Balclutha is a quiet place; when you have said that you have said the worst of it. As a retreat for the No-licence Convention, secluded, out of the world, where uninterrupted the conventionists might repeat to each other the old arguments and thrill each other by the old appeals, Balclutha was ideally perfect.
Moreover, for 17 years Balclutha had "enjoyed no licence" (as they said); enjoying at the same time the privilege of getting all the beer and whisky it wanted from the licensing district over the border.
The abolition of the public house bar and the grocery bottle business shed a Sabbatical calm; but if for medicinal purposes you wanted a drop of Scotch there were perhaps few houses barring the manse where you couldn't get it. On these terms Balclutha "enjoyed no licence." Reading the Convention speeches, I feel myself touched by sympathetic emotion, all in a glow, "the freezing reason's colder part" thawed and melted. They are all good men these ministers of religion, who, when temperance is in question, despair of the Gospel and fall back on the police.
Their moral earnestness is as catching as the measles. - CIVIS .
• The necessity that exists for the construction of a new road between Berwick and the Waipori Falls power station has recently been engaging the attention of the Electric Power and Lighting Committee of the City Council, and a report on the subject has been submitted by the City Electrical Engineer (Mr E. E. Stark).
The City Council will, at its meeting on Wednesday evening next, be recommended by the committee to approach the Government for assistance in forming the new road, the council to pay half cost on an amount up to 3000.
The existing road from Berwick to Waipori Falls is over the top of the hill and then down towards the power house, and its severest grades are equal to one in 3. It is proposed that the new road should follow the line of the Waipori River on the same side as the old Government track, and at a very slight elevation above the river bed. Almost the full length of its route would be through Crown lands. The fact that it would open up these areas, also scenic reserve acquired by the Government some years ago, should be an inducement to the Government to assist the Council in the project.
Both the Tuapeka and Taieri County Councils are, we understand, using their best endeavours to forward the proposal.
• Our Alexandra correspondent says the winter is plainly past, and spring has already come in earnest. The break up of the hard frosts came on Wednesday, when a steady rain fell for about five hours. The country around has been subjected to a greater amount of moisture than in former winters, and the outlook is distinctly bright.
Never before in the history of Alexandra has there been such a genuine demand for land. It is all required for fruit culture, and this industry promises to assume large dimensions. Areas suitable for fruit cultivation are rapidly changing hands at greatly increased prices, and visitors are coming almost daily to the district in search of fruit land. - ODT, 19.8.1911.
