FRIDAY ,19th APRIL, 1867.

Dunstan Times, Issue 260, 19 April 1867, Page 2

FRIDAY ,19th APRIL, 1867.

'The disallowance of the Ordinances has caused immense excitementin Dunedin, and a crowded meeting of indignant citizens at the Princess' Theatre has been the result. The General Government as of course came in for a severe digging, its naughty conduct being stigmatised in such uncomplimentary expletives as " bloodsucker" &e. One enthusiastic individual u Mr \\m of Crai<*idoe (the locality is unknown to us) *.ffeps te -expend his last; drop ol' the pirpie fluid in the cuise o>' pvoeui-iiig Provincial i.:d".;.-.i encc. The refusal of the Governor to allow the sale of the Wakatip Runs was also severely animadverted upon, and the £15,060, the proceeds',to be derived from this wanton spoliation of the Goldtictds which money grubbing Dunedin. thought to pocket, or at least to have spent upon its own dear self was .greatly lamented. All the sympathy expressed on behalf of the mining community was, that so long as that well faxed animal, the owner of a "Minor's Phdit" was allowed to run one horse, and oneeovTj his wants were arupiysup plied, The proceedings of the meeting, which are reported at some length in the " Daily Times" appear to us little else than an out burst of Dunedin selfishness, the the very first proposition says that '• that the action of the General Government is not only highly injurious to the interests of Ota wo generally, but to the City of Dunedin iu particular;" judging from the tone of the meeting, Otaeo cind the City of Dunedin in our humble opinion must be synonoiiioiis. the whole category of grievances appears to amount to this " that tlie Governor refuses to allow the Provincial Government to pledge the crudit of the Province ior liabilities in cm rod especially to benefit one particular section, such as the making of the Clutha Kailway, Dredging the Harbor, and the Water Works Scheme. Kot the slightest mention is made about roads on the Goldiields, or assisting the miners in any shape whatever to develop the resources of the country, and without which is actively prosecuted, experience leads ns to the belief that there will be no want for a Railway to the Clutha, no dredging of" the Harbor i equircd, or any Dunedin Water Works behemo whatever, in fact there will be scarcely any necessity for tin- existence of Dunedin itself, and it must soon sink down again to its original primitirencss. Our friends in town actually gi further than the Tooley Street Tailors, they not only dub

themselves the people of Otago, "but Otago itself, and it would seem that unless they get all they want, and every other bodys interests are sacrificed to theirs, that the Province cannot'get "along; Dune, din lias too long lived within itself, and it is now high time its centralising policy was scattered to the winds: it is not the capital of the Colony, and except that it is a Sea-port, it has no other claims to preference beyond the most insignificant up-country Township. Had we District or or Shire Councils, this unfair preponderance of power would be obviated, each centre of population would be able to expend within itself upon local improvements its own revenues, and instead of the money which w r e pay away in the shape of licenses and other imposts being taken out of the District, and leaving it so much the poorer, by being spent where it was raised, it would actually revert back again in an igdiroct manner to the pockets of its original possessor, and perhaps with interest as' - the expending of a sum of money in any particular place through the ramifications of trade often times attracts more from elsewhere. It must be apparent to all that the revenue derived from the Goldfields, is something enormous, even excluding the Gold Export Duty, for do what you may, a license or a registration certificate must be obtained, no one can move without putting his hand into his pocket to contribute to the Provincial revenue and what have we in return, answer says: absolutely nothing. There is not even a main line of road completed between the Gold producing districts, and the seaboard, and as to bye roads, excepting where the omergeuey has been a pressing one, nothing at all has been done. The good example set by the gov i ernment of Victoria in increasing a-> I vailable water supplies for the rain-; era lias never been attempted,not so much asmooted,notwithstanding ! a well developed scheme for tap-! ping the head watera of many of ircviargo streams would lay such an increased extent of auriferous country under contribution, that the yield of gold might bo doubled and employment given to three j times the number of the present] population. In our own immediate neighborhood a "race" from trie i Lindis, would command the whole I <n the Mnnuh<'"'ik'.a and Dunstau I Valleys; then there is the Kir tie- j burn or ,; Roaring Meg " running i its waters to waste, but which! could bo diverted and used in sluicing the 'terraces " of the; Kawarau for ten miles distant, as i far as the Town of Cromwell; both : of these undertakings are highly feasible and could not fail to prove j remunerative, but they are too costly for private enterprise, yet the Government might lend most valuable assistance, and as the work would bo a reproductive one the outlay would only bo of a tern porary nature. An increased pop-! ulation and an increased yield of geld, would soon do for Dunedin, what it is now sought to borrow money for, and could the people there but see that their true interests iay in developing in? rciicyrces. arm increasing the productiveness of the rain ing district?, instead of the present exhaustive policy, they would be readily sup ported against any aggressive action on the part of the general Government: but! so long as Ih'.nediu is Otago, and all else ! are ignored, tlif abolitio i of Provincialism and the establishment of a system of local sc f Government would be the very least of the great evils that might possibly befaltho Gold-fields. Few Zeah/d is far too euexj s'vely governed, and the fact seems grcai'y to no overlooked, that lis inhabitants possess quite snfiicicnt inteliigeuco to enable them to undertako to a groat extent the management of their own affairs, and to perform fir themselves iHimberics3 offices for which they now pay 1 dearlv. rrovincia : ism in the early day's of the colony may have been be t-iieia l , but. there is ho questioning the fact that that cumbersome institution La.-; had its day, and mimt noon bo numbered among the things that were.

We see by the Prov'iiu-i.il Gazette, tliat His j Honor th? Snperintendcnt has been pleased to appoint Charles Shaw Esq. Surgeon, to he Publie Vaccinator for Civile district, vice j)r ('has. : Moriee.

The Chinese. —A correspondent at the SixMile Beach, Manuheiikia., sends U3 'the following :—Sir, I have lived four year.? on the back of the River Molyneux, and always kept a miners' right. May I ask the Government, through the columns of your paper, how the Chinese are without miners' rights, as according to law they should take out the same. I know that they Lave none, now they are taking the best claims on the river which European diggers living on the ranges will have, to come to work when froz9n but in the winter, g Chinamen tell me " river rise, they go back to Victoria" so they beat us who hold miners rights. We have been given to understand that a Masonic Lodge under the Scotch Constitution will shortly bo opened at Clyde. Mr L. W. Carter Towh Clerk of Clyde, and a gentleman who ranks high in the mystic order, has received a Dispensation for the due opening of a Lodge. '■--'■■;, Tkcftev. Mr Stewart from Enox'a Church, Dunelir, has honored the Dnnstan with a visit. On Sunday morning last, he.preaehed at Alexandra, and on the same evening at Clyde, also again at Clyde yesterday evening. Upon all these occasions, the Rev. Gentleman w&s listened to by crowded and attentive congregations. An old saying has it, that it is always necessary to go from home to hear news cbmt oneself "looking over the Tuapeka Press of Saturday last, we find the following piece of information, it says,—" We hear that the Mayor of Clyde, Mr J. W. Barry will visit Lawrence early in the ensuing week." A novelty in locomotion in the shape of a velocipede" made its appearance in the main Street of Clyde, on Tuesday-last; it was imported to the order of MrW. Auckland, but with its ultimate destination we are unacquainted. The machine, when handled by the novices refused to bo urged forward, but in the hand:) of those who understood it, some progress was made ; for ourselves, we should how- - ever prefer the most original plan of' locomotion. The question having arisen since the nomination for Mauukerikia, that the nomination of Mr Mcrvyn was invalid—his seconder being an alien, yet on the roll. Mr Alexander M'Leod, a gentleman visiting the Dunstau District, obtained a high legal opinion upon the matter, which is as follows :—"Every man whose name the roll, is an elector—naturalised or otherwise. The " We t Coast Times"' gives a fearful picture of the sanitary state of Hbkitika, and says, that were it not for the prevalence of the smart sea-breezes; Ilokitjka would speedily become neither more notless than a huge pest-house, and her population be decimated by epidemics. MANiriiETtiKiA Kle6tios.—The nomii nation of candidates for the representation I of Manuherikia in the General Assembly, j took .place on Monday last, the lath inst I at the Court House, Alexandra before (lie j Rcturniiig'fiffieer 11. W. Robirson Esq. Messrs John jack' and I avid Mcrvyn were then duly proposed and sccodded. tv.rs. Mr Mcrvyn at considerable length which tre-iled a most favorable Impression : in his favor