TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 232, 15 August 1873, Page 6

TOPICS OF TALK.

A certain Major W. Finnimore has made himself famous somewhat as follows : —The gallant major apparently is an auctioneer, and ha 3 watched with considerably disturbed feelings the large profits that have, been accruing from the sale.of Government land in the North Island. At last be .writes to Mr. Haughton to advocate the next block being sold privately to bim, at a fixed price, and then allowed to be put up publicly by auction as a bona fide G-overnment sale. Mr. Haughton is offered half the profits accruing from this sale, while he is assured that in no case can he lose. Major Finnimore says further that he hates begging, " or else, as an old resident in the Colony of some thirty year.s' standing, having * 'seen hard service in tbe different native wars, and having been twice ruined bv them, I miijht, with some

show of reason, ask for a large slice of land, as I have yet never had one single rood given me. by eithe? General or Provincial Governments. This ought to weigh with the Government,- as I have both in the field and out of it 'worked and fought hard for thorn. If the venture is successful, as you participate equally with me, there is the prospect on the one hand of putting a large sum in your pocket, while, on the other, you have no risk, and consequently no loss." His confidant did not see it, and handed the letter to the Government. The chagrin and dismay cf the bold speculator—not a bad edition, by the way, of Halliburton's General Corncob —may be easily conceived. One thing is satisfactory, that waste lands are rising so much in value that it sis worth while, fur our cute Northern neighbors to offer dB2 ss. per acre in an. underhand way —and this for. land some fifty or seventy miles , from Wanganui.

Residents at St. Bathans are not contented to allow their district to become, paralysed'for want of enterprise. Several works of importance are-being undertaken, of which we hope to speak ■ further from observation at an early ■ date. In the meantime, we must be ' content to repeat what Mr. Warden' o- Robinson has to say in his report: —' "I have again been • called upon to' take charge of St. Bathans. Here, as at Hyde, ..the large scale, upon which ..sluicing is, carried, on precludes any sudden changes, but I am happy, to be able to note that at least one. enterprise of magnitude is in progress. I aliu,de to the large water race from the Manuherikia Rive:*, now in course of construction by Halley and Co. This, party are displaying great energy and perseverance. Their race, when, completed, will bring in a fine stream of water, but it cannot be finished under twelve or eighteen months more. -Another important work, projected but not yet begun, is the construction of a large sludge channel in Muddy Creek, which is the outlet for the workiug of a large extent of auriferous ground."

A movement was initiated by Mr. Stout duriug the last few days in which the Provincial Council was sitting, to establish a Normal School or Training College for teachers. \£t apparently was intended to combine a school for teachers with an, additional District School. Mr. Oliver pressed that an additional School Inspector should be appointed, as it was impossible for the present gentleman to overtake the work siugle-handed. There, is no doubt that the schools, to be.made really serviceable, must be submitted to a more systematic inspection.. We have often expressed our somewhat heretical belief that the school system of Otago is not; at all a matter to be boasted of, but rather a system that has been treated with soporifics too long, aud that'would be highly benefitted by a sharp course of tonics. Probably Mr. Mackellar. was right in stating that the remuneration offered to teachers would never tempt men—who would satisfy a sufficiently high —stan lard to undertake the offices. Mr. Stout carried his point, but probably nothing will come of it.

Much correspondence has been published of late, not only.in this.'-journal but in nearly nil the newspapers

throughput the Province; relative to the state of the : roa.ds —;the surfacemen especially have been blamed .as idle and useless. Probably it is the system that- is in fault, and not. the men employed, under it. Just now, for instance, what can these men do ? At the'-most, on a fine thawing day* go. along the road with a shovel and let' off the water where possible. In tbe' summer their labor is nearly !as useless, for they tben are employed iti filling up ruts that the heavy waggons ' and the wind would very soon fill quite independently of any other help. If surfacemen are to be employed, we think the best way would be to keep them all the summer breaking metal and laying it in hea,ps handy to places likely to cut up soft, to.be laid at the end of summer on the road.. What, however, we intended to say, when commencing this paragraph, was that it is no use in the world abusing- the surfacemen for the errors and mismanagement of their superiors. If we wanted to be. educated into idleness v.e would turn surfacemen. Still, what can be done by two good men has been shown in the immediate neighborhood of jVaseby during the last two years, and how little on that portion between Eden Creek and Hills Creek —possibly also in the Waihemo district. *

Nevek before has Naseby been so exercised in matters clerical as during the last week. Three clergymen—one a bishop—officiated in the Masonic Hall ]ast Sunday, in addition to the usual services held by the other denominations. We fully expect to see a school of modern rationalists arise here out of pure antitheses. This school of reasoners to be found in most places ' : seem to look upon priests as smugglers who bring in contraband from Heaven," and so they " form themselves into a company who call themselves philosophers to go out on the preventive service." There is to us a j height, depth, and breadth of Christianity, to be in a measure—sentimentally, perhaps—realised by the grand though bleak surroundings of our location —as it were, in the wilderness — : that is sadly marred and blurred, if not altogether lost sight of, when so much is made of the shell or form- in which-the clerics Used essence of spirituality shall be conferred, water-pot like, upon the laity, for an hour or two one day out. of seven. How strangely, words- get perverted from their original meaning. '1 h-3 ..Church .originally was —or we very much err—typical, or rather embodical, of the whole number of Christian-units composing that Church ; now we talk of the Church and.the State, just as if the State was not the Church,-and that individuals comprising the State were a Theos indeed. To our thinking, if it were not ; perhaps for training the younjj and for i decency's sake, Religion, as represented by those believing in a redeemed world and a personal responsibility, might well rest .on the doctrines so plainly laid down by St. Paul, upon whose shoulders, as the Earth on those of \tlas, Christianity,might very well stand to all time. We should then no longer be troubled, iu small communities of some 400 or 500 souls, with the cry —not of Cephas but Apcdlos.

One move word on Church • matters that . indeed are ntft very suitable to our columns, as being the phosphorus tipping the allegorical " small match " of Solomon—kindling so great a .fire and we leave the subject to the people themselves. The speakers at the public meeting: —the proceedings of which are reported elsewhere expressed their confidence that the district was. able to support a resident Episcopalian clergyman, and the meeting, by tacit consent, agreed to so bind themselves. It occurs to us to reckon up this liability : Stipend, £300; passage money, £SO ; Church rent, say £26; rental allowance for parsonage, £4O ; • Church cleaning, &c, £5 ; horse and maintenance, £46 ; total, £467. This does not include the money to be raised to redeem the proposed mortgage on par sonage —probably some £6OO or £7OO. We believe that those who at. present may owe arrears of say £lO to .their tradesmen will simply, by giving £2 to the Church, owe £l-2 to their confiding, creditors. The present state of bnsi-

ness, in-Naseby at any rate, is not satisfactory. There are many deserving people who, from the inclemency of the weather and disappointed hopes, are in arrears, and those people could not refuse their mite of support to an active pergonal canvass. If we are rights—and. we are quite willing to be proved wrong—we would ask, Is it charity—acceptable charity—to give away other people's money, be the cause how good it may—or even to urge a possible few to such a course ? We do not think that the district, fulfilling its other liabilities, can at present—nor, indeed, probably for two years to come —stand, this additional strain with credit. . We have before now seen a Church in this place reduced to a.per- \ sonal humiliating canvass to enable lit not to repudiate engagements for personal visitations too hastily agreed upon. We give our opinion, as in duty bound, and leave the matter, as far as we are concerned, for ever.

It is somewhat singular that in< this district the price of water per sluicehead has retained so high a price, the more so when we consider that water is no scarcer here than.in other districts where the price is lower. We quote the prices for. the, different ■ districts in Otago, as given in the General Report made up to March 31, 1873, for presentation to the Houses of Assembly:—

It will, be seen that Blacks, where cradling is a leading feature, and water hardly sold at all, is the only district at all coming near Mount Ida in price paid for water. .

: District. , Priced Inches. -————:'. •; .—-i —■—■ —.———^i_i___— ■■ - .. Mount Ida .. ..-■' £l- : lSs.; : .::^. Tuapeka ., Blacks* .v. .. ■i:<i*40s} : S Teviot ... ., ,::.. £2l0s.:%, 80to;100 Dunstan .. £0 15s: to £2 ; 20; to 80 Queenstown .. ,. £0 10s. to £2 ■■;-<4&.* :■.':. Arrow .. :: ■ £2--.5a:'r : ::;-;-'-: m