TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 199, 20 December 1872, Page 6

TOPICS OF TALK.

The sale of land on the G-oldfields assumes every year a more and more com-, plicated aspect. -To enact that no land within a ,proclaimed Goldfield shall be' alienated from the Crown, would defeat the purpose of those most oppressed by the sales that have already taken place. On the other hand, to sell land which, at; though non-auriferous, or practically s'o,;. is the outlet or key to lands in a high degree remunerative, is suicidal folly. We hardly think the Mining Conference recognise the extreme difficulty of the matter which they have taken in hand, and: carried unanimous motions about, all of which it would be impossible for any .Executive to carry out. At the . same time, when a land sale is proposed, a; practical way of getting, out of the diflU 1 culty might be found by making it com?, pulsoi'v. on applicants for blocks of land to apply in the/same public way that cant's tor mining leases have to do, and by extending the time between the receipt of. the application and the issuing of. the: Crown \ grant. By some such means! it' would be in . the hands of the miners themsel'vfes to consider how such a proposed sale w >uld- affect fchom, and would aiso give the Executive time to learn the real opinion of the district, 1 to value that opinion, aiid to actiu accordance with ;tlie true interests: of the country,, which can be, by no bandying about of. tends whatever antagonistic. to, the gold mining interest! : : ; ' " 1 ■ -V

We understand : that the' District "Surveyor is .."xoecced: .to-arrive the Maerewhenua before-we?go to press, for the pucpose: or" making the of boundaries for the Municipal Wards—'' rendered iietjessary before Naseby can he gazetted as a j\iuui<ii]3aiity. ' This' akouid net be' a 'work-of much difficulty, if the town is cut up into three Wards only,> ? which, we think, would be sufficient. It is premature yet to saj- anything about; the elections, but we- hope that; very shortly we shall be able f> reap the advantages, Ixeiqi to th« discriot ,by the underlies that Act is vicious enough—viz.,'tlidt Municipalities 'shall receive the beriefit of all licenses received within the boundaries of such; .We say vicious, because, instead of encouraging holders of property in keeping public; houses within reasonable limits, it gives a direct incentive to their propagation. The Act, how-i ever, becarhe -aw—not without a certain amount of consideration—and as ' Mount Ida stands next to Inyercargill in the amount of local taxation, 1 received' in 'the form of licenses, the sooner it receives the money back again<for, re-distributioni' in. the place, perhaps the abetter. The great' advantage of possessing a corporate -body who could take public, action—whatever might be the tone of individuals at the time such action becomes necessary—should not lightly be considered. The real merits of Municipal bodies are often overlooked, in the'face .of the very apparent absurdities. that seem to: be: spontaneously generated by their very embodiment:

, It will be seen by a paragraph in another column, clipped from the 4 Oamaru. Times/ that the Commission appointed to enquire into the sale of land to Mr. Campbell at the Maerewhenua, have done their work of personal enquiry, and have now only to mate their report to the Govern: ment. That such report will be entirely adverse to the clinching of the bargain we have not the least doubt, but confess to some Curiosity JLs to how MessrsV'Shepherd and, will propose to meet the way *>£ getting the! Government to give all and every assist tance to the enterprising men now endeavoring; to open up the- Maerewhenua I Goldfield. One of these so-cailed; diffi-1 culties is the diversion of water from one watershed to another, which will be raised in the matter of the Kakaniii Water Race Company's application; and no doubt many absurdly unpractical calculations will* be gone into regard to the climatical effects of such diversion. There is one principle, and one only, which hasj! been s found : practicable in the considera- ; tion of such objections—" The private individual must give way to the pubhc ne-ij eessityv" i.e., in matters that are siniplv;] ones of grant of right, or Tights, held ih I the Crown. Interest, however, will be: brought to bear on these objections,' and inuch patience and determination will be necessary on the .part ; of alt in the? district to enable the Maerewhenua Goldfield to get.thatfair development which is alone

needed: to put it in a position to be a source' of" considerable' revenue'" fo" the Colony, and a settlement capable of carrying a large thriving population.