Dee .street,. Nnmn feers of •", birds of passage'! are in the 'd town for .a. few days,. preparing, for the annual" shearing >aiid harvesting work, at v mariy are employed in the I r district, i; .Many:Of- these cannot even be II called 'i?e^ri(^ealandersi being Victorians and New South Welshmen, who make; a good:' things by travelling 1 from colony to colony, and feeem to take an intense pleasure in their nomadic style of life. The Mnpefrboical' presence of large crowds of -<v these men, accounts, to-aigrcat extent, for the altogether disproportionate number of hotefe^lodging-houses, and restaurants to be / seenP i And when these men have an 1 ;1 Inft&rVal qfrest behveen shearing and har 7 .who i have "escaped the near-■'uestrpublic-liouses to the stations or farms on which they have been at the hardest of work for months, and who have made up their minds to- the customary debauch, make their way into: the town, and then ensue scenes disgraceful to a civilised community— in many of the lower lodging-"-.f;'hbuSe# -HHd ' = hotels, men deliberately "knocking down "all their hard-earned .money, and then being cast loose without 7<! aliliilring > , to go "on the wallaby," and p^oye themselves again the " working _ bullocks" of those harpies who prey upon . . ; Jbe.rrj;' j Many of them— both working men .nand [those who are licensed to accommodate them — : are, however, above this. A steadier ,r. race: o£ nienis' gradually being introduced, ■ .: men who, when they work hard, know the i>f: vahie of %hat they nave earned, and whose '■'"hotel- 'of' : liddging-house expenses arc confined, .to,, the, actual cost of living and legitimate .enjoyments; These men are of them -"holders of deferred payment sections, who are industrious and follow th^ir callings or cultivate their farms in the intervals between their more remunerative employments. I bad no intention of wandering off into a dissertation of this sort when I ■ started, but the sight of so many men in the streets up till a late hour on Saturday liigmV induced me to try and account for their presence. On Sunday I drove a little five miles north of Oamaru to Pukeuri Junction, on the Duntroon branch railway, " 'to visit a friend. With him I mounted a "rather high hill above the. public school, from which I obtained a-splendid view of the surrounding country for miles. Nine .miles 6ir>t6 •£he > north was seen, like a thin rßilvery.streak, the Waitaki, over which the ■) magnificent railway bridge, fully threequarters;, of a mile in Jeugth, stands a »: monument of engineering skill and skilful workmanship. Inland, at no distance, lay the road to Papakaio — the scene of the alleged murder — reaching to Kurow, 41 ';: miles, into the back country. To the Fouth-cast, ; at the distance of ,• 'several-.; miles, lay the new District High School, an elegant structure,about half .way. between Oamaru and Pukeuri. It is V built in/ the midst of extensive grounds, and ( will supply a long-felt want. Nearer f. at hand and almost at our feet, lay stretched • fields ion fields, some very large, covered with luxuriant crops of wheat. One field, . owned by Mr McDonald, about 70 acres in _ ,extent,,Bhows grain standing fully 16 inches -in height. 1 : 1 retiu-ned to town in a spring ddatt, alotfg with a couple of stout, sonsy, farmers' wivt'sj and arrived in time to see the cHurch-g6erß nocking to their various places of worship. An extremely welldressed; ' 'orderly, ' amd well-to-do population could Ye seen then. It would be hard to find finer weal her than I ' 'was' f avore'd .v/ith during my short stay ; 1 cbnsequ'ently 1 ! saw them under the great - V^est adyantages. I left Oamaru by the j, 7.25 train, on Monday morning, and left i;; with,nofthing but the best impressions of i 4he,place. ; Unfortunately, I was not able i'lo stop during the whole of that week, as ''it "has: -been a regular gala week there — ,-Tuesday and Wednesday, the annual races ; afterwards two days of show ; then the bazaar, in aid, of .the, Athenaeum, at which' oW townsman, Mr S. H. Moi-eton, is inVpb;^ri§ ,o^^he.lnvcrcavgill- exiiibits, nnd ise'xijibiffngeoine.of his own masterpieces; then K .t° cr.Qwn all, there was a circus and a • comedy company. The results of the have' appeared in your columns, the show lias not been so successful in niira-, ber'of^eritrfes-as last year, and tlie bazaar promises to -raise a, bandfjome sum for the "'"iauaafele^purpose 1 for which it has fbeen he^V'-'^Th'e"' natural' consequence of this surfeft'o/f "amusements was tbat the attens '"dafac ; 9' 7 a : fc neither races nor show was so good as it would .have be«n had there been an interval between them. • ■ Trusting- I « jjhasie; not trespassed too long on your space. — I am, &c, : Sindbad.