ROXBURGH NOTES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1877, 9 March 1892, Page 3

ROXBURGH NOTES.

(Prom our own Correspondent.)

The concert in aid of our local brassband on Thursday evening was a great success. The Athenaeum, in which the entertainment was given, was pretty well filled; and if one can judge by the enthusiasm of the audience during the evening, all engaged acquitted themselves in fine style. The first part of the programme consisted of songs, comic and sentimental, with an overture played in capital time by the band. The second part was also made up of items of a similar kind ; and though the programme was a fairly long one yet the interest of the audience never flagged, and at the close a most amusing burlesque sent everybody away in the best of humour. Of course the inevitable dance followed, and it would be superfluous to say that it was well patronised, and only broke up with the daylight. We had a visit on Friday from three of the directors of the Roxburgh Amalgamated Co. — -yiz., Messrs Valentine, M.H.R.,Hazlett, and Callan — accompanied by Mr R. H. Leary, secretary to the company. Mr V. Pyke, chairman of the board of directors, was also to have made one of the party, but he was taken suddenly ill at Lawrence, and could proceed no further. I fear our old and genial friend and former representative is last losing the physical no less than the mental vigour for which he was once remarkable, and, I am given to understand, is failing fast. The party visited the claim and also the dam at Lake Onslow, and expressed themselves as being well-satis-fied with the manner in which operations are being conducted by the manager, Mr Peters. These visits shou'd do good, as they keep the directors well posted with the working and development of the property. They also, from what I can learn, give satisfaction to the local shareholders and to all those connected with the mine, and it is to be hoped they may be continued. I understand the Molyneux Hydraulic Goldmining Company intend to lose no time in removing the plant from the Commissioners Flat claim to their property at Alexandra. It will mean a big piece of carting,as the Commissioners Flat people had provided themselves with everything in the way of modern mining appliances. But not only is the plant to go but the buildings are also to be taken down, and will be re-erected at Alexandra. What a desolate wild will . not the once busy claim then be. But just fancy the amount of heart-burn ing and disappointment represented in this plant ; and, some people would, no doubt, add, the monument of folly and misplaced confidence! But with this latter sentiment I don't altogether agree. It is more a case of misfortune, or, to speak more explicitly, of mismanagement and incompetency. I have myself from the outset, in the face of some very ugly reverses, maintained that the shareholders in this property had a very good investment. And to this opinion I still adhere ; and had it only fallen into proper hands and received proper treatment, my estimate of it would long ago have been proved. Why, there was mismanagement up to the last hour of the company's existence, and, in fact, beyond its last hour. Their last act was to refuse what must be regarded as a splendid offer. An offer, without any cost to the shareholders, to put the claim to an ex haustive test. Had advantage been taken of this,a discovery might have been made that would have completely changed the fortunes of the mine. But it is rather late in the day now to indulge in vain regrets ; and one can only hope that the Alexandra Hydraulic Company will meet with better luck with the plant than its late owners did.

We are enjoying the most perfect harvest weather ; perhaps it's a trifle too warm at times during the day, particularly to those who are engaged in the labors of the field. The nights, though, are very cool — cold enough, in fact, for spring nights, and we have occasionally a sharp touch of frost. I hope there may be 'no serious change for a few weeks, at all events, until such time as the crops are properly secured. From all I can hear, the settlers around the Mt. Benger district are well enough pleased with their crops, now that they are in a position to judge, and look forward to very good yields. Our fruitgrowers, too, are more contented with their returns than they have been for some years past. I am afraid, though, that the dry weather will soon begin to tell on the water supply for mining among a few of the companies ; but it is to be hoped provision will soon be made for those periodical droughts by completing the dam at Lake Onslow. At the quarterly meeting of the licensing bench for the borough of Roxburgh, held last Thursday, an application was made by Mr W. Bain for a tranfer of his publican's license for the Queen's Head Hotel to Mr Archibald Clark, formerly of the Provincial Hotel, Evans Flat. Constable Fouhy reported, that he had 1 communicated with the police at I»aw-

rence, and was informed that Mr Clark bore a good character as an hotelkeeper. Tho bench decided to grant the application .

T notice the " Dunstan Times " in its last issue surmises that the body which was recently found in the river at Millers Hat was that of John Miller Drurie an old resident of Bald Hill Flat, who was known locally as John Miller. Drurie has been missing since the early part of last December, and it is presumed he accidentally fell in the river. The body had evidentally been in the water for two or three months.