THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 1870.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 61, 1 April 1870, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 1870.

TitE question was mooted in a" late issue as to whether or notMr; J,'T; Chaplin possessed the power "to which he repenfty laid claiin of discontinuing the running of the coach through this town, and returning it to the old ; I)unstan | road, forwarding the.mails to this place j=either by horse or .conveyance, as. he the time to which we retVr, expressed a very decided opinion-as to the extreme impro*bability of so loose 1 or lax a' contract having been entered into by the Government, ahd of a' power of "so exceptional a character having beeii placed in the hands of any contractor, however great his wealth, or however high his position or character. Although we have not had an opportunity of inspecting the existing contracts between the Government and :Mr. Chaplin relative to Mail Service in general, and this service in%artieular,: the to the: acquisition' of the boon, which we at present enjpy are .now before us, and. will weare'bf Opmioh bear out our assertion, that-the condition upon which .obtained;thei=present con- : tract;w r as7mpst distinctly and unuuV ' tateahlyHjhat the mails should be conveyed by coach : The first .of the documents 4o ; which we desire td'draw attention is the petition which was drawn.up. at the instance 'of the Improvemenj; Committee; ;in March last, and forwarded the following month to the Postmaster-General. The petition, speaks for ,its.elf, and -cannot leaveuppn themindof any one ; a shadbw of doubt as to the; the ; petitioners 1 ; - the '] w^ortLs, ! "^are. '] clear and conclusive,, admitting.-'-of neither doubt, cavil, orimisinterpretatiohi Their grievances are set forth, and redress prayed for,,, in' the; following terms':—--' j:

J ~ That, by the existing mail.arrangements, the town of Nasebyis virtually-, cut. off from all passenger traffic, the public, being thereby made to suffer much vexatious delay, serious inconvenience, and unnecessary expense. That, since . the withcbawal pf '-the V.branch mail- subsidy;' .there have existed no means ; ofi'conveyance for passengers tp and from the main road to this town, 5 " and th<it .passengers are, in consequence, • necessitated to remain either. at !the; iKyeburnHotel or Eden Creek until special, means.:ofconveyance can v be. obtained, from Kaseby.i '-''. •;• .. ;■■ That, for a small additional subsidy/ Messrs: Chaplin and Co., the . present:: conta*actors, would, no "doubt, be willing to run;the mail ,-coach through the ioion of Nasehy direct, whereby the expense,; inconvenience, and delay corn* plained of wpuH be avoided. : ' ■ c . ;• • • ; .'-'jt will, we imagine, be admitted that: the v grievances under ' which this town , at ,t.hat time labored in respect of the maHi 'service fairly^and Intelligibly represented • nor do . we think there can exist any doubt -as., tonthe re-J Vmedy which was sought for- their redress, Adz., that "the mail,coach should be made to run direct tlwough Me town of' Naseby" :n: The-Postmaster General evidently , took the' same .view of the : subject as ourselves as to what was the

prayer of f the ; petitioners ;f as the : Ghief Poftinaster. in DiineUin .(by order of the Grenefal) 4 tiius replied to -th& } petition from which we have aboye r ■ quoted : ' With reference' to; the /memorial recently ' forwarded to the Postmaster-General, by the residents of Mount Ida, praymsj that the mail service between Palmerston and Clyde should . be made to pass through the township of Mount Ida, I am instructed by the Postmaster-Gene-ral to inform you that, as ; the road between Eden Creek and Mount Ida.is at .present reported to be impassable hy coach, and the additional subsidy asked being considerable, the Government cannot interfere in the /matter; but'should theroad be. made so that the coach-1 could travel safely by it, the matter will be ''< reconsidered, and tenders called for a serviceby both routes at the end of theipresent year, : as a test.. . : ; : - . - .-.' '• •;:■,.-.. Surely there was no misunderstanding here; the road being : reported to be impassable by coach being one of the reasons, if not the principal reason,'* adduced for a non-compliance with the prayer of the.: memorial. A ; distinct promise was however given that, should the road be made so that the coach could travel safely by it " the - matter wouldbe reconsidered, and tenders called for by both routes at the end of the year." I ■This was on the Sth of May last. In theimonth of October following .Mr*-J, , % Chaplin made a proposal to the Go- I vernment .expressive of his willingness, | for a small additional subsidy, to run the coach at once through this town. 'His offer was.accepted, and on Monday 1 the 3rd of October, the first mail coach from Clyde to D.unedin passed through ISaseby. '' * .>-•■•■■-■ ■ j - -True to his promise, on the terrnina- ' tion of the then, existing contract, fresh contracts were called for by the Postmaster General—wie from Palmefston to Duhstan direct, the>• other' ; Palhierston to Dunstan via JSTaseby. The contract via 'JSTaseby was'.the-, one Mr; ;. .. Jj"T. Chaplin being the successful tenderer. From the commencement to the:; present time the service has been carried on.-exceedingly well, and regularly, -• without, we«believe, a. single accident, ;the coach being- upon every occasion (excepting during the flood at the New Tear) true to time,'even almost to the : minute, ; We must not [Omit to mention* that .great credit is due to the Provincial authorities tor the manner in which they came to the assistance of the settler.. As soon as it was determined that the coach was to rah through Naseby the road between the Kyeburn Hotel and Ed m Creek via JSTasabu was

immediately put in a.thorough.-state of repair, and we doubt whether (with the exception of the metalled portions) a bettf|=|)iece oF road than that to. which we have referred can be met with between Dunedin and Clyde. Not only ..have the Government done this but they. ,have also.kept on surface, men* who are still employed in preventing ,the road faUing ; into disrepair.u ■- -j . "With these facts before them we cannot believe that- the public can come to any other conclusion" than that at which we ourselves long since arrived the passing, of -the,mail ;coaeh; through this town forms a special and important feature in the -present mail contract with Mr.-Chaplin, and that its. ,so doing is not optional witli the-contractor, but compulsory. The petition to the -• Postmaster-(xeneral—-his reply—Mr. Chaplin's first offer and its ■ acceptance—the imine&iate.running of-the coach through Naseby—the calling for Iresh. tenders yJ-a sasebj/—shej co nstrnctidn "of the. road at considerable • expense by the .G-o.verjimenfcj all point to y the ; to .which we have, arrived, aud which, we venture to say,' ban admit of no other interpretation. Mr. Chaplin; inay .have been unfortu. hatein his private arrangements in this place, with regard to stabling or. other matters—may,- for what we. kno' have, 1 , .beei*decerned ;aiXd imposed his position with regard to the public would not, cannot ; be lone' single iota [ changed or affected. r The. contract ,he . has ; undertaken' must "be fulfilled until a.new one be entered into. ' -hi the meantimethepublic need be Under no apprehension of-the withdrawal of the

mail/coach from-its' present route, for even should Mr/Chaplin think fit, from, ;a motive of spleen or from any other motive, to avail, liimself of the clause, which no doubt, the contract contains, of determining the. present agreement,, other contractors : will no'doubt, be ready to come forward, prepared to take it up upon the same terms, as those upou which Mr, Chapliu accepted it. .