THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1872.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 162, 12 April 1872, Page 4

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1872.

The Provincial Council lias been sum-, moned to meet on the 30tli of the present month. Whether or not the meeting about to take place will or will not be the last of that • august and enliyhtv ■■■■ . O. ■;■■■,.■ ...... 0., . ened body we know not, and care perhaps sesses yitjil'ity, let us endeavor if possible to get.it to do one act at least of justice to 4 ttis place, from which so large an amount of revenue is extracted, and so small an amount has been expended. It is lamentable to think of the disgraceful state of the road between Dunedin and the up-country portions of the Province which have contributed so much, and still contri biite ill a very large decree to the prosperity of the metropolis. This fact is patent to all, and we wonder thai the Government- have bad the i ntiirFerence, if not the audacity, to' allow the road to remain in the disgraceful state it is at present. So long as the summer, and that an exceptional one, continued, few complaints were made, but it must be borne in mind that winter is fast approaching, when parts of the road will be rendered difficult and dangerous if not impassable. No part of the road is, in our opinion, so bad, and presents so many difficulties and dangers, as does the notorious H'oundburn

Hill. It has been already proved that this could be easily avoided by a deviation wh ! ch would commence at what, is generally known as the flaming of the late Shag Hiyer Water Kace Company. Where this deviation should terminate is.the matter to which we now desire to. draw , the attention of th 6 public, the Government, and our representatives.' The necessity for the deviation, ib which we refer has been ad* the Government, and has been reported upon by Mr. Oliver, the District -iioad Engineer. We confess we havie iao faith in Mr., Oliver's report, it having, in our opinion, been

written with an evident bias, arid with the very palpable intention of protecting certain quasi vested interests. Mr. Oliver proposes that the proposed deviation shall commence at the ft uming above alluded to, and, after following the gorge, shall re-enter the old Dunstan road somewhere in the neighborhood of Douglas' accommodation house. . We, on the other hand, maintain that the deviation should commence at the same point, and, after passing through the gorge, be continued th rough th.-'. Messrs. Sanders' station on a,spur which runs parallel to the present road until it enters the Kveburn -road a. short distance above the town. By Mr. Oliver's line the Houndburn Hill would no doubt be avoided, while the distance, rather than bei rig shortened, would be considerably increased. By the route we propose, not only would the Houndburn Hill be avoided, but the distance decreased by several -miles, nnd the traffic of the whole up-country districts be made to pass through this place* making it thereby the principal inland town within the Province. There is litt e doubt that the subject.will be brought under the notice of-the Council when next they meet and it is only well that our members should look fully into the matter, and ascertain the wishes .and opinions-'of.their constituents upon the subject,- so as to be able to act, and a -t vigorously, when the proper time comes. Messrs. Mervyn and Armstrong have, we believe, promised to meet the constituency before the House and there could be no more fitting opportunity of letting them know the feelings of the people upon the subject. One of the evils of not being represented by local men is that they naturally' possess neither interest in or knowledge of the district for which they are elected, and if we may judge .by the cavalier manner in which we have;-'been-treated: by our members, do not seem to take much trouble to acquire that' knowledge. The matter has, we are glad to hear, been taken in hand-by that energetic body, the Trade Association, who deserve the thanks of the community for the large amount of good they ■ have already achieved. The time, for again mooting the subject is a yery'.opportune one, arid we ! doubt not a numerously signed petition would i not-only strengthen the hands of our members in the Council, but would itend to the deviation being made, and made in the direction which we have suggested ps,,being the best. It is rumored that Mr. Simpson, one of the Government Engineers, will be herein the course of a few days to report upon the construction of the Sludge Channel and the increase of the water supply by bringing in the Kyeburn. We think that Mr. Simpson might, with great propriety, be called upon to report also upon the road deviation to which we have referred. Should the Provincial Government fail us in this matter we have still an appeal to the General Government, to construct the deviation out of the. Public Works Loan. The question is one of vital importance not only to the up-country districts in general, but to this place in particular, and we sincerely trust that it: is one which will not be allowed to drop or fall through. We.would take the liberty of suggesting to t.:e Trade Association the desirability of setting on foot, and that without delay, a petition to the Government upon the subject. The petition should not lack strength, and we feel convinced it would I notlack signatures.

Thu arrival of Mr, Simpson; who has, we believe, been appointed to survey un=i report upou t he Sludge Channel and works connected therewith, will, we understand be delaved for several days in consequence of othei important public business which has been imposed upon him. It will be seen by an advertisement in another, column that an entertainment, of a most promising character will take place in the Masonic Hall on the evening of Monday next The meeting will be in aid of the funds of the School Committee, and the cause being a good one, we trust that there will be a full house Reference to the programme will show that the .entertainment is likely to be attractive seeing that, in addition to the ordinary Nasebv talent, several new names—suggestive of v>ew i bipod—for the first time make their appearance. Wk understand that Mr. Tolmie, formerly Deputy-Superintendent of the Province, has been elected a member of the Provincial (Joun*

cfl, nice Mr. Seaton, who ha 6 gone Home as & Government Emigratiou Officer. It is notified in the 4 Provincial Government Gazette,' that the Provincial Government will meet for despatch of business on the 30th April iiat.

In the case ot fhe fracas between Chinese and Europeans which took place recently at Tinker s Gully, and which was last week tried in the upreme Court, Dunedin, Morgan was acquitted and Ah Cheong sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labor. O* the eveuing of Friday last, one of the dams of tiie Extended Company on th« lower Slaughterhouse JhLill gave way, doing more or less damage to one or more tail racvi*. Che matter has, however been, we are gl.» i :•> report, satisfactorily arranged privately without being brought into Court. While on the road from this plm-e to the Dunstan on Tuesday last, Cobb's coac;, when about two miles beyond Hill's Creek, came to a sudden standstill by the breaking of the axle. Further than a shor" delay, no inconvenience of any kind was occasioned. A speciax. meeting of the 1 lospited Committee will take place at the office of the Naseby Water Works Company this evening. In connection witti this subject, we are glad to be able to congratulate the district upon the arrival of Dr. 1 >ick, the recently elected doctor of the institution. The departure of Mr. George M'Lean, M.li.K , wiil «.iu>e a vacancy in the representation for Waikouaiti. There are, we understand, several candidates already in the field, among whom we.may mention Colonel Cargill, W. H. Cutten, David Hutcheson. and T. S. Pratt. We have not. heard who is the farorite, and likely to have the honor of representing the district. All the candidates are old settlers, and should be well up in Colonial politics, and none more so than Mr. Cutten, who for nearly the last twenty years has been in the service of the couutry in divers capacities. We wish Mr. Cuttf-n success, considering him the most eligible candidate at present iii the field. The great drought, under which, this district has for such a length of time labored, has been at last happily brought to an end. On Friday last the rain fell copiously, and since that time showers have beeu frequent and welcome. We have now much pleasure in reporting the water supply as sufficient, if not absolutely abundant, and mining operations as being once again in full swing This fact we feel assured our next escort will fully demonstrate, by showing Mount Ida as she was previously to the late long drought, at the head of the poll. Most sincerely do we congratulate the district upon this most seasonable change in the weather, producing a revr al of spirits throughout the entire community, and a greater confidence than ever in the eListieii-v of the resources of this Gold field, which has" been so long sub- " jected to a drought the most- dire and calamitous. o'.

A suppi.ehentauy mail for Europe, &c, via San Franc sco, will close at „the post office, Naseby, at 1 3i» p.m , to-day (Friday). Tub down-country mails will close afe 1.30 p.m. till further notice. > By proclamation in the 4 Provincial Govern-ment-Gazette '-f.the Uth inst, the area of this goidfieM <-- c-'ified as follows, which addifcionaf :.ereaftvr form a portion of the iloua? 1 i« ; ro» ifiekl:— Vi! that, urea in the Province of Oingo. b, estimation fourteen thousand ncnva. :r.«.-re or loss, being run numbered 8o on the -v.ap .»f t ."c North-eastern pastor. J district.- I.i i '}<• said Province: bounded by a line. pifrom the north-ea9t corner of section 6i, oioetiTiLl, Moeraki Survey District in a m>ui ii-wesTerly direction along the boundary of tiawksbi;ry Hundred to the south-wentern corner of section 11, block I, Dunback Survey District, thence alony the southern boundaries of' i-he said section 11. and section 6, same bioek, to Moeraki Survey District; then along :he said survey district to section 3, block i. i)unback Survey District aforesaid; thcnee along the northern boundaries of sections 3, 4 and 5, and the north-western boundaries of sections 5 and 8, same block and district, to the northern branch of the VVatkou.ai i river ; tience along the south-western an; north-western boundaries of run 80 to section 32, blof-k IV, Dunback Survey Distrie.i-; thence in a south-easterly direction along the south-western boundaries of sections 32, 35 and 37, same block and district, to M'Cormack's Creek; thence along M'Corir.ack's Creek :*nd die southern boundary of section bo. block VIII, Moeraki Survey District, to the north-east corner of section 34, s:ime block and district, to the starting point. Tub following are lists (furnished to the Secretary) of the names of those who have voluntarily worked at the Mount Ida District Hospital:—First day—W Griffiths, P Molony, ifi Cunningham, M Spilhard, D .Richards, K Ross, G R Paice, H Money, A M 'G Brown. Second day—J P Martin, J O'Halloian, J Barrett, M Deacy, J M'Grath, D Stewart, M D Mueller, D Reid, A Forbes, P Sullivan, J Ross, C King, Ah Loof, fcfc Webber, John Campbell, J Green, Rogers, J Colber. 'i hird day—D Stewart, J H Brown, A Smith, Ah Ring, R Mountain, H Corbett, L Flagan, J Campbell, J Thomas, W G Purder,. H J Tietjens, J Waite, J Cowie, W L Harper, F. King, J Green, J Creighton, P Bleach, W Kirby, J Packman (horse and dray). Fourth day - A Smith, M Nanan, J Thomas, Terence O'Brien, H Corbett, P Croft, T O'Brien. P Mungovan, P O'Grady, T Sturgeon, F King, J Green, R Mountain, A M'Knight, J Farmer, P Talbot, D F Reid, J O'Loughlan, P Harbinger, G A Brown, W J Millar (horse and dray), Extended Company (horse and dray). The Home mails (via San Francisco) are not expected to arrive m Naseby before to-morrow week. The adjourned monthly- meeting of the

School Committee took place in the school house on the evening of Friday last, when, after a long discussion relative to the schoolmaster, the meeting was further adjourned till to-morrow (Saturday), at 3 p.m, to receive the reply of the master. Ijt addition to the candidates already in the field for the honor of representing "Waikouaiti iu the General Assembly, we may mention that Sir David Munro of Nelson, formerly Speaker of the House, has consented to allow himself to be put in nomination, declining, however, anything in t.he shape of a personal canvass.

We are requested to draw attention to the sale by auction, by Messrs. Inder and George, of a consignment, of chromos and engravings. The pictures are on view in the Victoria Hall, and are well worth a visit.