Cromwell Argus AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1872.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 144, 13 August 1872, Page 4

Cromwell Argus AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1872.

—♦■ - Provincialism is the scapegoat forced to bear the blame of all the ills and evils the Gold-fkdds of Otago can claim to groan under. The whole of the Gold-fields representatives, and many of the others, seem quite prepared to nail it down, bury it. and sing its requiem, with all praise f or what it has accomplished in the past, and fond regrets that it is useless for the future. (That the Gold-fields do labour under many | grievous burdens, peculiar to them, is not | and cannot be denied; but that the fault j lies wholly in the system of Government I cannot be reasonably upheld for an instant. j Miners' representatives have never had in- , fluence enough in the Provincial Council ! to obtain any palliation, not to say redress, of their grievances. When the influence of the whole of the Gold-fields members was united to obtain some £3OO, — isked for as compensation to private individuals who, for their own benefit in the first instance, had constructed roads which have since become the channels of much public traffic,—it failed in its object. And Mr Shepherd then prophesied, in what he meant for tones of serious and solemn warning, that the Council's refusal to grant 1 this £3OO was but " another nail in the J Provincial coffin." Here lies the reason | for all the outcry made against Provin cialism by Mr Shepherd and members of his kidney: they are powerless to obtain what they ask for, and so must fall to abuse of those upon whom their requests make no impression. In the whole list of mining representatives, Messrs Bastings and HALLENSTEIN alone possess any influence to speak of. Mr Bh.vdsiiaw, being a member of the Executive, doubtless lias influence; but whether he uses it for the benefit of his constituents, or otherwise, h;t his action in the matter of the Mea I Flat sale be sufficient answer. Mr Shepherd possesses far too much self-conceit, (and is altogether too much given to blow ing his own trumpet, ever to achieve much political success. His irrepressible selfassertion undermines all chance of serious consideration for the subjects he undertakes to advocate His political warfare is conducted chiefly on the " bully" principle ; he is ever to be found in the ranks ; of the Opposition, and holds no scruples in j attack ; is dogmatic in argument, and unI gentlemanly in retort ; and commands the ; respect of no party. Of Mr Lnnes, there | has been little opportunity to judge; one ! short session has been his only political j experience. But, from what has been j seen of him, there seems little probability jlhat he will ever "set the Thames on fire," j or even perform Mr Barton's lesser ex jploit of "making a blaze" in the Provincial Council. Little need be said of Mi' JHickey. The wonder that he ever 'vas ! elected is only eclipsed by the moie surprising wonder that he has been allowed so long to retain his seat unquestioned and in easy contentment. In his political

creed, there are four cardinal points • Chinese immigration must be stopped the duty on gold must be abolished; J price of a miner's right must be lessoned. and his district must have commonaJ Of the necessity for these things he is», tain; but of any influence to obtain tt! desired ends he is innocent, and his mean of securing them are peculiar to himself Mr Mervyn is no better. As an j] stnnce of what this member is capable rf doing, he recently, in the Assembly, ,],, clared that the Teviot people had suffix | nothing from the celebrated Moa \1 land sale, and championed Mr Reid in eon' nection with the matter in answer to I[, Shepherd. Yet only a few days befon in the Provincial Council, this same % Mervyn was a member of Mr Shepherd's exceedingly puerile Opposition, whoa strong complaint and ground of cavil against the Heid Government was ftjj very land sale ! Truly, a change hascomi o'er the spirit of Mr Mervyn's political dreaming. We can only conclude that tha s.s. Phoebe proved too much for him ; and that, between Dunedin and Wellington, 1« was turned inside out. Well, worse fet Mr Mervyn was not possible ; ami the pleasing presumption must be, therefore 1 that any change is for the better. The others on the list are for the most part mere political adventurers, without either ability or power ; and nothing they ask for is obtained except by a lucky Goldfields members are fond of talkie grandiloquently of " the honour of repri senting a mining constituency" ; but it is no less strange than true that the recipients of the honour are generally a disgrace to the const ituency. We frequently hear the miners termed an intelligent class of men' ! but it is by no means flattering to their i intelligence that they do not return men;i j tars who possess other characteristics thaa ; the plausible vanity of a Shepherd, ortht hopeless inanity of a Hfckey. Wkthet \ the miners are most to be pitied or blamed ■we know not; but the fact remains that I until they send a different calibre of men I to represent them, they will never succeed lin obtaining the justice they clamour for i—either at the hands of Provincialism or any other system of government yet to m invented.

Aii important discovery of metallic ore ;ou the Uarrick Uange lias been "made publid within the past week. The discoverer is Mr TJ | Hall, of the Nil Desperandum Q. M. Company, ; who slates that he found the hide in September 'ast, but that until recently his attention wasJ I fully engrossed in the development of the golden ! reef as to afford him no opportunity of turniii; the new discovery to advantage at an earlier dale. A specimen of the ore may be seen at oar j office : but until the result of Professor Black's anal.sis is ascertained, we shall refrain from expressing any decided opinion as to what tie metal really is, or whether it is a i two or more metalliferous ores. It has all thJ appearance of antimony,—a brittle metal,—bun is yet in some degree capable of fusion,--a fact! ; which would appear to indicate the presence ofj l silver or lead. The Jo le occurs in the same mm las an ordinary quartz-reef, having well-defined | walls of mica-schist, and has been traced along ! the surface for a distance of nearly a mile,—running transversely over a spur near the head of I Pipec'ay Gully. Tlie lode, so far as opened nut, | is not less than two feet in thickness ; and there ;is every appearance of an inexhaustible supply. ; A lease of sixteen acres has been applied for, ! and we understand that no time will lie lost in | commencing operations with the view of developing this new source of mineral weal l h.—Since i writing the above we learn that a second (lis- | eovery of the same kind of ore has been made by ! Mr Jacob Johnston, at a spot about three miles distant from the lode above referred to. In this j case also, we are informed, a mining lease has j been applied for by the prospector. We shall j anxiously await the result of Professor Black's | scientific examination of the specimens sent him . for that purpose. Mr Anthony Trollop? arrived herefrom j Queenstown, on his way to Dunedin, lastThnrsj day evening, and left for Clyde the following day. Mr Trollopc's literiry abilities are thus S noticed in Clornib-rs'.i CyclopetUa : " There is a .deg'eeof reality, vigour, and fresh English fed* ; ing about his novels, which renders him remarkj able among his contemporaries. He has the ; gift of finishing his work to the most minuted* ! tail, without becoming for an instant tedious or I trivial." In Collier's English Literature, & * ; siid of the same gentleman that " no writer of | the day is more rapid in literary work, and yet j all that M r Trollope writes is of the first stamp." A. letter received from a correspondent i at Kawarau Flat shall have a place in our next. We learn from a reliable authority t" ati M. Fraer, Esq., Mayor, has been appointed a i Justice of the Peace. " A Subscriber" wishes to know ho* I the contributions to the Button Relief F° D( ' i have been disposed of, as the receipt of his «<>"' j scription has not been acknowledged.

In reply to a question asked by our corfespoiident " Viator," we may state that, so.far j, we are aware, no public vaccinator has yet been appointed for this district.

A serious accident happened on Thursday last to a waggoner named Donald Cameron, in the employ of Mr Adam M'Leod. While unyoking his team near the upper end of Melmoreterrace, one of the horses broke away, and in trying to secure the animal one of the tracechains got entangled round the legs of both man and horse, the result being that both had a leg broken. The man was conveyed to the Dunstan hospital the same night. The horse—a young one—has been placed under veterinary treatment, and is expected to recover the use of its fractured leg.

It is gratifying to learn that the Private Petitions Committees of both Houses have reported favourably regarding Mr Sraythies' application for re-admission to legal practice. We are further informed that a bill is to be introduced with the object of granting compensation to Mr Smythies and his son (Mr H. W. Smythies) for loss sustained by them in the endeavour to establish their rights.

Mr Collins' motion in the Assembly, that the gold export duty be reduced to 2s. an ounce, has been carried by 34 to 11. The Government have promised to introduce a Bill giving effect to the resolution.

The following amusing paragraph is taken from the Watkato Times .-—" A new phase in the life of medical men is being developed in this district. We were rather surprised whilst takin" our ' constitutional,' to meet one of the disciples of /Esculapius driving a heifer. He was armed with a stock-whip in one hand and a tortoisesbell lancet in the other. We hailed him, but could only extract the exclamation, 'Do you want to be vaccinated ?'" Mr Cantrell, M.P.C. and M.FT.R. for Caversham, has been forced by serious ill-health to resign both seats. The nomination of a member for the Provincial Council in his room took place on the Bth inst., when Messrs Fish, Stout, and Leary were proposed. For the Assembly Messrs Tolmie and Cutten are anuounced to stand.

The Tuaptka- Times of a recent date has the following:—" We inspected an improved plough, manufactured expressly for hilly country, at work a few days ago. The plough is mide double in every respect, and the improvement consists in the necessity for taming at the bend of a furrow being obviated. The mastertree is fixed by a chain to a rod which traverses the length of the plough ; and when the horses turn the chain slips along till it reaches the other side, and the movement is completed. We have no hesitation in recommending this plough to those having hilly land ; and it has this recimmendation, that it is lighter than the ordinary implement. It has been called the ' Hill- : side Plough' by Messrs J. and D. M'Taggart, i Lawrence, the manufacturers."

The troubles of traders in Westport, owing to the encroachments of the sea, may be estimated from the fact that a local tobacconist ilrertises himself as " on the Wallabi track," appealing to his customers to " look for the house on wheels."

The Thames Miners' Accident Relief Fund continues in a most satisfactory condition. It is now permanently established ; the subscriptions come in regularly, and, so far from its Wing regarded as a rival to the hospital, it is cooperating with it, and contributing most handIsomely to its funds.

It is possible that peace will once more reign in the congregation of the First Church, Dunelin. The DaUg Timfs learns from undoubted authority that the Hev. Mr Sutherland received a call from St. George's Church, Sydney, New South Wales. Mr Sutherland has not jet intimated his intention in respect of the matter.

The following two important motions kave been made in the General Assembly, the former by Mr Curtis, aud the latter by Mr IJeynolJs:~" That in the opinion of this House it Is expedient that the Colonial Government, Without divesting itself of responsibility for the proper conduct of the works authorised by the Assembly, or of the sole control of all moneys voted by Parliament, shall avail itself of the Serviees of the existing Provincial organisation ; "id that the duties of the Resident Ministers ad General Agents of the Colonial Government W, in the respective Provinces, devolve upon *« Superintendents and Executives, as the •gats of the Colouial Government, unless demise determtned by the Colonial Governupon its own responsibiity."—"That in »Wer to provide for the Colonial Legislature only with subjects of Colonial importance. "r*° secure the efficient and economical adoration of the Government of the Colony. e existing Provinces should be abolished, and o Provinces be established, one for the North J«M and one for the South Island, with a HW (lovernment dealing with matters to be WO on, of purely Colonial concern ; and that e 'l«itable adjustment of the annual charges s JJg out of the burden of the Colony be made. "«r. that a Bill giving effect to this resoluTh , e , lntro,iuccd during the present session." debate upon both has been adjourned.

Frederick Plummer, one of the notoriotrsruffians sent from Auckland to the Dunedin gaol some time back, escaped from custody on the Bth inst., while at work between Oaversham and the city. He is described as a noted gaolbreaker, having escaped in Auckland on several occasions. He has not yet been captured.