THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1872.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 174, 5 July 1872, Page 4

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1872.

1 ■ i i u i r „ The people of Naseby, now that they possess something like, a recognised head in the'.shape.,of a Trade Association, would appear tOn;desire.to have something more resembling a -legally-, constituted and local governing power,; such as a Municipality-. An Improve.ment Committee, or a Progress Committee, or, any other, body, useful as ; they may be and .in many cases are, cannot, possess >the ■ influence, or carry the. weight head quarters, as do incorporated towns or districts,

Since the collapse, of the original Improvement. Committee here, .and the failure to .establish a second one upon better principles than 'the first, "the place, until the advent of the Trade As: sociation, was fairly, at sixes and.sevens 1 —each person, as he thought fit, addressing the Government or our representatives on matters of, public im-' portance, and propounding his or their views as the opinions of the community., A state of things such as this could only lead to confusion worse confounded, neither Government nor the members knowing whom to trust, or upon whese statements to rely for their guidance. The appearance in the field of -the Trade Association had the almost immediate effect of drawing attention to our wants, by letting the. Government see that we were in earnest and had a recognised body, though, not a legally constituted one. In all matters that have affected the interests of this, place and district the Trade Association have taken an ever lively interest, and have very much aided and strengthened the hands of the Press ; and though some of the matters which they have taken in hand have perhaps been beyond the ordinary scope of duty of such associations, their efforts, have undoubtedly received attention at the. hands of the Government. - In the Houndburn Hill deviation, in the, matter of the Sludge Channel and the bringing in of the Kyeburn -River, .in the matter of the. triweekly mail—of the proposed survey of the country between this place and the Mariuherikia, .with, a viewjof te,st- ; ing the possibility of bringing the water . of. thaftriver to this.. Goldfield—their influence has been, and been deservedly felt, and the results made apparent. Still,-we ; think we are, not in error when we assert that the members of the Association, and a very large number of the outside public, are of opinion; ;jbhat, with a legally constituted- * body, i..much more influence could be brought to bear upon the Government and. a: very much larger amount of . benefit be conferred upon the district. We are not, una ware of the fact that with many persons the word . Corporation :;is/a kind of bugbear, seeming to carry with its, ; name an indefinite idea of taxation. The reverse is l however, the case,'and instead of being, as at present, called upon to put our hands in our pockets upon all and every occasion when the slightest public, work has.to.be done, we should have, at our. command a sufficient sum not only to.pay current expenses, but, at: the same :time, to do numerous small necessary; works'which at the present '. time remamj-and for a length of time : past have= remained, undone. In the next place, there is an erroneous opinion abroad that the power of taxation under a Corporation, is almost unlimited,, but: reference, to ,the,B7th>c]ause of the Otago Municipal Ordinance,, 1865,. will show, that the maximum rate to be levied in one .year is not .to exceed 25.. 6d. in the pound. Nor, indeed, have we ever heard of any occasion in which ther.maximum.rate has been levied; It must also be; borne in mind that we,, ourselves, ; when necessary, tax ourselves : for our own good, as well as .that of the public generally. Again, by accepting incorporation, we at oncel become possessed of, a con-siderable-revenue, which at the, present ■ time-finds its way into a different channel, leading ,to. ; a. ? very different chest; -and one .ftoitf; which it is* very . difficult to..extr.act it. <- Of course ,the boundaries of a Municipality is a matter for. grave .consideration, and greatcare should be taken 'that injustice or hardship is done to ,none. Now, .whatever be the boundaries of a Municipality, the Corporation has immediately placed at their disposal all revenues derived or derivable from the following sources,; namely :—Auctioneers and Publicans', Licenses, Dog Tax; Fees ■ and; Fines collected under the authority of the . Licensed Carriages Ordinance, 1862, the Licensed Hawkers Ordinance, .1864, the Goat Nuisance,, 1868, and thelLicensed Theatres Ordinance,. 1870, irrespective of. any local, taxation whatsoever, be it- great or be it small. ; Now, from the abo.ve sources the. Government received.from Naseby during teDded? 3Lst -March 18.72, the .sumJ of- £463,. the. whole of which, had Naseby been an incorpol

ratecl town, would have been placed at our own disposal for our own. local uaesi ' It will, we I»ave no doubt, be asserted that the whole amount would have been, and would in future be expended recklessly in salaries ; but we fail to see that there is any fear of suchan occurrence taking place. "With regard to the Mayor, no doubt several gentlemen would be found glad, to take the office for its honor, not for emolument; and really the other necessary offices could, and no doubt would, be accepted at very small rates of salary. Take, for instance—Town Clerk (a salary such as that which the Hospital Secretary receives for much heavier duties than those which would fall to his lot should suffice), say £2O per annum; Collector of Rates (a mere bagatelle), say from £5 to £10; Assessors, say £2O, or perhaps less; Surveyor's fees, say £2O; and then we have the whole of this enormous taxation before our eyes. When we look at the figures published by us in a late issue, and consider that the expenditure of public money upon districts wherever there were corporate towns exceeded threefold or fourfold that spent in Naseby, we are of opinion, that the Mount Ida Trade Association, in-initiating this movement, have taken a wise and proper step, and we cordially wish them success in carrying out "their difficult undertaking—we say difficult, because there exists in this world some persons whom reason will never satisfy or logic convince.

A concert of sacred and secular pieces will be given by the Mount Ida G-lee Club, on the evening of Thursday next, the llth'instant, in the Masonic Hall, in aid of the funds of the Kaseby Sunday School. At the half-yearly general meeting of the Mount Ida Trade Association, held at Hunters Empire Hotel on the evening of Wednesday last, Mr. J. Thomson in the chair, the minutes of the previous meeting, having been read and adopted, the'report of the Committee appointed to report on the Sludge Channel arid" Water Supply question was read by Mr. Wilson, agreed to,. and ordered to be: printed. After a lengthened and animated discussion on the Miinicipality question, it was resolved, on a proposition by Mr. Collett, that the.. Directors consult with the District Surveyor as to the boundaries advisable to be ; included, and to fix date for calling public meeting to discuss the whole question. Mr. Irider. wa3 elected Chairman, and Messrs. Busch, Bjorring, Morrison, Glenn, and Smith Directors for the ensuing six-months.- : Mr. J. Craig was re-elected Secretary. A vote of ' thanks to the retiring officers concluded the business. - A meeting of persons favorable to the disposing of the old manse and furniture, and to applying the proceeds to the purposes of establishing an Athenaeum, will be held in the Union Church tliis e-vening, at 8 pJm. The usual monthly meetirig of the Mount Ida District School Committee toot place on Monday evening la«t, at the Schoolbouse, and was adjourned till this evening, at seven o'clock sharp. Afbejj supper is announced by advertisement to take place this evening, at the Empire Hotel, on the occasion of tlie taking possession •of that establishment by Mr. Daniels, and taking a farewell of the late proprietor,. Mr. Hunter.

A sitting of his Honor Judge Wilson' Gray's Court will.take place in the Courthouse, iJfaseby, on Wednesday next, the 10th instant, at 10 a.m. We hear that Mr. Simpson's survey and report on the Sludge Channel scheme and Water Supply from the Kyeburn, will be completed this week. ;; ' Db.li. B.IiAKE, hie of Switzers, will, we are credibly informed, shortly commence business in this district.as a medical practir tioner. " ' ; '

The usual monthly meeting of the Mount Ida District Hospital took place at the office of the Naseby Water Worts Company, on the evening of Friday last, 28th ultimo. Mr. E. C. Smith in the chair. The business was simply of a routine character. Tee usual fortnightly concert and readings took place at the Masonic Hall, on the even-

ing of Monday last. H. A. Stratford, Esq , in the chair. The room was well filled, but not to excess, and the readings and songs were well chosen, we'll delivered, and well sung.. The Secretary of the School Committee desires us to acknowledge, with thanks, the receipt of the sum of £3 Os. 6d., being the proceeds of the concert and .readings of Monday last.

The Wellington ' Post' says it was expected .that the mail just arrived would bring to the Hon. Mr. Dillon Bell a patent of knighthood. • . From an advertisement in another column ifc irill be pei ceived that the Temperance Hall is now open as a public reading room iTis notified in the ' Gazette '• that Mr H. W. Eobinson has been appointed Deputy Registrar, of Births,. Deaths, and Marriages for the irtstricfc. of Hamilton. ". A•serious fire took plaee on the premises occupied by Messrs. M'lieod and Matheson, Prince¥ street, Duneclih, on Friday morning asfc. Through the exertions of the Fire 1 . Bri-

gade the : fire was prevenfe'l f >-nm spreadir.g to tlie : premises, adjoining. The .building, which was.of brick, and two storpyi 3 in height, was entirely destroyed. The buil-ling wasinsured for £IOOO, and the stock for £7000., . ,y., . We call attention to the sale fay auction, by Messrs. Inder and Greorge, of the effects of the late Dr. M'Cambvidge, which: will take, place on the premises, this day, at 1 p.m. The effects consist of house and household furniture, and a valuable,mare, upito any weight,land well known throughout the district. • Also, to the sale on Tuesday, the 9th, on the ground, of a valuable farm and farm stock at the Kyeburn, the property of Mr. John. Cogan. . We have noticed a number of men busily employed in making good the approach to the manse and improving the ground thereabout, which, it will be remembered, is the site of old workings and "in a very rough, state. While thanking the public for what they ; have ; do,ne, the Committee would be glad to see still further hands at work Until this much-needed improvement shall be completed. Anotheb. patient, named John Scott, from the neighborhood of Blackstone Hill, was, on Wednesday evening, received into the District Hospital. He is suffering from frostbite. We understand that Mr. Webb, who we some weeks since reported as having been severely frostbitten in. the coach between; Pigroot and .-this, place, and .who shortly after re : turned to Dunedih, % is ; still •confined' to the ■house. ' {_.. •;- ..-,.... ~,... ~, An accident which might have been attended with very serious results, but which fortunately resulted only.in a.few bruises, occurred on Monday last to Allan Mawhinney, a miner. While working in his claim at the rear of the JJallarat Hotel, the face gave way,, enabling him, however, to escape with a few contusions about the anklet " * '!.' '"

Ls" consequence of the continued absence of Mr. "Warden Eobinson at Queensfcown- as 6ne ; of the Commissioners appointed jointly with with Messrs: J. L. G-illies and J, P.Maifclandi to enquire into certain allegations against Mr. Warden Beetham, contained in a petition from the Chinese; no business has been transacted either in the Resident Magistrate's or War; den's Courts since our last issue.