The Dunstan Times FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1873.

Dunstan Times, Issue 593, 29 August 1873, Page 2

The Dunstan Times

FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1873.

Beneath the Rule of Men entirely just the pen is si iojitier than theswom

In these dull times of gold-mining it is pleasant to hear of new discoveries, even if they are ever so far distant. The latest accounts from Port Darwin are more than usually attractive; and, notwithstanding the heat of the count.iy, a considerable number of people are sure to betake themselves in that direction. Then there are the discoveries made by the Basilisk, in New Guinea, both in gold and in country fitted for the occupation of Europeans. This, coupled with the Port Darwin discoveries, will also attract the restless, and bo sufficient, some day when we least expect or de sire it, to draw away a considerable number of our population. The present so-called prosperous state of the Colony, caused by the large outlay of borrowed money, is by no means conduci;e to the interests of the Goldfields, while it also injuriously affects many other branches of industry in which labor is employed in producing from the raw material, in mining, or in agricultural operations. Manufacturers complain that, while the cost of production has increased, prices have not risen nor has the amount of consumption be Q n greater. The miner pays more for the extraction of his gold, but receives no increase in value for it. The agriculturist is in exactly the same position, the selling price of his grain bearing no proportion to the extra wages he is compelled to pay his workmen, and we believe the same is applicable in numerous other instances. The prosperous state of the country, of which we have heard so much, is confined to the neighbourhood of the railways or in works connected therewith. Towns on the seaboard are advantaged, as they come in for a large portion of the money expended in wages; but this is not so with the interior, where there exists considerable dullness, consequent upon the cramping up of local industry through the withdrawal of labor from its legitimate channel. Should favorable accounts still con tinue to come from Northern Australia, we may expect a considerable exodus from up-country districts of persons employed in mining and other industrial pursuits. Notwithstanding their value to the country, the Goldfields receive very little attention from the Government; or rather, they do

not obtain their just share of the [ public expenditure. The roads to , them are execrable, and the cost of provisions and material are thereby increased considerably beyond their real value, while in many cases neces saries have become expensive luxuries. Our local institutions fuffer especially. Hospitals can only be kept open by the most persistent exertions of their several Committees in the collection of funds, and even with this, a deficiency usually exists. In the case of the Dunstan District Hospital, the liabilities amount to something like three hundred pounds, which money will have to be made up by the Provincial Government, as the people cannot afford to tax themselves as they have lately been iii the habit of doing to support this institution, and moreover they have not the means. The General Government scheme for a water supply to she Goldfields has not worked satisfactorily, so far as Otago is concerned, ou'y one company having as yet received assistance. The Arrow River Company obtained a subsidy of Gl2f, at a cost of 15(W. to get it, and months of expensive and serious delays. The Mount Pisa, Garrick Range, and Beaumont Companies have not had their applications dealt with as yet, while the Mount Ida Eace and Drainage Channel, undertaken by the Government, has been scarcely commenced. We do not believe in constantly harping on the string that the Gold-fields are neglected. They certainly are so, and unless this, our most valuable producing interest, receives it will most assuredly lose a considerable proportion of its attractiveness, owing to the difficulties in the way of its pursuit. It is not the importation of a few hundred immigrants that will mend matters. More encouragement must be given to persons alrealy here. To import people into the Colony at the public expense, and allow them to export themselves at their own, will leave things'worso than they now are. We require all our skilled labor and one man accustomed to Colonial life and customs is worth two ordinary “new chums.” It is an unquestionable fact that the state of the iipcoutry districts are not so satisfactory as they should be, and unless something is done to avert the evil, there will be very little profitable employment for the railways when completed. It is from the producing powers of the interior that the seaboard towns must base their legitimate prosperity upon, and not on the ex- ’ penditure of large sums of borrowed money, for which, at no distant day, we shall be heavily taxed to pay the interest, leaving the principal to be povided for by future generations.