THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1872.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 199, 20 December 1872, Page 4

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1872.

It is not diffi *ult to predict that the UonfepenTO .;will shortly deveiope iuto a powepful. political bodv ; nor is this to be regrfctted. Hitherto, owing to the isolation of the mining communities ~ .an isolation partly caused by natural position, and, partly acquired by : habit—tii6 miners have •not; as yet obtaihed thatfairinfluence in the : councils of the country w hie :i is du6 to their Weight and importance, as compared with the farmer and the squatter. £ That the Conference (which seems to possess far more elements of life than the defunct Mining Commission ever showed), By its special sessions, and through the Central Committee it has called into being, will in a great measure prove a nucleus round which the miners, by means of their District Associations, will bind and coagulate—-thus attaining the force and precision of union—is a matter tor congratulation. Those who scoff and sneer at all attempts made by the., mineral to have a voice in their o vn government, will no doubt point out the elements x)f in the debates; at, Tuapeka— Stably, the gene-., ral agreement with every motion proposed. This is a symptom always to. be seen in bodies of men that have no. direct but only an iuflue. ee through recommendation. This was clearly shown to be. the case,!by the. debate as to the constitution o£ & M n.. ing. Board,- or Central which was an object within the powers of andwhichconsequently evolved quite a storm of discussion and athtnd nents. : At any rate, this symptom alone shduld not induce aft opiniol! . pontrary _to ; the durability of the O.tago Miners' A Hsbcmtion. ~ , just Hois' deal 1 with the that"-f he Confer*

ence proposes .to recommend in the present system, and to be incorporated in the new GoMfields -Sill, which is now about to be framed under the auspices of Meters. Haggitt, Mouat, and Shepherd, which we are assured is to he circulated at least three months prior to the meeting of the Assembly. As we have only the reported day. by day debates to go upon, we prefer tj wait for the report to be issued by the SubCommittee, to be laid before the General Government, which will no doubt shortly be made public. One matter the Conference decided, and that wan the place for the next meeting —Clyde, by the easting vote of the Chairman, being chosen. -Curiously enough, Mount Ida, a field that sent down ihore gold than any other district by the last escort, was not mentioned, not even accidentally, all through the debates. .Probably the members of the Conference are under the impression that, as is the case in the Buiistan, Mount Ida has a large, well organised, independent Association.-, The truth, that this large Goldfield,.worked by companies and enterprising individuals, has no lucal head, has n«j centre of communication with the Government, or with other fields, for the protection of its interests, will, we feel as. we-write, hardly be credited. It would surely be very easy to form a Mining Association, from which to choose a delegate to send to Clyde at the next Conference, and to elect a local Secretary to communicate with the Central Committee of the Otago Association. If the force of this dis

trict was thrown into the work o union now going on at Tuapeka, it ... would very much accelerate the object* „tbe Conference have in view—which, in their crude, state, are objects coin- - mob to every GoMfielditi theeountry. -ear ft>r;l ; he.akiti<)n that.cauld be.taken and

would be taken is destroyed by famili- _ arity of intercourse, /and that I "absence . from fresh men taJL attrition,.iinly to be .. found in,a representative body. The ' Morning Stai: an - 'able article on the subie-t, in words which we comineud to the earnest con - si deration of the District Associations: —" The importance of a Mining Board - ft will be in proportion; to its irnpar.u tiality, and the intelligence of its " members."