The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 24th, 1868.

Dunstan Times, Issue 300, 24 January 1868, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 24th, 1868.

Beneath the Buie of Men entirely jcst, the pen is mightier than the sword.

From all quarters we hear of the damage done to the roads by the late rains. Such a continuity of wet weather has certainly been unprecedented, but at the same timennany of the evils complained of might have been obviated had proper attention been paid to the keeping open of the drains and culverts, and so have turned the surface water off the roads instead of allowing it to course down the wheel tracks, cutting them into deep channels. Had this been done only' a few pounds (comparatively) would have been spent, whereas to repair the mischief done through neglect many hundreds of pounds will have to be expended. The road between this and Dunedin via the Rock and Pillar, is, for wheeled traffic, practically impassable, and the long round by way of Waikouaiti must be traversed to reach Dunedin. This is a matter that demands the prompt attention of Government, or we shall have to pay pretty smartly in the shape of itcreased rates of cartage for our supplies. In the agricultural districts on the ■low-lying flats of Taeri and Tokomai-

riro the growing crops have all been more or less injured. At the former place the potatoes are absolutely rotten in the ground, and the grain crop is also much injured, therefore the yield will be light. Breadstuffs, in the absence of a speedy and favorable change in the weather, will reach to almost famine prices during the coming winter, and the residents on the goldfields will not only have to pay high for such articles as flour and horsefeed, but will have to bear the additional burthen of an increased rate of cartage, owing to the bad state of the roads. The evil of articles of daily consumption being enhanced in price through bad crops is a circumstance over which we have no control, but there the difficulty should end. Everything else is dependent upon ourselves, and, seeing that we have within us the power to lighten the impending bur. then with which we are threatened, it behoves us to make it as light as possible. The Government have appropriated an additional six thousand pounds beyond the sums already voted by the Council for the repairs of roads, and we must look out sharp to see that we have our fair share of the expenditure of that sum.