The Dunstan Times FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1860.

Dunstan Times, Issue 971, 26 November 1880, Page 2

The Dunstan Times

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1860.

Beneathiherult of men entirely just lh PEN is MIGHTIER than Iht STvoni)

The apathy of up-country residents respecting the Otago Central Hail way is much to he legrctted. Tf the people are inert and apathcic, and remain quiescent under injustice, they must expect, and will n reive, ill-usage at the hands of the Government, fcever should it he forgotten that all people are as well governed as they deserve to be. The reason is that under a free constitution, it is in the power of the people to compel good government. Ard the first essential of good government in a young country, is the advancement of its material interests. The theoretical reforms which mostly engage the attention of public men can afford to wait. A loaf of bread without the suffrage, is a much bet'er thing, to a hungry man, than the suffrage without food. And it is quite time that closer attention were paid to the loaf, and less to the theoretical advantages clamoured for by ! the agitators of the day. Is 1 ow, if

there bo one matter of greater ini- | portance—promising more loaves tf ; bread than any other to the people of ■ the Vincent and Maniototo Counties —it is the speedy construction, of the Central Railway. With it we have a grand immediate future before us. Without it we have only perspective desolation. WMi it we forecast the I settlement of the land by a busy an 1 1 thriving population—hriiiging in their wake increased cominer™ Hud prosperity. Without it we have nothing in view but general depression, resulting from the mis use of the land by absentee runholdeiv, whose pai l servants will take out of it all they can, and return to it as little as possible, iu 'he interests of their employers. The Dunedin papers complain, and with truih, that the Provi- cial ni tro|»olis depends for its fruit on other Colonies. Here we could grow sufficient of the best and choicest fruit, from the currant to the grape, to adequately supply all New Zealand line the land is closely locked up ; and even were it not so, there are no means of conveying the produce to the coast with sufficient rapidhy, or ;it a reasonable cost for carriage. In fact, of late years the cost has increased. to the 10.-s of growers, and certaiidy not to the advantage of the carriers. 'I he result is. that we feed first class fruit to our pigs, whilst our Dunedin neighbours cannot obtain good fru.t at a reasonable price. The same argument ho'ds goad in respect to grain and root crops. The railwa would change all this; and if the t> tie interests of the country were studied by those who have charge of our Public vVorks, every exertion would I e made to push on the Central ine—all the x’alse witness given by the Railway Commissioner!} to the contrary notwithstanding. Instead of this, what are the facts. At tiie beginning of this month there were 300 men employed on the Hiudon section ot the line, since tlun some 85 have been drafted off to other railway works tit Gatlins—Orepuki, and other <f the “ most favored ” places,—ostensi >lv to diffuse them with a view to their “ absorption ” by the settlers ; bat in reality to reward the supporters, amt to punish the opponents of the Government. The trivial few left will no doubt be similarly dispose;! of; and the works will speedily come to a standstill. And this, he it remembered is being done by a Ministry which c ntains two Gum din menllr rs amongst its number. Of course there tire those who n juice exceed ingly at this outcome. There are the mortgagees of the runs which the lino would intersect and whose secorirv would be imperilled were settlement | permitted ; and there are some run- ' holding lessees who would he sold up, | root and branch, were the line con- ' st-rncted. I'he people count for nothing ’ in the calculation. ISo half a mil.ion | acres of good agricultural land, and I two million acres of sound depasturing country arc practically shut up from settlement, and will, and mu-f retnain a howling w.lderness—occupied by sheep and rabbits, and bristling with thistles, for the benefit of a small minority of persons who do not even condescend to live amongst us. And the people submit to tins, with folded hands and lowly meekne.-s They placidly submit to it, or—in very despair of gaining a foothold on tl e soil they gither together their belongings tint! depart font amo ig-t ns. Not a week pa seshut some good colonist, and would-besettler,thus driven forth. !■ aves the district. And the thistles increase, and the rabbits multiply, and (he people become less, and the sheep is lord of the Soil. And the Centra) Railway is being abandoned, anil hope is dying. “ How long, Oh, Lord ! how 101101’ Will the people never understand that God only helps those who help themselves 1

The report of the Comity Council meeting held on Wednesday and Thursday last, though much abreviated for want of time to prepare a good one will be fo Uad worth perusing. The fruit crops in the local orchard ■, those especially that are irrigated, promise a more than average yield, all kinds look ing remarkably well. Cherries and strawberries may now be s.ii I to he fairly in season, and those that have come under our immediate notice are of good size and excellent flavor. We do not notice, however, any differ eliee in j-iice to what they were retailed at years ago. It is our painful duty to record the death of Mr Campbell, late of the Half-way-House, Clyde and Cromwell Road, which took place on Tuesday morning last at Queenstown, where he was on a visit at the time for the hcnelitof his health. Deceased had been unwell for a short time, but it was not dreamed of that his end was So near. Mrs Campbell was' with her husband in his last moments. At the expressed with of deceased tlio body was removed to the Clyde Cemetery for interment. Deceased for a number of years ws engaged lining at Quartz Reef Point, above Cromwell, and for the past two years only being in business. Our old fri m I Mr Jams Pirks it will be observed has again taken possession of his old hostelry the Hartley Arm", Clyde. The next sitting of the Divorce Court in Wellington (observes the Weekly Mercury) promises to be more than ordinarily interesting to those persons who are fond of listening to Hie exposure of the frailties of their fellow-townsmen, and women. Four cases are set down for hearing, in the three of wh>ch.the fair defendants are residents in the Empire City. Due of them is slated

to be a barmaid, and it is said that some . unusually raey disclosures, anent a lawyer . a id a doctor in the metropolis, will be paraded pro bono pub'ko. The two rival coal-pit owners who on a previous occasion made their conge before the R M. Court, Clyde, will again on Monday next make their salutations to his Worship. This time, however, their positions are reversed—the late accused, taking the place of accuser and vkeiena. We regret to learn that the contractors of the Alexandra bridge during the week lost a valuable horse and a dray in the Molyneux ~ By some manner of accident the horse backed the dray over the bank into deep water. It wants but four w»eks to Christmas, or five to the New. Year, an I no m tve is being made tn get up the custom iry annual sports. If the o'd Committee have drawn from the field ws see n irenou why a new Committee sh mid not bs formrl and step into the breach to k top up an iuS’.itu ion that has existed for so many years now. The continued dry weather we are experiencing is making sad havoc witjh .the crops, a id unless we have a change shortly the coming harvest will lie one if the worst we have ha 1 in this district for years past. During the week some slight showers of rain have fallen, hut any little go id they may have done lias been immediately counterbalanced by the drying win-1 s that followed. In the neighborhood ot the L kvs a id at the h-a-1 of the Manuherikia, howeve l- , heavy rains must have fallen, as both s'rcatns were considerably flooded on Tuesday last. At the meeting of the ban 1 B -ard held on the 17th instant, Messrs Rid 1 Brothers, solicitors, applied on behalf of J is. Smith and others (being the Co-operative Store Company), tint when secti'ns 1 and 2, bk 111, Bannockburn township, are offered for sale, they should be bur 'ened with valuation for buildings, when it was determined to obtain information from the District baud Gift tor as to when the buildings were erected, and as to their value. Mr Ross was on We hies lay last e’ected Mayarof Dunedin for the ensuing year. The only other candidate was Mr Fish, Mr Ross was elected by a large majority. Following in the wake ot Matakanui, Blacks races are a Ivertise I to be held 011 the Tuesday following, January 4th. The programme will appear in future issues. A concert ami ball, in aid of the building fund of the Catholic Chapel, will be held in the School-house, Blacks, on January 4th. A telegram of the 18:h instant from Christchurch states that Sir Julius Vogel has sent by the s s Durham a number of sets of Dickens’ and A. Trollope’s works to Australia and New Zealand, to be distributed as prizes among the children attending the public schools. The Board of Education to-day resolved to give those which come to th-ra to the two candidates 1 for public scholarships who stand highest in point of excellence among those who fail in gaining a substantial scholarship, provided that they average 50 per cent, of the marks of the while examination, and not less than 25 per cent, of the marks iu any one subj ct. On the 20th instant, a cake ofgold weighing 322 ■?.. arrived at the Arrow from the Gladstone Co’s rain", Macetowu, being the outcome of 140 tons of stone. In consequence of the high sta*o of the Molyneux and Manuheriki Rivers, the Alexandra pnut has been unworkable since Tuesday last. The first of the season's wool—a waggon load —passed through here during thweek. From all accounts this season’s clip is expected to be far and away above, both in quantity and quality, that of many previous years, the exceptionally mild winter and open spring miterially tending to this. The lambing a'so is a long way above the usuil average. Labour being plentiful and cheap, our squatting friends m ly be oonsi lere I in luck’s way. The Goo 1 Templar elections for this dis. trie, have just taken place with the following result Bro. the Rev John Lothian lias been unanimously' re-elected District Deputy of the G.W.C.T , and Bro. O. N. M‘Donald, »f er a very close run, having only a maj uity of one vote, has been elected as representa ive to the Grand Lodge, which meets in Wellington this year. A Wellington telegiam of the ISth instant statesOn the 9.h October the Aleva, which arrive 1 from China, was blarded by ;he master of tbe trading brig Alaska, who had a shocking native massacre to report. It appears tdtat on the Ist October he landed on Uongcrek Island for the pu-pose of tra ling, whet ha was horrified to (in I the bo lies of 60 natives lyhig on the beach. Only three men, a woman, and a child appeared to be left alive on the island, and from these the captain learned that a tribe frou a neighboring group had inva led the islmd at night, and plundered and mat sacred the inhabitants. War had previously been raging between the two islands. A notice of interest to voters in the Borough of Alexandra appears iu our advertising Columns. On Tuesday last a very serious accident happened to a carrier, named Burss, on the road between Cromwell and Clyde. He was bringing down a load of wool, and when lie reache I the hill near to Goodgcr’s brewery he found his loa 1 slipping. He pulled up, and went on to the top of his load to tighten some ot the roues, when the horses I bolted, with the unfortunate result of a | cap.iin, resulting in the ricalhof o"« horse, and the breaking of a leg of another Sir Julius Yog i has sent to several of the Provincial Educationil Boards a number of books, to Ikj -listrilmted as praee, he 11.1,3, also sent a case of toys for tbe children in the Otago BouovoLut and In-

<3ustri.il Schools. The Daily Times iu , noticing the latter gift saM Sir Julias had sent a cask of tigs for the delectation SI the 1 youngsters. sc From the New Zealand Gazette wa find i that the boundaries of the Vincent rabbit district have been altered.