GREYMOUTH NOTES

West Coast Times, Issue 10123, 5 June 1895, Page 4

GREYMOUTH NOTES

[Fbom Oub Own Correspondent.]

Tuesday.

A most welcome downpour of rain has lasted off and on for the last 2or 1 3 days andsluioing is in full swing, probably not to be interrupted again for months. The mining diatriott have Buffered severely for almost 12 months past from want of water and heavy leeway has to be made up, working •& deadhorses in shape of storekeepers' biHs.

The lion and the lamb are now lying down together, with the lamb inside. The Midland officials are part and parcel of the Government Civil Service and it seems accepted here as a foregone con* elusion that they will remain so. The fighting energy of the Company received a far more serious blow than wad recognised at first, and probably after safe guarding the interests of the debenture holders it will be content with some modicum of consideration at the hands of Government. This is a melancholy end to a spirited enterprise.

The Hinemoa arrived off the bar this morning. She was signalled to come in, there being 22 feet of water, Captain Fairchild, however, has conceived a mean idea of thiß port, which he sticks to, and accordingly the tug had to go out .uid tow in. Even this is an improvement' on the time when this same skipper compelled the tug to go out and tender him, transhipping cargo and passengers tinder very uncomfortable circumstances instead of doing things comfortably alongside the wharf.

I am informed that Mr Townsend, ogent for the Public Trustee, leaves here shortly for head office, Wellington, where he will take up a position. His successor is not yet known.

Blackball is steadily coming to the fore. There are now over 150 men employed in and about the mine, and the township ig one of the very few on th« Coast, per-

.haps the only one, that is increasing in size and population. It is to be regretted j therefore that tbe means of access to it are still so primitive; and that the County Council, through want of funds, can do very little apparently to improve them. You are all right as far ab Ngahere, where the railway dumps you down. After that you cross the river in a boat as far as it will float, then you are brought up by a stretch of water, too wide to be jumped, too shallow for a boat, and which therefore you must wade, a delightful operation at this season. In fact you are for the nonce outside the enervating influence of our modern civilization, which is perhaps not altogether a bad tbing.

I regret to say that Mr Cameron Smith is still seriously ill,, being confined te his room. We hope poon to see him about again. Having taken for years past a prominent part in municipal, educational, and other public matters, his absence makes a gap which is not easily filled.

Last week was a record week, for years past, in the local coal exports, close on 4000 tons having left the port. Time was when this would have excited no attention, being in fact under the average, but now we sing small, think a lot of it, and hope it will continue.