THE PROPOSED SLUDGE CHANNEL.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 164, 26 April 1872, Page 3

THE PROPOSED SLUDGE CHANNEL.

(To the Editor of the Mount Ida Chbonicle.) Sir, —We have now good reason to bop*e that the much-wanted and long talked-of Sludge Channel shall be commenced without much more delay, but not before time. Naseby is on the eve of decline, and without the Channel would recede' to its primitive state in a few years. But on the completion of a properly constructed Sludge Channel, thousands of acres of payable ground will be opened up for miners, and the benefit to the district and Province will be equal to that of the discovery of a new and extensive Goldfield. While, however, we congratulate each other upon the anticipated construction of a Sludge Channel, there is another matter which is of very great importance to us, and which demands our immediate attention —namely, the securing of all auriferous land for mining purposes along either side of the proposed line of Sludge Channel. It will be remembered that between two and tliree years ago,* the people of Naseby petitioned the Provincial Government that no land within a radius of four miles from the Court House be granted for agricultural purposes. The Government considered the request a fair one, and have hitherto reserved the

land for mining. The step was a wise one, without doubt.' 11 was considered that the area was sufficiently extensive, and included all the auriferous and payable ground in our immediate neighborhood. There is proof, however, that this was not the case, as gold has been found, and apparently in payable quantities, six miles from Naseby, down the Hogburn Creek, and on the very ground which Mr. Warden Robinson recommended the Government to throw open for settlement. The land in question lies between M'Phee's and the Four Mile Pinch, and through it the Sludge Channel must run. Now, the Government may act upon this recommendation of the Warden any day, and alongside our Sludge Channel, the construction of which will cost many thousand pounds sterling, we may have a legion of cockatoos located, who, at no distant date, would stop the progress of the miners. Now, you know, Mr. Editor, there are almost endless tracks of good and unauriferous land which may be taken up for settlement, instead of taking the small portions which are auriferous, and thereby putting an end. to one of the principal interests in the Province.

Ever since your arrival in our midst, Mr. Editor, your pen has never ceased to advocate the cause of every interest in the district, and that of the miners in particular. Indeed the "' Chronicle ' has been, ever since its appearance, and is now more than ever, bur real representative, and represents "us far more effectively-than 500 of the sort of representatives we now have can do. We have to thank the ' Chronicle' for the Sludge Channel which is about to be constructed. No doubt our representatives suggested that it should be constructed, but they have never shown the Grovernment by arguments conclusive, as the leading articles from time to time in the 'Chronicle' have done, the great benefit the district and Pro-, vince" would derive from the construction of such a work.. But,, as L was going to sav, you have ever been a true friend to the. miner, and it is to be hoped you will now use your influence in preventing the alienation from mining purposes of all auriferous lands along either side of the Sludge Channel which sooner or later must be constructed, all the way to the Taieri river, and as the ridges on either side may be worked in time all the way down, it is certainly desirable that a petition be prepared and sent to the Grovernment without delay, praying.that no land .be granted for settlement within four miles on either . side : of the Sludge Channel.

•Withbut trespassing further at present on your valuable space, I will leave the above subject for abler pens. —I am, &c, Hogbuen.

Intelligence from Fiji states that the deputation sent .to Cakobau to ask for a reconstruction of the Government and-a general election had returned. Cakobau referred them to his responsible alvisers... In consequence- "of this the British Subjects Protection Society issued a manifesto repudiating the authority of the Government, and pledging mutual support in resistance to it. A settler came to . Leyuka> to report his having shot aFiji chief in self defence. The Government ordered his arrest, but being a British subject, 73 armed men belonging to the Protection Society turned out and defied the Government. They handed over the settler totheßritish Consul for trial. The papers say that there is no chance of quiet until the Government is reconstructed, and the expenditure and taxation reduced.

Compulsory Education est America. —Compulsory . education is . not required in ISTew Orleans, where study is made pleasant by a system of instruction like the fallowing.. .Here "is "a lesson they sang at public school examinations in that city, to the tune of " Yankee Doodle," visitors and all joining in the chorus : If anything on earth can make A great and glorious nation, It is to give the little ones . A thorough education. Chorus —Five times five are twenty-five Five times six are thirty, . Five times seven are thirty-five, And five times eight are forty.