HAMILTON.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 227, 11 July 1873, Page 3

HAMILTON.

(To the Editor of the Mount Ida Chronicle.) July 7,1873. ~ Sib, —It is with feelings of the greatest alarm that I learn that it is the intention of the. Perseverance Company of this place to reconstruct their dam—aptly described by you, in your late issue, as the leviathan dam. JNow, if it is allowed to be constructed on the same stupid and faulty principle, we, as residents, must indeed be blind to our own safety and that of our families and property. Had the late break away occurred in the day time instead of at night, it would not only have swept away all trace of the nearly three years labor of those energetic and persevering men, Shannon and Smith, but, as the tailings at the junction of the gullies is the favorite resort of our juvenile community, who sometimes congregate there to the number of twenty—not to mention sheep, cattle, &c. the calamity which might have happened is too fearful to contemplate. Therefore, instead of the residents of the place lulling themselves into a false security, they have a duty to perform in seeing that, if the dam be reconstructed, it is done under the supervision of a competent engineer, so that we may not have death and destruction of property suspended above us by a thread in the shape of a dam covering some four acres, containing some millions of gallons of water, and over thirty feet deep at the breast. If the dam is reconstructed on the old principle, another accident is only too likely to occur, it being next to an impossibility to make it secure by attempting to plu<* up a rock tunnel with soil. The soil will settle when the water covers it, but the roof of a rock tunnel, unfortunately for the proprietors, will not settle with it, thus at once making ah exit for the water. Those of the party who possess common sense would be only doing their, duty in trying to .convince those who have not of. the responsibility they are taking upon themselves, in reconstructing the dam, however profitable it may be to them on the whole.—l am, &c., . ' - ■ Paterfamilias.

(To the Editor of the Ida Chronicle.) Sir—As a measure is likely to be : brought before the General Assembly dur- j ing the ensuing session for tiie. extension of the franchise, I should like to offer a few remarks on the subject. Generally speaking, Ofcago is governed : by_ cockatoos and miners. These classes -being considerably in the majority can return to Parliament whom they please, while another very numerous class—- : equally as intelligent, and far more interested in the real settlement of the coun-try—-have no voice whatever in. public affairs. Amongst this class are a large number of business men, also ploughmen, shepherds, and laborers, who, strictly speaking, cannot be called householders, . and who have no need to keep miners' . rights, and are therefore, not entitled to vote. So far as the mining community are concerned, they may be said to be favored with universal suffrage. In gene-, ral, they prefer being miners to being yeomany, consequently they are indifferent to what we call real settlement. Then the cockatoos, who have now become a numerous class in the Province, are averse . to having their numbers increased. They argue that farming is already overdone, and that, if many more start the game won't pay. So, sir, we are governed by ' two classes, one of whom is indifferent and the other against the settlement of people on the land, while thousands of intelligent men, having means at their dis r posal, anxious to settle down, and capable of judging where good blocks of land should be thrown open for sale, are debarred from having a voice; in the affair. . Such a*state of things is a disgrace to our legislators. The only and most popular ! way to counterbalance this evil would be to grant manhood suffrage ; to all. classes, and the* sooner this is done, the less the Colony will suffer. We are moving heaven and earth to induce emigrants, to come to the Colony to work for wages for two or three years, and then to settle down on our waste lands; but we give these people • no power to elect representatives, while ■ those who have the power are averse to settlement, and of course elect representa- " tives of the same mind. You are, doubtless, aware, Mr Editor, that the most prosperous of our middle class settlers, are men who have been, ploughmen, shepherds, and laborers. In these capacities they made money, and at the same time gained Colonial experience, which eminently fitted them to. become

(successful settlers ; but during the last ' five Or six years this class- of men have been steadily.leaving our shores, and carrying their savings to other Colonies —as, during that period, almost all good land for settlement has been locked up through party strife in our Provincial Council, and the effects of this strife on our land laws brings about their annual amendment, so that they have become so complicated as to be scarcely understood. list us hope for better - things in the future. Let class legislation cease, and let manhood suffrage be granted, and the Colony, will prosper.—l am, &c., Fair-Play.