Cromwell Argus, AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE. CROMWELL : TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1872.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 131, 14 May 1872, Page 4

Cromwell Argus, AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE. CROMWELL : TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1872.

The "Otago Waste Land Resolutions," introduced to the Provincial Council this session, are almost identical with the Bill of last year. It will be evident that, from their discussion clause by clause, the session will be more protracted than was at first supposed. As long as there are any Waste Lands to dispose of, and any Provincial Councillors in Otago, this subject, Ave presume, will be a fruitful theme of controversy, and a mark for every young and aspiring politician to tilt at. Mr Tolmie gave notice of some amendments and emendations on the Bill, which have been disapproved of, and it is most likely other members may do likewise ; until it becomes again so tinkered and patched that its original intent may be frustrated, and it follows the fate of its predecessors. The addition to the Bill of last year is as follows :

Clause 97.—" Before the expiration of any license or lease for depasturing purposes, the Board shall, with the approval of the Superintendent, determine whether it is expedient to lease again for depasturing purposes the whole or any part of the land held under such license or lease; and if it be resolved that a lease of the whole or any part of such lauds be not granted, it shall be lawful for the Board, at any time not later than six months before the expiration of the license or lease, to cause a notice of such resolution to be served on the licensee or lessee, or to be left at his last-known place of abode, 01 with some person resident upon the lands comprised in such license or lease. In the event of it being resolved that a lease of the whole or any part of such lands be granted, such lease shall, subject to I lie provisions relating to leases of pastoral lands contained herein, be sold at least six months before the expiration of the then existing license or lease.'''

It will thus be seen that, as heretofore, the power of " cancellation" will be left in the hands of " the Board;" and until the powers of this body are well defined, and the nature of its composition known, it will be uncertain how this additional clause may affect the public weal. Whether Mr Barton's amendment may receive the assent of the General Governmeat or not remains to bo seen ; but it would appear that the political character of the Land Board will be considerably done away with, by the appointment "of not less than two, nor more than five, Commissioners, all of whom shall be appointed and bo removable by warrant under the hand of the Superintendent."

This clause was agreed to by tlic Council last session, and differs entirely from the clause in the present Bill. The amendment no doubt is an improvement; but it should be remembered this experiment has heretofore been tried in Southland, and found not to work at all times as well as anticipated. When the present Mayor of Invercargill was Superintendent of Southland, a difference arose with the members of his Waste Land Board, as to his being allowed to dispose of more than 1000 or 2000 acres of laud in any one year for extraordinary purposes. Some bridge having been washed away, or some similar mishap occurring, His Honor found it necessary to obtain from the Board power to increase the quantity of available land necessary for this increased expenditure. The Board refused; the repairs were not proceeded with; when it was suggested that the nature of the appointment of these unreasonable gentlemen should be examined, and it was made clear their appointment and dismissal rested in the hands of the Superintendent alone. When made conscious of this fact, they were found to be compliant, and the necessary powers were given to His Honor to act as he pleased. It will thus be seen that a Waste Land Board so constituted is liable to pressure from without.

With reference to the new clause above mentioned, it will be apparent that its purpose is to afford additional security of tenure to the pastoral tenants of the Crown. When His Honor tells us that our year's " expenditure will be contingent on the sale of land," we should have considered it inexpedient to fence its alienation around with fresh difficulties ; unless it be conceded as a fact, and taken as a rule, that the tenure on which land has hitherto been held should be discarded with other feudal reminiscences, and that the land should be occupied on the system upheld by the apostles of the New Land Theory promulgated in Ireland, Switzerland, Canada, and a few other similarly benighted localities. The relation of man to the soil is too complex a subject for us to deal with until it passes through the hands and heads of our paid legislators ; but should it he maintained by our Provincial Council that the land is the heritage of the people, and as such not liable to perpetual

alienation; that it may be leased for tenu of years, and again revert to its n t per ownership ; and by being perpetual the property of the whole community [ stead of individuals, tend to remove tl ever-increasing load of taxation we 3 suffer under, —there is no doubt they wou be supported by a large portion of t! public, and yield by so doing a good reasi for the belief that this institution is not effete as it has been generally considered

The Public Library Committee holds i ordinary monthly meeting at half-past eig] o'clock to-night. Applications for the post librarian require to be sent in previous to tl hour of meeting.

The opening Popular Entertainment f ( the present season, under the auspices of tl Athenaeum Hall Committee, is to take place : Kidd's Hall on Her Majesty's Birthday. TJ amateur vocalists who have consented to ewsL are practising assiduously almost eve r y day ;ai we may mention, for the benefit of those' w] love to laugh, that the comic element will 1 strongly represented.

The Evangelist for the current month i< more than usually interesting. It contains articles on "The Chinese in Otago ;" "Tti Slave Trade in New Hebrides;" "The Gold, fields of Westland ;" " Eclecticism ;" " % Seasons ;" reviews of new publications ; andi large amount of Provincial, Colonial, and Generi intelligence. The price is only sixpence, ani the profits accruing from the publication ar t devoted to the Presbyterian Mission Fund.

The fifth anniversary of Court Royal Oak of Kawarau (A.0.F.) is to be celebrated is the usual manner—viz., by a ball and supperat the Baunockburn Hotel on Friday evening the 17th hist. The preparations which are beiti made for the occasion warrant the belief thai the celebration will be at least as successful y those of previous years. The purveyorship hy been entrusted to the experienced management of Mrs Richards ; while the music will be sua plied by an efficient band under the leadcrsliij of Mr A. B. Cook. f

At a meeting of the Waste Land Board, held on Wednesday last, " Mr G. W. GooW through Mr George Jenour, applied to purchaa thirty acres of land near Cromwell. There be iug some belief that the ground applied for istli spot on which timber rafted down the river i landed, the matter was referred to the Warden.' This block of land, we are informed, is not on tin Lower Flat, but is situated N.N7W. of Cromwell, somewhere between the Municipal reserve ant MrM. Skanly's farm.

The following requisition is in coursi of signature throughout the district:—" Oro» well, May 11, 1872.—T0 Christopher Ricra Esq., M.P.C., Otago,— We. the Electors of the Kawarau District, in this Pro vince, hereby desire you to place your resigns, tion as a Member of the Provincial ('ouncil ii the hands of His Honor the Superintendent, feeling that our wants necessitate the attentioi of our Member, and that you can best serve th« interests of your constituents by reaignitt" thl trust placed in your keeping."

The subjoined telegram was forwarded to us through Greville's agent at Wellington « Thursday last:—"Melbourne, 2nd May,—Tin twenty-third annual meeting of the Australia Mutual Provident Society was held iu Sydwj on the 24th of April. The report presented bi the directors showed that an extraordinary de grce of success had attended the operations o the Society during the past twelve months There were issued during the year 2337 ne« policies, and the new premiums amounted t< £32,733 per annum, assuring £830,904. Thi gross annual revenue amounts to £249,010, ant the credit balance for the year is £146,682. Thi accumulated funds now amount to £904,824." The survey of that portion of the Oar rick Water Race situate between the Royi Standard claim and Duffer's Saddle, which ha been undertaken by Mr A. D. Wilson, Distric Surveyor, will probably be completed this week With all deference to the "practical" knowWg< of race-construction possessed by the directors we would remind them that a considerable doubl still exists in the minds of many as to the prao ticability of bringing water from Coal Creek t; the Saddle at a reasonable—or the estimatedcost. The sooner this doubt is set at rest thi better ; and only a thoroughly competent prof® sional mau can settle this question. We wui to know what the actual cost will be, so thai ■Ave can judge what amount of aid or foreign sub scription will be necessary to bring the "under, taking to a successful issue, or whether sufficient funds can be raised in the district alone.

Messrs M'Cornuck and Co. purpose commencing their bridge across the Kawarau at once. A number of masons and quarrymen hare been already engaged to quarry stone, and erect the abutments. 1 ndeed, we believe the masonrv has been contracted for by Messrs Ritchie and Clyde, and is expected to "be completed by the end of July. It is believed that the bridge mil be open for public traffic in five months frcmithe present date. Of course, this will in a great measure depend on the progress the Government make in forming the approaches. The approach on the northern side of the river requires to he made immediately ; and if our representative has not forgotten that such a district as the Km rnu is in existence, he might tardily fulfil his duty in this particular instance. In fact, the woi k cannot be gone on with until the Government perform this part of their obligation. The bridge will be HI feet across,—the longest span in the Province. Fourteen sin. wires are to he stretched on either side, supporting a rnaoVa? lift, in width. The southern pier 'is to be3oft by Oft., and 41ft. high ; the turret piers, 7ftb? sft. bin., tapering to 4ft. by sft. at the top, an l 12ft. in height. The northern pier stands on > rock, and will be 25ft. by Bft., and Oft. in height the timber for the structure is .already on the ground and no means that can be adopted toespedite the. work will, we are assured, be leftnntried. We sincerely hope the enterprise manifested by Messrs M'Cormick and Co. will o** with its deserved reward.

!j The Half-Holiday is now an established pstitution in Dunedin, Invercargill, and Lawnce ; ami there appears to be every probability bat Oaraaru will shortly follow suit. Another trial is to be given to the salmon va experiment. Dr Featherston has been re* jested by Mr Gisborne to arrange for another hipment of ova to the Bluff from the Clyde. Four deer are said by a correspondent {the Tuapeka Times to have been seen at the > e niarkable Gap, between Nokomai and the IT e vis, a t an elevation of 6000 feet above the sea eve! Great accounts have been received in jydßey from the Tanibaroora reefs : a crushing f seventeen tons yielded 5630 ounces of gold. 'axton's claim has been put into the market at feico.ooo. I The number of sheep in the Province of |!anterbury on the Ist January last was 2,503,745, eingaa increase since January, 1871, of 51,687. t is a noteworthy fact that the increase in numer on farms is much larger in proportion than a runs. . In consequence of the Superintendent of Nelson curtailing some of the leases, and refusing jta grant others, an indignation meeting was held tt Beefton, at which a resolution was passed asking the General Government to withdraw the Superintendent's delegated powers, and to take jover the charge of the Southwest Goldfields. | The Tuapeka Times says :—" We have [received authentic information that an immigration of Chinese on a scale of unprecedented mag* iaitude—at least for New Zealand—will set in to ;otago next summer. The collection being made for the erection of a Chinese immigration bar* [acks in Dunedin seems confirmatory of this information. A public meeting was held in Dunedin bn Tuesday afternoon, May 7, to present a tesliijshuial to Mr E. B. Cargill, on the eve of his departure on a visit to Europe. The Mayor presided, and Mr Justice Chapman presented the testimonial, which was in the form of a very handsome vase, bearing a suitable inscription. p the evening, Mr Cargill was entertained at a public dinner. I We learn from the Daily Times that " a bompact little quartz battery of two stampers, intended to be placed by the Government in a fe'iel on the reclaimed land in Dunedin, and to be used in connection with Professor Black's Bepartraeut of the Otago University, is just Lbont completed at Mr Wilson's foundry, and mil he in its place in the course of a few days. 1: is to be driven by a water-power engine." [ We have received the latest issue of the Mestmted Xew Zealand Herald. It contains a boon representation of the Balclutha Bridge, and the usual number of illustrations of Australian an 1 architecture. The woodcut of Balplutha Bridge is a vast improvement on the pictorial representation of Queenstown as it was gome weight years since, and at which our lacustrine neighbours were so amazed and indignant. J la reply to a letter from Mr R, A, A. Kherrin, enclosing a copy of the resdution adopted by the Local Hospital Committee in Reference to the desirability of procuring land endowments for country hospitals, Mr T. L. Shepherd, M.P.C., writes as follows :—'• My tleir Sir, —I duly received your letter of the 2-itb. ult. I laid the proposition before Messrs ITaylor and Hazlett, and urged upon them to uriag it under the notice of the Conference ; but they came to the conclusion not to do so, on the ground that it would not be successful. I mytelf agree with you, and think it is to be desired. I may therefore bring it under the consideration pf the Council. By-the-bye the proposition to grant all license moneys to the Municipalities is almost entirely in the interest of Dunedin. 1 intend to move for a return of the amounts received for licenses last year in the various municipalities. But consider what the up-country Corporations have done with their funds in the and say if it is wise to lessen the sum at command of the Province for roads and tracks Jo enable them to continue the same conduct. If the Corporations are entitled to the license .moneys, then tbe Goldfields have an equally lust right to the gold duty, miners' rights, busi&c. In fact I am about to urge pis.' By way of postscript, Mr Shepherd Itites that any public business entrusted to him tuall be attended to, and he will be happy to Sssist Mr Hickey, the local member, should he nng anything forward in the interests of the istrict.