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Dunstan Times, Issue 428, 1 July 1870, Page 2

As the Municipal Elections will so soon be upon us, it is advisable that, before pledging ourselves to support any single individual for the Mayoralty or for the office of Councillor, we should be first thoroughly satisfied of his ability to discharge the duties devolving upon the position he is seeking to aspire. We cannot congratulate the Mayor and Councillors that they have done much for the Town, during the now closing session, and if they have done little for the Town, they have done still less for the District, of which, Clyde is the re cognised centre. The proceedings of our Town Council have for the past year been tame in the extreme, our civic body appears to have been so thoroughly contented with itself, that it has asked comparatively nothing from the Government, and it was only through pressure from without, that a movement was made to obtain the necessary funds to repair the road between this and Cromwell, which pieceof road, from the fact of there being a Municipality at either extremity is in a most wretched state of repair alike dangerous to life and limb. A letter which appeared in our last issue signed ‘ A Long Resident ” points to another subject omitted by the Town Council, It is of vital importance to the Town and District, that more land for agricultural purposes, should be thrown open, and we agree with our correspondent, that the prices of all kinds

of farm produce are much too high consequently the cost of living is beyond what is conducive to our wellbeing as a community. We are by no means badly off for agricultural land in our immediate neighbourhood, yet It Is not available, and unless we agitate for some of the rich patches under the Dunstan Mountains, they will remain for ever in the occupation ofthe squatter. It is a positive disgrace that we cannot’produce locally sufficient horse-feed to last us a year, leaving out of the question altogether the fact, that we {[produce comparatively nothing in the shape of wheat. We send our ready money away to purchase articles which we should grow ourselves, and instead of keeping pur earnings, at home, we distribute them far and wide to enrich strangers. ■ It is of course necessary to import goods which we cannot produce ourselves, and were all the flour and horsefeed brought into Clyde taken in exchange for other commodities,- there would be little to grumble at, such necessary essentials to our every day existence must, if we are to be a prosperous community, either be produced at home, or received as barter for other articles, as it is the balance of trade is against us. It matters little how much rur earnings are if all goes to purchase the necessaries of life. The only satisfaction we may enjoy is that we have earned so much and we have spent it, and had our earnings and expenditure been ever so small the result to us would be precisely the same, as in either case we are equally as well off. Agriculture not only employs a great deal of labor in its direct pursuits, but many other industries spring out of it. It is diversity of occupation that we want. If mining pursuits are dull, we must find our population something else to do or it must leave us, and nothing is more plain than that, to hold our own, we must become producers as well as consumers. Clyde possesses natural advantages second to no other goldfields towns in the province, and it only needs wise heads to utilise them. We do not say that our Municipal Council should resolve itself into a political association, still as the interests of the Town are so identical with those of the district, it becomes the duty of the Mayor and Councillors to look beyond the mere .Municipal boundary. The proceedings in th« Provincial Council show that the voice of a Corporate Body makes itself felt, not only a-< representing a minority, but a majority, in fact, it is considered as the mouthpiece of the district of which it forms the head. The only way to obtain what we want is, to keep agitating until we obtain it, and when we have got that, to keep on asking for more. However much we may admire gratitude for small favors in private individuals, the same principle does not apply to public bodies, who, if they wish to have, must not be afraid to ask. Mr. Hazlett has worthily filled the office of Mayor during the past two years, and lias preserved during that terra the unanimous confidence of the citizens. Whoever may be elected this time, either as Mayor or Councillor, we must hope a little more life will be infused into the Council than has hitherto been the practice.