The Evening Star FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1872.

Evening Star, Issue 3058, 6 December 1872, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1872.

The reply of His Honor the Superintendent to the very patriotic gentlemen who asked him to convene the Council should satisf} r everyone that the interests of tho Province are being attended to. We believe that throughout the length and breadth of Otago the course he has taken will be approved. The fuss and pretended alarm of a few men who assume of themselves that when they die wisdom will die with them is not by any means shared in by men of plain common sense. So far from that, all who can read the signs of the times will arrive at the conclusion that it would be a serious evil were the appointment of Executive officers liable to be controlled or directed by such lopsided politicians as Mr Hutcheson and the noisy demagogues with whom he is associated. The appointment of a Waste Land Board has become too serious a matter to bo left to party men. That is the very evil against which we have so often protested. The whole of the arguments for and against certain land systems during the last ten years in the Provincial Council have been based on the assumption that there were but two industrial classes interested in land administration the farmers and the graziers. The mistake arose no doubt from looking on the uses to which land is put ] but another, and the chief reason has been that Provincial legislation has been almost monopolised by runholders and farmers, and the two have differed as to the terms on which each should be allowed the use of land. During the long and dreary discussions on the subject, the interest that other classes have in the final and equitable settlement of the question has been ignored. So completely have tte Hutcheson and Stout party assumed the right to dictate to other classes, that they have had influence enough to shut up the land sales and completely paralyze settlement. With loud professions of being solely actuated by a desire for the general good, they have placed themselves under party rule, and pandered to the personal aspirations of the chief under whoso banner they served. Guided by similar feelings, they wished to bring the pressure of an excited Council to bear upon the appointment of a new Waste Land Board, as if past experience did not sufficiently demonstrate the absolute necessity of taking all administrative power as far as possible out of the hands of political parties. We trust that care will be taken to select such men as will not be liable to be swayed by considerations that exerted so unseemly a power over the proceedings of the Board during the past three years. It has been made a political tool for carrying on party warfare. When the Bank gave credit to the Province, the sale of land was stopped, in order that none might be parted with excepting on such conditions as the dominant party chose to dictate. When banking credit was withdrawn, the Waste Land Board was compelled by its political members to provide the means of continuing resistance to the majority of the Provincial Council. The Moa Plat sale and the abomination of the Island Block sale would never have taken place had not money been wanted to carry on the political war. We are quite justified in saying this \ for had land been sold instead of being withheld from sale until certain conditions were made laws, the sale of those large properties would not have been necessary to meet the necessities of the Province. What is required is, that the Waste Land Board shall represent different interests, for, though not immediately engaged in deriving revenue from the land, every human being is dependent upon it for existence, and has an inherent right in its utilization. When squatters and farmers claim the right to dictate the terms on which it is to be occupied, they are really in the position of contractors dictating to their employers the conditions of a contract, instead of allowing them to at least have the making of one side of the bargain. The Waste Land Board is, therefore, the public safeguard, and if possible should be withdrawn from all party influence. Merchants, miners, mechanics, and laborers have a right to have their interests watched over, and we trust such appointments will be made as will ensure impartial and equitable decisions tending to promote settlement, foster industry, and increase the general prosperity.

no other end answered than this, the proposed outlay would be economical. Could but all the injury to the health of the inhabitants of a large town, through crowding in a small space without means of purification of a polluted atmosphere, be valued, the sum proposed to be expended would be found multiplied beyond belief. But we are not yet educated up to that point. We have not learnt the full value of fresh air; and still less of invigorating exercise amid pleasant scenes, with sociable friends. We do not know anything so likely to add to the advantages of situation already enjoyed by the people of Dunedin as a suburban walk that men and women, with their families, can enjoy on summer evenings and holidays. It is not merely for purposes of recreation, though that would be much ; it is not merely for exercise, though that would be much more, that we advocate the expenditure proposed by Mr Walter. In its present condition there is great reason to believe that the Town Belt so far from contributing to the health of the City, has a decidedly opposite effect. It must have struck many per sons that there is in Dunedin a tendency to a class of diseases generally associated with situations where there are noxious gases evolved during the decomposition of vegetable matter. Were it not that the phenomenon may be easily referred to the Town Belt, it would be otherwise inexplicable. But there, season after season, fallen leaves and limbs of trees lie decaying, through that process poisoning the air, and polluting a great portion of the water that is drank. It is considered as somewhat remarkable that the most unhealthy

part of Dunedin is the highest. All medical evidence points to this anomaly. While the flats, with their low and foetid swamps, are free from low fever and influenza, the residents on the hillsides abutting on the Town Belt have been frequently attacked by both. With the usual rapidity of jumping at conclusions, theories in abundance have been formed to account for this. Most agree that it is because the sun sooner leaves the western slopes than the eastern flats. But this does not sufficiently account for the fact. Laplanders and Greenlanders do not suffer through a seven-weeks’ night because the air they breathe is free from miasma ; neither would the inhabitants of Dunedin suffer were the air imcontaminated. We may over-estimate the sanitary effects that would result from clearing the Town Belt from fallen leaves and decaying timber, but we do not think we do. But by what would be deemed a very unscientific process we will endeavor to bring to the mind some idea of the loss that may result from obstinate resistance to nature’s laws. The sum proposed to be spent annually is about £3Of); it is a mere trifle compared with the doctor’s and undertaker’s fees which might be chargeable through breathing impure air. A score sufferers would have more to pay for professional services than the money asked for. We think, therefore, it should be done on every ground of health and true economy, and trust that the matter will not be allowed to rest.