KYEBURN.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 106, 10 March 1871, Page 3

KYEBURN.

(From our own CoKeespondenL) March 6th, 1871

I am glad to inform you that the inhabitants; of the Kyeburn have at last bestirred .themselves. This is owing to the opportune arrival of Mr. JL Armstrong amongst us, who is, as you are aware, a candidate for legislative honors.

Mr. Armstrong made' his debut here on Saturday evening, at George's Pass Hotel, when he addressed a meeting of between thirty and forty electors. Want of space must be my excuse for not reporting Mr.'Armstrong's speech in extenso, but I will give a resume of the principal; points of his discourse. In the first place, he touched upon the land question, and stated his opinion to be that land should be thrown .open to ( settlement .in any satisfactory manner that could be devised. He was not in favor of which was known to be auriferous, nor was he in favor of Hundreds being ripened in the. vicinity of the G-oldfieids. He was, however,, decidedly in favor of Cqinmonages in Centra! spots. / Mr. Armstrong length upon the subject of land, and all his ideas were favorable to settlement -of colonists ujjon iae land ; at the same ,: time rigidly preserving the righ£ of the miners to their auriferous ground. Mr. Armstrong &ls© 'stated that he considered tjh© Hundred's Regulations Act to be nothing but a swindle—in fact, i

rhe Act had" been passed to enable the squatter to obtain unlimited, compensation when they were forced to give up the land for settlement. He further rem irked Ihat, it' ho were returned, he should do his utmost to have the lands opened for sal/?, .and would also strongly support deferred payments.—About this period several electors put questions to the candidate, to which he replied in the following terms : He was not in favor of alienating auriferous land. Was in favor of the abolition of duty on gold. Was in favor of a hospital being erected at Naseby, and also of a grant in addition to the usual two to one subscribed by the Government. The candidate here stated that a member of the Council could do but little to bring matters to an issue, unless he was assisted and backed by his constituents. Did not tliink we should get the loan—(I presume the ten million). He was in favor of twenty acres of land being set apart, for educational purposes on the Kyeb urn. , Was not in favor of immigration on such a large scale as was proposed by Macandrew—certainly not in favor of bringing out Swedes and ..Norwegians. Thought that a sum would. have to be placed upon the Estimate's to teach them English. Thought thaifdeferred payments would settle "the "country. Was in favor of taxing single folks.—Mr. Mungo Williamson then proposed that Mr. J. P. Armstrong was a fit and proper person to represent the district in the Provincial Council. Seconded by Mr. George CarlyJ,e, and carried unanimously.—Mr. Armstrong proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman (Mr. Sinclair), and trusted that when next he met the electors of the Kyeburn, he would have improved his oratorical, powers, and that he, should be enabled to give them a faithful account of his stewardship.—The meeting, although extemporised, was a decided success and the honest, outspoken manner of the candidate seemed to have the desired effect upon the auditory. Mr. Armstrong is not an orator of the first water ; but a certain tone of unmistakable honesty pervades his conversation, and I will not say " carries all before it," but produces a good impression upon ah audience. I must confess that, in my humble opinion, the miners •of the district of Mount Ida could not return a more suitable man. We want men to represent us who thoroughly (understand our wants, and at the same time have the education and the talent

to place them in an intelligible form before a superior body of men. The greatest fault which I can find with this candidate is that he under-estimates his own abilities. A little public life among the lively members of the Council would, however, soon cure him of this.—Mr. Armstrong was asked, after the meetiaag had closed, how it was that Mr. Macaw'rew .had been returned as Superintendent? His reply was (and he seemed rather anxious that his 1 eply should be made public) that Driver was constantly produciing little bits uf justice and law tor the information of the people) on the subject of the Driver and Trewick letter.

A fresh meeting was then called for the purpose of petitioning the Returning OffieeuLibr the District to have a Polling Place established at the Kyeburn for the forthcoming election. The petition was worded as follows: " Kyeburn Diggings, March 4th, 1871. —To the Returning Officer at Naseby. —Sir, —"We, the undersigned electors for the Mount Ida District, have deputed Messrs. Armstrong and Busch to present the enclosed petition. We beg respectfully to solicit that a Polling Place may be established at Kyeburn Diggings, as places of less note, and with a . smaller p opml ation, have 1 their Polling Booth. We also beg to I draw your attention to the fact that there are about seventy voters on these diggings, and that more than one half were virtually disfranchised at the election of a member for the Assembly, through the want of geographical knowledge on the part of the Returning Ofißcer (Mr. Y. Pyke). We therefore trust that, as Returning Officer to this district, you will establish a Polling Booth on these Diggings/—We are, sir, yours, etc," [Here follow the sag..natures of between fifty'and sixty electors.]— Whilst on tfie subject of a Polling Booth, .it would be as well to suggest -tl'iat it'should' be i& a central fand suitable spot—if we are to have one at all. Mr: Arhistrong has made himself, acquainted' with" the ci r cura.stauces of the case,!and, in fact, ha*a takesa a con. J «dci?abje .amount. yf tr/Quble in the majt- j

ter; ;ui.l, T believe, suggests that there is an empty house opposite the postoffice which is both suitable and central.

# I will now analyse a few of the candidate's questions, and see how they affect the 0 oidfields. In the first place, Mr. Armstrong is strongly in favor of allowing the mining population to settle on the lands. He is in favor of commonages in central spots, where the mining population is sufficiently numerous to warrant the granting of a commonage. At the same time, the candidate strongly deprecates the alienating of auriferous Crown lands. Mr. Arm* strong will work with all his might to have the obnoxious clauses in the Hundreds Act repealed. He will also support deferred payments. This, as far as I can see, leaves nothing more to desire. In these promises the miner has every inducement offered to him to form a home and settle on the land. The question is a very difficult one, and cannot be dealt with by a candidate except in general terms. The details of such a question as the regulation of Crown lands, more especially on the Goldfields, must be left in the hands of the legislative body ; and all that a mining constituency can expect from a candidate is that he should give them a general promise to support their interests to the best of his ability. So far, the present candidate fulfills all the requirements of the case. Mr. Armstrong stated in his address that the district had always been neglected simply owing to the want of energy on the part of the population. They had always neglected their own interests, and consequently they had been neglected by the legislature. The candidate also gave an anecdote in favor of his meaning. He stated that whilst in Dunedin, and before visiting the district professionally, he had made enquiries abont the various centres of population. He also wanted to see the organ of the people—viz., the 'Mount Ida Chronicle.' He was directed to the Athenceum as the most likely place to find a copy of your journal, tlpon searching the files in this building he found the paper spoken of carefully folded and oserlaid by a cumbrous mass of other literature. The speaker likened the district to the paper, and represented it as having been folded and laid aside in the archives of the House. He also expressed himself as glad to find that the ' Mount Ida Chronicle' was about to *be increased ; and stated that as the voice of the people was only heard through its medium, it should he strenuously supported by the people, for, as far as he was able to judge, it had always advocated the interests of the community in a plain and fearless manner. The candidate is also in favor of the abolition of the duty on gold. This is a matter which materially affects the welfare of the miners. They have long enough been taxed with a duty on their labor. This duty, moreover, presses heavier upon the poor miner than upon the water squatter, and therefore is decidedly a mistake. The candidate being also in favor of a hospital for the district, of grants of land for educational purposes, and as he is more in favor of the natural increase of population than forcing that increpse by immigration, I think that I may safely assert that Mr. Armstrong thoroughly meets the requirements of a mining constituency. Iu addition to this, it is well to remember that Mr. Armstrong is personaiy acquainted with the wants of a mining community, and that being resident in the metropolis, he will always be at hand to champion the district through troublesome times. In order that it may not be thought I am blowing Mr. Armstrong's trumpet, I may state that I never met that gentleman before he visited the Kyeburn, and had he not thought fit to address the electors here, I «hould not have troubled myself to have adopted his cause. As I am, hswever, convinced that we could not get a better man to represent us, and that certainly not a better is in the field, £ speak as my conscience leads me.

In conclusion, I may stato that I Relieve Mr. Armstrong has made a favorable impression, and that if he succeeds in getting a Polling Booth established here, he will tako the greater part of the votes on the Kyeburn. i

Why is Indian corn the best thiw.o to keep starvation at bay? Because one can always make a good meal of it