OPUNAKE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 7168, 11 September 1886, Page 3

OPUNAKE.

[FBO2I OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] September 9. — After the cattle sale on Tuesday, Messrs. Nolan, Tonks, & Co., offered, in the passage of the Telegraph Hotel, the whole of that property, which was to be sold under instructions from the Supreme Court. It appeared that thsre has been a heavy mortgage on the property, and the sale was compulsory. There was a large number of people present, attracted by curiosity, but, aB it turned out, not a single buyer was present. The hotel, which has twenty bedrooms; the smithy, let at 12s. per week; the large t table, coach-house, and outbuildings, which stands on five quarter-acre sections in the best part of Opunake, together with niae acres of town lands used as a padr dock, were put up in one lot, and failed to elicit a bid. After a pause the auctioneer bid £1000, which was advanced £50 by Mr. Caplon, who was said to be acting for the mortgagee, and the property was knocked down. As there existed a mortgage of £2000 on the hotel, this leaves a deficit of £950, which the Messrs. Middleton are still responsible for. That an eligible property like this, doing a fair trade, with all appliances, should pass under the hammer at such a price, shows the utter stagnation of speculation on the coast. At the same time there is a great feeling of sympathy with the Messrs. Middleton in their present circumstances. Arriving in the district at a time when Opunake and the West Coast were expected to develop great things, and ir .ending to invest their considerable capital in land, by some means the three brothers were persuaded to take the Telegraph Hotel, and for somo time did remarkably well in their investment. But as times changed it Boon appeared that the house was too expensive 10 keep up, and the appliances too elaborate for the trade which the place afforded. Still the brothers Btuck together, struggling against dulness, and working an uphill fight with all their ability. The way in which the hotel has been conducted would do credit to a larger totvn and better times, but circumstances have been too powerful for the Messrs. Middleton, and they have to leave absoutely without a remnant of their original capital. There will be none, whether a guest or a fellow-townsman, who will not sympathise with them in their trouble, and will not send after them good wishes for their future success.

Two of our celebrities, Mesßrs. McLeod and Simpson, are off to Kimberley. Both are old diggers, and will leave full ot hope. If any will succeed in rinding the needful there, these men will do so. They are accompanied by Mr. G. Pringle, a late arrival. The arrival of the largo nuggets, which they promise to send to the town as camples of the gold they find will be anxiously looked lor, and will probably, if they come, start others on the same truck.

A Magittrate's Court was to be held on Tuesday, but there were no cases, so the Court adjourned at once.