Cromwell Argus, AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE. Cromwell : Tuesday, August 19, 1873.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 197, 19 August 1873, Page 4

Cromwell Argus, AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE. Cromwell : Tuesday, August 19, 1873.

Followino the ciusrorh adopted by officials of a higher r'ank, r and that initiated by himself" last yeafy the ''Mayor has again pledged "himself to.bring under the consideration of the Council, what may be described' as "a'definite programme for the curryuig out. of Municipal public works for the-ensuing year, He promises, in effect,- to submit to the Council, or see that they are submitted, plans for giving the town a permanent supply of water; for the formation of the cross-streets ; for the continuation of the main-street; and for the reclamation of what has well been termed the" Great Desert. This is not an extensive programme as regards length ; but any Town Council which will manfully, ..and- : ,in real earnest, grapple with the various questions therein suggested, and give them some practical direction, no matter, how slight, will deserve well at the hands" of the citizens. A sufficient quantity of talk has been heard upon these subjects for the last two or three years j and it is high time some action was taken upon them. '■ The difficulty for the Council, however, is to take up these questions in real earnest, and to give them some practical direction. . It is very easy during the excitement of a Municipal election, or whilst surrounded by the halo of a suc-cessful-contest, to dilate upon a "great and grand" scheme of water supply, or upon the West means of abating the " dust pestilence"; but it is quite another affair to think out and commit to paper the practical details of such schemes. The one thing is a pleasure; a gossipping kind of discussion can do for it: the Other means business, - and wants cool and deliberate, not to say laborious' calculation. Last* year ther'pWblic-works"policy of the Council, as enunciated by the Mayor, instead of embracing four or six leading features, enumerated no less than nineteen. How many of those nineteen proposals were carried out, or rather how many were attempted to be'carried -out?—for we must give the Council credit for what they tried to do, as well as for Avhat they did do. Some of the matters then brought up before them, they took up in real earnest, — as, for instance, the Cardrona track, the Quartz Reef Point track, the Carrick mail service, the creation of a third Ward ; and behold, they are accomplished facts. On the other hand : —the water question was relegated to a Public Works Committee to report upon, and it has never been reported upon; a letterwas written aboutthedustnuisance,an answer to that letter was received, and the " dust pestilence," the most grievous plague the unfortunate citizens have to bear in the summer season, was allowed to be forgotten ; the permanent levels never came above-board ; no ornamental trees were ever spoken of, let alone planted, in Mel-more-Street; and the cross-streets, Tnnis, SligoJ'and Erris streets, still remain in ] their natural state. We do not blame the j Mayor for all these shortcomings ; indeed jit would be difficult to blame any one in particular of the late Council. But we do protest, and that most strongly, against being satisfied with fine promises from year to year. We have had a very fair sample of promises, and would fain see | what the performances are like. We want jto hear as little more of this water sup- ; ply as possible ; we want to see the water; |to irrigate enr gardens with it; to lay the dust of our streets with it; perhaps to drive our printing presses, our turninglathes, and our sausage-machines with it. We, trust, then, that the present Council j will set about their work in real earnest. The now members, we feel certain, are anxious to do something, and it only remains for the old members to set them a I good example. The Public Works Comi mittee, especially, have an important duty J to perform ; and Messrs Dawk ins, Grant, iand Hayi-'.s may rest assured their every ] a tion will be watched with the most jealous scrutiny. If they do their duty, or try to do it, they will receive the thanks iof every citizen in this town ; if they neglect it, or perform it in the same perfunctory way as has l>een done by some previous Public Works Committees, thev will not fail to receive their reward. V\e look forward with the greatest hope to tho future doings of our newly .onstruc'.id Council. - -. • ■■:•:■

We henr with" much pleasure that the petition in favour of the extension of the Railway from Tuapeka to Roxburgh, Alexandra, Clyde, and CrOTSwell has been very numerously signed bv the residents in the lower Dunstan district, and the Blount Benger district. Those parties having charge of the petition in this district should Bend it in without delay. We are informed by a gentleman who visaed Bendigo last <week, that the present crushingof th&CromweTlCoinpany'sstone is likely to yield a very good result. It is said that above 500 ounces Of -amalgam had been taken out of the boxes after .crushing about 70 tons of Btuff. The company can only use five head of stamps, owing'to the scarcity of water. A meeting of shareholders in the'Carrick Range Water' Race Company was held in the Towndiall- yesterday evening. A majority of the. shareholders were present, personally, or by proxy.; The report of the Directors for the past six months (which we print in another place) was laid upon the table, and received. The plans and specifications of the race were also sent in by the District Surveyor. It was resolved to forward the plans and specifications at once to Wellington. It was also resolved to appoint Mr D. MacKellar T egal Manager for the Company, in room of H. W. Smythie3, resigned. Several accounts were also recommended for payment. The meeting, about 11.30 p. m., adjourned till the evening of Monday, 25th hist., the business being chiefly to Consider Auditors' report. A matter of considerable interest to Managers of Registered Mining Companies was discussed in the Warden's Court on Thursday last, during the hearing of an application by the Heart of Oak Quartz Mining Company for protection. It appeared from the statement of Mr MacKellar (who appeared on behalf of the Company,) that the Heart of Oak Company was possessed, as regarded the application in question, of only one miner's right. The Warden observed that he was not sure that any company could hold six men's ground by virtue of one miner's right. Mr MacKellar observed that the practice of registered companies holding only one right did not arise from the fact of the companies grudging the annual expense, but because it was generally understood by legal managers that it was only necessary to hold one to secure registered companies' claims, and to give the companies the necessary legal .standing in the Court; and referred to remarks made by the late Warden, Mr Pyke, which first gave rise to such ap.'understanding. . Mr. Simpson promised to p !.f^^^^^i oQ llßl i!?f a !tip% before npxt CourQay .;■.*' ~*.' . " .',. ''-,"' A specimen, of excellent lignite was handed to us during the : week by Sergeant Cassells, who reports it as having been taken from a thin seam discovered in the l.indis district, by some of the shepherds on the Morven Hills or Ardgour Station. The specimen was given to the Sergeant by Mr Alexander Tolmie, one of the shepherds. The seam is described as being only, so far as discovered, two inches thick. But the thickness is a matter of no moment whatever ; the great thing is to have found a seam at all. We trust the discovery will soon be followed up by the opening of a regular coal-pit. We shall then be spared the trouble of reporting from week to week, for six months in the year" that" crushing operations at Bendigo are suspended on account of the scarcity of water." A meeting of the Cromwell Athenajum Committee was held in the Town-hall on Tuesday evening, 12th inst. There were present :- Messrs J. A. Preshaw, president; D. MacKellar, jf vice-president; D. A. Jolly, Secretary ; B. R.' Baird, J. Taylor, J. Marsh, aud C. W. Wright. Ike minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The resignation of Mr Matthews, as a member of Committee, (he being about to remove to Duendin,)was received by the Committee with regret. Subscriptions amounting to £4 18s. were handed in by the Librarian. The Secretary was instructed to acknowledge receipt of first parcel of new books, and of the invoice of second parcel; and to direct the Librarian to place the new books on the shelves of the Library immediately on receipt of the second parcel. The Secretary was also instructed to give notice, by advertisement, to subscribers in arrears that they must pay up on or before the beginning of September. A lengthy discussion then took place on the best method of stopping the irregularities in connection with the periodicals and magazines supplied to the Institution, which was much complained of by the majority of subscribers. It appeared that some members of the Athenaeum are in the the habit of removing Chambers' Journal, CasBels' Magazine, Once a Week, and periodicals of that description, as regularly as they are delivered on the arrival of the Home mail. To "ring the matter forcibly under the notice of the Committee, and have an end to such unfair convict, it further appeared that the Vice-presi lent bad. when the last Home mail was received, quietly removed all., the periodicals together. Several of the Committee thought it would be advisable to form a Magazine Club in connection with, but independent of, the Athenaaun ; but i- was finally resolved to instruct the Librarian to report the first offence which again took place »i the matter of the magazines, and bye-law ■No. 7, (which in phin English means expulsion,) would be rigidly enforced against the offender. It was also mentioned whilst this matter was under discussion that the admission of youth*

l o the institution had not proved a success ; that they were often guilty of disarranging the books, papers, &c, and the cause of much disorder. Jt was resolved to caution them. The Secretary was instructed to write the following letters :—To Secreta;y for the Gold-fields in re the Athenaeum site and the Endowment granted to this Athenoeum during the past session of the Provincial Coun il; to the ladies and gentlemen who took part in the last Popular Entertainment, thanking them for their services ; ami to the Cromwell Brass Band. Messrs Bairrl. MacKellar, and Marsh were appointed a subcommittee to order * further supply of books from the Education Board ; Messrs Preshaw, Wright, and MacKellar to report upon best method of classifying books ; and Messrs Marsh, Taylor, Preshaw, and MacKellar to prepare a draft of new rules for the Athenaeum. Mr Owen Pierce was elected in room of Mr Matthews, resigned. The Rev. J. Jones, the Rev. C. W. Withey, and the Rev. Father O'Connor were placed on the list of honorary members. Some arrangement should be made by the Government with the Banks in this Province, whereby the men employed on the road might be able to get their monthly " vouchers'* cashed. At present, the Banks will only take them for "collection;"' and storekeepers look very suspiciously at them, at least when presented by men who may happen to be personally unknown to them. Lnst week we heard of a case where one of the men lately engaged on the Oarrick Piange road offered the sum of fifteen shillings as consideration for cashing a voucher not much exceeding £lO. This man was not locally well known, and wanted to leave without delay for some other job. The voucher was cashed, after repeated trials elsewhere, by one of our resident hotelkeepers; the sum of four shillings only being deducted as discount. Other cases there were where some of the other men engaged on the same road had their vouchers cashed for sums not exceeding £10; the discounts varying, as the men happened to be known or unknown, from four to ten shillings. .Surely this is not creditable to the Provincial Government of Otago. Their vouchers ought to pass as readily from the workmen to the storekeepers as Bank notes would. A meeting of the Cromwell Jockey Committee was held at Mr Goodger's Hotel on Thurslay evening, the business being to receive tenders for fencing-in the Race-course Reserve, and to fix the date of the Spring Meeting. The members of the Pommittee present were:—J. A. Preshaw (president), J. Dawkins (vice-president), D. A. Jolly (Treasurer), .1. Marsh, T. Heron, R. Brown, G. Starkey, J. Taylor, 0. Pierce, M. Fraer, and W. Shanly. As the business in hand had created considerable interest, several other gentlemen, members of the Jockey Club, were present by permission of the Comramittee. Thirteen tenders were received for the fencing. Considerable discussion took place on the consideration of the tenders, as it was found that even the lowest tender exceeded the amount which had been estimated to be required for doing the work. Ultimately it was resolved that none of the tenders should be accepted, instructions being given at the same time to a sub-committee to borrow an amount of money not less than £3OO, and authority also to treat privately with the three lowest tenderers for the construction of the fence when the necessary amount should have been obtained. Excluding Cavenagh (whose tender being too low was not considered), the three lowest tenderers were Messrs Cavanagk Maxwell, and Baker. A Ltter was read from the Dunstan Jockey Club, notifying their disqualification of Reay, the jockey, to ride on the Dunstan Course; also, that the 26th September was the date fixed upon for holding their Spring Meeting. The Committee then appointed Saturday, 4th October, as the day for holding the Cromwell Jockey Club Spring Meeting. Messrs Marsh and Heron were appointed to canvass the town and vicinity for subscriptions, and to report the result within a week. Messrs Preshaw, Dawkins, and Starkey were appointed a Programme Commmittee. From Mr Haughton's Annual Report on the Gold-fields of the Colony, presented to the House of Representatives, we extract the following relating to our own district. Mr Warden Simpson says (and he is speaking till the date 31st March, 1873):—" From the district, which now only comprehends the subdistricts of Cromwell, Clyde, and Alexandra, there was escorted, during the year, 3 i,43l oz. of gold, being 3003 oz. in excess of what was eseorted from those sub-districts the previous year, a favorable sign it is observed that the population has diminished. The great drawback to the further development of thi3 district, more particularly of the alluvial workings, is the small water supply, which has during the last four months been reluced to a minimum. Efforts are being made to allay this evil in the Cromwell District by the construction of the Oarrick Water Race, in the Clyde District by that of the Chatto Creek, and in the Alexandra District by that of the Gorge Race, at a total expenditure of nit less than £20,000. All those races will open up new ground of proved auriferous oh 1 meter, to the extent of some hundre's of acres." Speaking of the late dry season, Mr Simpson goes on to say : —"Such evei-recurringdry seasons, in a district like the Dunstan, should cause attention to be turned to the procuring, by' mechancaT means,

a supply of wntnr from the large rivers. Short, however, as the water supply has heen, the alluvial workings have contributed the great proportion of the gold ; and of those workingsthose at a high e'evation, such as the Nevis, have yielded the most. In particular, the yield at the his been greater thm for several years." Tn Mr Haughton's summary of the various Wardens' report), in speaking of the Water Supply, he says : —" It will be seen from these extracts the absolute necessity which is folt by the officers in charge of mining districts for a largo extension of the present svstem of watersupply." Wealsn notice that the "(Jarrick Range Company" is one of six companies which have applied for subsidies, th<) amount asked for being £SOOO, and the " Remark" attached being, "Plans and specifications not lodged." The report of the Directors of the above-mentioned Company, which we publish in another place, will throw some light upon this " Remark."