THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1871.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 120, 16 June 1871, Page 4

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1871.

The Goldfields of the Province seem destined to occupy this session the amount of attention to whica their importance justly entitles them, and we are glad to find that many important notices, affecting the mining interest, have already been placed upon the paper. A mong these we may mention that by Mr. H. Bastings, for a reduction in the gold duty, and those of Mr. Mervyn for valuable Goldfields statistics, the extension of the road subsidy to roads as well within as without Goldfields, and the placing on the Estimates the sum of £SOO for the erection at Naseby of an humble hospital for the sick of the Mount Lda district. These notices will be found at length in another column. The importance of these motions (if carried) it is impossible to over - estimate. Though attempts have been made to deny it during the present session, it must be patent to all open to conviction that the gold is an additional and exceptional tax upon miners, the retention of which nothing but the pleas —and these, in our opinion, neither very moral nor sufficient ones—namely, a failing revenue and an empty exchequer, could for a moment justify. It seems, indeed, almost hoping against hope when we say that we trust that ere long the finances of the country will not only allow of the gradual reduction, but also of the absolute repeal of this most unfair, unjust, and, at the same time, most patent of all the numerous burdens under which this otherwise promising but overtaxed councry groans and labors. Placed, however, as this Province is, with a deficit cf at least £loo,ouo, and within decreased and decreasing revenue to meet the deficiency, we must expect that the Provincial Government will have a sort of fellow-feeling towards the Ceneral Government, and will not ask them in anything like a heartv manner to repeal or reduce a tax, however unjust and partial from which so large a portion of their own Ways and Means is derived. It is, however, a source of satisfaction to observe that the Provincial Council of Otago has, by its vote, recorded its opinion of the desirability of such reduction, with a view to its ultimate and absolute repeal.

The statistical return moved for by

Mi. Mervyn, and agreed to by the House, is to this district more particularly important, as, if properly and carefully compiled (as it will, we have no doubt, be), it will show at a glance the amount of exceptional taxation derived during the last three, years from the different Goldfields, and the amount expended upon each. We feel confident that the return, when furnished, will disclose a state of affairs at which even the Government themselves will be startled, and will prove as clearly as anything can be proved, that while some districts have been favored and petted to their heart's content, others have been allowed to languish, their wants neglected, and their very existence, as it were, so far as assistance to them is concerned, virtually ignored. The proposal, also by Mr. Mervyn, that the principle of subsidising Koad Boards should be extended to Goldfields, is just and reasonable, and will, we trust, commend itself to the favorable consideration of all parties, whatever their political creed. We fail to see why the portion of the population of the Province resident on Goldfields should not be placed in every respect upon the same footing as the portion which have their lots cast in the " settled districts," and we think that the time has arrived when this distinction should cease ; and we look upon the notice of motion by Mr. Mervyn, on the road subsidy question as tending in that direction, and heartily wish it success.

The last notice of motion to which we shall, on the present occasion, allude is that by Mr. Mervyn for the sum of £SOO 'to be placed upon the Supplementary Estimates, for the purpose of erecting an Hospital for the Mount Ida District, at Naseby. \V*e have of late made such frequent reference to this subject that we need say no further than that we trust the motion of Mr. Mervyn will meet with the unanimous consent and concurrence of the entire Council, and that ere long we shall have the satisfaction of congratulating the district upon, the establishment of an institution, the want ot which has been so lilng and so severely felt in Mount Ida. We understand that a petition, a copy of which will be found elsewhere, is in course of signature, respectfully calling upon the Provincial Council to support the motion of Mr. Mervyn and grant the sum asked for. In connection with this matter it is also, we are informed, intended to send a requisition to H. VV*. Robinson, Esq., R.M., requesting him to call a public meeting at an early date, to discuss the entire question and obtain signatures to the petition. As Mr. Robinson is the highest official in the district, we trust that (in the absence ot a Mayor, to whose province such a duty more properly belongs) that gentleman will not hesitate to accede to the request, more particularly as the meeting-is entirely for a social purpose, and neither has, or is intended to have, any political tendency or significance of any kind. We feel that the course proposed to be adopted will materially strengthen the hands of our members in the Council, and, we trust, assist in obtaining the grant of which notice has been given. 80 far, the proceedings of our members in the Council show that they are alive to their duty, and are acquainted with at least some of the more prominent wants and necessities of this district. We trust, however, that the notices to which we have referred are not to be allowed to become (as those of last session put on the paper by Mr. Main, our then representative, became), shams, mere delusions, mere flashes in the pan, and never intended to go further than the notice paper, and an attempt to gull his constituents into the belief that he was actively and earnestly engaged in doing battle in their behalf. If Messrs. Armstrong and Mervyn desire to stand well with the Mount Ida people and retain their confidence, they must not be content with the mere placing of notices on the paper, but must do their utmost and use their best endeavors to carry these motions to (if possible a successful issue.