The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1870.

Dunstan Times, Issue 444, 21 October 1870, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1870.

Beneatß the Rule of Men entirely j usi the pen is mightier than thcSWORD

The re-union of Otago and Southland is a siilject that has noc ca'led forth much comment upon the goldfields; in fact, people resident thereon appear entirely unconcerned ahout the m utter, and, whether us a W.tl or provincial qu-stion, it excites no iutttre.it whatever. Wheihur the province has ma 'e a good bargain or a bad one it will take time to determine. < >| i lions upon this subject are very much divided but, with respect to ourselves, we are •incliii*d U>' believe that the n:-u','ioii v. ill be Tirutna! y Advantageous. The ' fact of increasing the areti and popnla-

tiou of the provh ce is of it self a gain, for, notwithstanding tliere may be monetaryTliffh allies attending it, we cannot, at the same time increase our territory and popu'atiou without increasing our 'wealth and our means of acquiring wealth. Southland, before the goldfields • nv, was a sloW-going plodding place, and, although not. going ‘much a-head, was nevertheless ho ding its way. The discovery of the go'dtiehls infused into it a spun ms prosperity. Population rushed in, and expended large sums of money in building or in mercantile pursuits, and. while the gold was easily obtained, •verything went “ merry as a marriage bell. But this mushroom prosperit could not he expect d to c > tinue, and it declined with the yield of gold. This has been the - expert oe in all gold-producing countries, and, in the case of Southland, there was every thing*to justify a similar result. This did occur, when tlv crisis came, sooner than was generally expected Southland did wrong in constructing a railway, the compl tion of which was beyond er means. It locked up too much of her capital, and nothing re niaiued for local improvt ments,so that, instead of useful roads and I‘ridges, it possessed a useless piece of unfinished railroad The idea to connec Invercargill witli the Wak 'tip was a good one, but it-could • nt be realised, and we must give Son'h'and credit for tin earnest, daring with which it tried to push its wiy The pmjec*, of c.-nrw, failed, Imt th“ province on!}' did what scores of private persons, whose ideas were beyond their pocket, had done before. The •capabilities of Southland are considerable. It has not made n uch progress in cold-mi inbut in agriculture and grazing much has been accomplished, and, had there existed good roads instead of impassable swamps, in both of these industries, more especially the fonner.it would have outstripped Otago. Mow that the re-union is an -accomplished fact, the people of Southland will natura 'y demand a Toad connecting them with Otago,Kind •communication by way of the Wakatip and tiie Mataura will be opened Up, by both of which routes a large amount, of produce will (hid its way into Otago, while a con ider ible proportion of the supplies for the nsnhem goldfields will be brought vid Tnvercuigill to this .disrict instead of by way of Dunedin. From the 1 bln!I to Win ton, a distance of fortv miles, tlv re is communication bv railway ; from thence to Kingston, six v ■miles, level and good roads exist, available for traffic both summer and winter, and preferable at all seas ns to the road between Clyde and Palmerston From Ivings'on there is water-carriage to Queenstown and Fra kton, and. with a small ouT iv, the road could le continued to the banks o* the Ivawaran, near Messrs. Boyes. Brothei’s’, honfS stafon, and, by a still Tidier surd! expenditure, waggons could reach CSunwell and Clyde, from Winton, by wiy of the ISTevis Ferry, the entire distance to Cromwell not being more than one hundred and ten miles, and over a level countrv all the way. This being the case, onr snpnlies of bread-inffs and hor efeed would be large'y increased, and obtainable at moderate prices p - per,is very clear that, even with a very large i”crease in the area of cultivated land, we shall scarcely be able to produce sufficient cereal erops tor local consumption The Takes wiU have nothing tn smirl ns but wheat, the quantity of which will gradnaby decrease, and to Southland we most look for permanent supp’ies Onr business men will be able to pu hj their trade in that direction, and barter, as far as possible, their wares for such articles as we mnv require, so that no more hard cash will leave the district than is actually required to complete purchases. The sending of so much ready mnnev away from the Dunstan for farm produce is seriously detrimental to the interests of the district, <.nd our tradesmen are not doing their duty unless they provide a remedy for this evil.

To read letters (interested, of course) in some of t'ae goldfields journal* people would be almost led to believe that Mr. James Ben Bradshaw was the coming man f<>r the Superin tendency. What that, gentleman’.* cla ms j fotbeoffioe are we are at a lass to com- ! prebend. The only recommendation we ! know of is that he has d-wted Ins goldfields eonsti' nents and tako.ii up his ad >de in Auckland, like otlnn members who have managed to 'fatten

upon the spoils and gaibage of office, and who are always alert to,turn any little political matter to account. It is set forth that Mr, Bradshaw is an experienced njiner, hut this is scarcely are commendation tor the Superintendency, any more than if he was an experienced butcher or baker. Persons who have known Mr. Bradshaw for a nnmher of years j gver knew him as a wo king miller; A'lbodv ever siw him dig. while, as ti his ’knowledge of go d’-iniuing subjs ;ts, we question if lie possesses nine, i Our opinion is that Mr. Brads) w would not get twenty hona-Jide \ -tes for the Sitperintemleucy Should Mr. Maca drew not chose to again contest i lie-election, some person of standing will surely come forward am! offer himself : but, for a clear-beaded practical naan, and one who has worked hard, for the prrovinee a»d still continues to do so, commend us to Mr. Macandrew It wil be difficult, even under the most fav rahle circumstances, to find one better than him. Surely Dunedin can produce a man cipable and 'wil ing to ti 1 the office of ou eriiitendent, and One whose antecede ts eutri- him to the respect of the people. About Mr Bradshaw's ability we' can say bur, little. Neither ourselves nor anybody else have bad ’he onportuni y of satisfying ourselves upon that subject. In fact, but little was known of Mr Bradshaw (afore liis election,and even less si> ce. Absentei ism may possib'y be a recommendation to a gold' fields constilue cy, but it surely cainot be so When the Government of th • . pr * iimttMl provi cife of Otago and Southland is at stake. When the right time airi’es there is but little doubt, but that the right man will be found and this wil ho" be in -the person of Mr. J. B. Bradshaw,