THE Cromwell Argus. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12. 1870.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 48, 12 October 1870, Page 4

THE Cromwell Argus. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12. 1870.

Time was when much was done in various ways to excite rivalry and ill-feeling between the Dunstan and Cromwell townships. Wayfarers, both in the upward and downward journeys, used often to contrast them ; and each in its turn used to come in for its share of condemnation or admiration according to the taste of the traveller, or the treatment he might meet with at one or the other. Sometimes it was the Dunstan that was petted, and then the hospital was referred to, the Resident Magistrate, the new town hall, the stone stores, the enterprise and business aspect of the place. All these anti many other signs of growth and greatness were set down as tending to shew that the Dunstan was far ahead of all other townspips along the main line of road, and especially of Cromwell. Proofs were sometimes adduced of the amazing fertility of the soil of the Dunstan : Westwood’s almond-tree and a Frenchman’s cabbages, to wit. Patting these items down on a blank page of betts’s diary, the business agent would come early next morning to Cromwell, and may be find it in a bank of fog, or buried in a blinding cloud of dust. To his mind all doubt vanishes at once—conviction sets in. The future magnitude of the Dunstan can be seen with half an eye, and a significant hint is given to the Cromwell people that if they were as respectable as they ought to he they would hasten to own it. A letter is sent to the Times , either at Dunedin or the Dunstan, and these matters are dealt with somewhat after the style of the Peripatetic Phi osopher ; and there they end for the time. Something aualagous to this often happened on the other side. Cromwell, seen in the sunshine on a Court-day, or after a good washing-up, was sure to ho THE place : nothing but the definite article emphasised could express the importance of Cromwell over its rival. Tiie mirage of a misleading fancy was in this way drawn upon for a hideous caricature of the two ’places, and was held up in the newspapers, until each believed what was not true of itself, and both were injured. When the Bendigo reefs were creating a sensation, people began to say the Dunstan was nowhere —it was just nothing, or what there was left of it was going up to Cromwell. Jealousy took the hint: a bold attempt was made to cross t'ae ranges to Bendigo, and divert the traffic and minimise the advantages which might thus accrue to our trade. Pages of instances might bs adduced, had we space to spare, all pointing to the same chronic mischief, which we owe to a mistaken friend ship, and a wish to appear smart in prirft. One more proof of this wide-spread feclijilg madhere be given. Mr Fox, in his plade ffeder of the Assembly, said, on the; 2lltp'A.ugust, "The position of the Go!>iW)oPtMßoiit was this ; that they found two Cromwell and Clyde, each V.?‘ competing for the establishment of a gaol “ and court house, and each contending “ that it wms the true centre of the dis- “ trict, and calling upon the Government “ to recognise its claim. To show the ex “ tent of the rivalry, one writer addressed “ the Government thus, ‘Cromwell is in “ 1 this position: that, while other bown- “ ‘ ships have been bom great, and others “ ‘ have had greatness thrust upon them, “ 1 Cromwell Iris yet to achieve greatness. “‘Some day Cromwell will bo the chief “ ‘ centre of a district of which Clyde and “‘Queenstown will be out - stations.’” What do our friends at the Dunstan say to this! They are coming out strong for a prison and all the needful appliances—a court-house, an additional lawyer, judge’s quarters, and periodical sessions, to save time and expense, and bring crime and punishment nearer together. That some provision of the kind is necessary no one will question for a moment. We believe one half or more of the st'pend paid to his Honor Vlr Justice Chapman would be saved to the General Government in the shape of witnesses’ expenses alone, to say nothing of other payments. Clyde puts forward its.claim as the most central position, as the proper locality for such a judicial establishment as above sketched. This claim can be disposed of by a map of t he province and a pair of compasses. Guided by the use of these two helps to a sound judgment 'on the question, it will ho seen tiiat Clyde is a somewhat one-sided centre. For ourselves we are not much concerned in the matter. It lies in the direction of

economy, and will not be long In suggesting itsell to the ruling powers when short of money. Wo shall not run a race of rivalry with our next-door neighbour on this subject. If the Clyde people shall force the question before the Government so as to ]e.,d to the erection of expensive buildings there, the day is not far distant ■when they will be converted into monuments in mockery of the misguided judgment that prepared the way for such a mistake. We have no taste for prisons. Their shadow is a stain upon the site they occupy ; they are symbols of our shame and blots upon our civilisation, and hated 'necessities everywhere. But if the moral festerings and excrescences of society can only ho managed by such means, and if nine-tenths of the common-sense people of the district shall give their verdict as to the most fitting locality for the establishment of a gaol, then Cromwell will commend itself first, and the future will vindicate the wisdom of such a choice. The extra expense incurred in the Clyde gold robbery case over and above what would have been necessary had the trial come off where the crime was committed, would go the length of showing to all concerned in economising the public funds the necessity of some such arrangement as above suggested.