The Evening Star THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4144, 8 June 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 1876.

The alteration in the prospects of the Colony through railway construction is manifesting itself in a variety of ways. Industries found too costly lor profitable competition with the world’s market, while old modes of transit only were employed, are now being prosecut d with every prospect of success Among other inMauces we. may mention the Milton Lottery Company, in the working of which considerable saving lias bet a effected by the application of a short line or siding to the transport of raw material to the works as weil as to the transit of their manufacture to a central market. Another and perhaps more stiiking illustration is afforded in the report of the proceedings of the Waste .Land Board yesterday, in which it appeal's that a lode of copper arid other minerals at Tnapeka East Ims been known to exist for somo time, and, in fact, that different parties have been endeavoring to secure a lease of the ground but that through the “ high rates of cartage, labor, and material,” in all probability more thorough prospecting Ims not been proceeded with. The value of “ mouritain tops ” receives a very fair illustration in this instance. The District Land Officer, Mr E. H. Caeew, in his report says :

I beg to etata t ; at T know of no object n whatever to he land bein' granted un era min val leas , Oi the ••■on’.r'ry, it seems to ■me that the land is; of value only for what miner-:la it may contain, and that, with so fa r a prospect of success,-‘anti of an opening for remunerative employment of labor, the lode •flight to ho purderpwted and opened out «t once*.

A small section this compared with the 64,000 acres of xt mountain tops ” proposed to be alienated for the sake of £48,000 ; yet quite large enough to become the site of a thriving township when the furnaces with their long chimneys, the workshops, enginehouses, miners* and workmen’s Cotinhabited by their wives and families, and the butchers' and bakers* and grocers* and drapers* shops, with the residences of managers, clerks, and of course a tavern that must follow the opening of the mine, are built. No one must regard this as an improbability. It is a natural and inevitable develop ment of the opening of payable mines. It has its rough type in goldfields diggings where a township of canvass springs up in a day and a night, and its more stable exemplar in the mining districts of Great Britain. We hardly think the Provincial Executive can have asked themselves how many scores of such “ mountain tops ’* they were ■ about to transfer to private hands for perpetual sheep country, in which an acre of land capable of yielding revenue for the support of thousands is doomed to yield a profit of half a fleece and a quarter of a sheep’s carcase per annum. But, says Mr Carew, The Tokomairiro and Lawrence Railway being now neirly completed, and lower rates niu g, the work could now be do ’e. under as favorable circuxu tances as it would be reasonable to expect. "v The course of our railways is not even marked out beyond indicating the direction of the main lines, but already their effects are becoming apparent. It is said “ straws show the direction of the wind,” and just in the same way apparently trifling matters indicate the course of events. There are signs of the effect that rapid communication with the interior will have on the comfort and prosperity off Dunedin. Situated in a corner of the country, with the sea on one hand, and a bay separating it from its natural garden, the Peninsula, on the other, no city of its size and importance has remained for so long a time badly supplied with milk, vegetables, and fresh meat of good quality. It Was not that they could not be grown, but the time required for the conveyance to market and the difficulty of bad roads have rendered so high a price necessary to remunerate the producer that many have deprived themselves and families of full supply of milk and garden produce because of inability to bear the expense. Already some little improvement is apparent in some of these things, part of which is due to railway communication, but very much more may be expected as lines concentrating upon Dunedin become available for traffic. In another direction, also, there are indications of the increasing importance of Dunedin. Just as railways counteract the disadvantages of a corner position and ,sonfer all the benefits otherwise derivable from being the centre of agricultural and pastoral districts, so the possibility is increased of making it a meeting place where men following like industries in different parts of the country can compare the results of each other’s efforts. For many years there has been no agricultural show in Dunedin. Many reasons have contributed to this. Narrow jealousies of farmers more bent on a few pounds being spent in their district than in general improvement of stock have had their damping effect ; but the chief difficulty was that of safe transit of fat stock. ’ We see that another effort is to bo made to hold a show, and, although it may be but a beginning, the railroad system will be a material aid. in its success. The local shows have not had much effect. Every farmer and grazier in a limited district knows what his neighbors have done and can do, without the trouble of taking bis stock to a show. But we trust in Dunedin that produce and live stock from North, South, and West—from districts hitherto beyond reach of each other—will be exhibited, and that the projected “ Fat Stock Exhibition ” will be the first of an annual succession of shows that will have the best possible effect on the industries specially intended to be promoted by them.