TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 235, 5 September 1873, Page 6

TOPICS OF TALK.

pjftOßpiy, /.as- we anticipated lajst sr.eek,' i; is going wild • about•harbor Nothing will do to save her—fby .the bye, just now the ipous part of the Province—-but deepening the harbor: we might add/'also jSlling it in for it really amounts to that. The only plan by which a channel could be constructed, as a permanent road for large vessels, would be by walling the sides. Other, the tidal scour would only be.an gaemy to the scheme, by abrading the edges of the dredged channel, and Swiftly, though silently, bringing all Once more to the same uniform level, ft is very easy to say, Look at the Clyde. People really seem almost to {think that the Clvde inide Glasgow, instead of (xlasgow having made the Clyde —to its own benefit, we grant. Then, too, the Clyde would never have paid any less important town than to keep open for those first years' struggle with Nature, before the jchannet was permanently walled from. K;ty. In'4s; the resident en« ortcd that it was necessary )m 160,000 to 180,000 tons maintain the depth, and this cpendituro of oyer £45,000 g had been incurred, and a nt valued" at £39,000 had bained. Since then the exhas been very ; great- indeed. , too,- it should be reraemjbered, offers a permanent scour in all limes of near a mile an hour, and in freshes of two miles to nearly four per hour. Then, again, the work that is fyqw going on in Dunedin harbor of Acclamation is directly against such an Open channel, and must be very materially altering already the depth of fchd present channel. It is a principle pa engineering science, stated by D4yi,4'Stevenson, that "-the niore' the influence can be extended, line larger the amount of-backwater that can be obtained, the greater-will £>p the benefit conferred on the navigation from the bar upwards." 'We rot in our reach Mr.-Balfour's {report, nor would we in any case pretend to dispute his conclusions. The work is no doubt quite an easy one to jjmgiueering science, but the necessary outlay would be unjustifiable at the expense of the Province. When Dun£uiu can herself construct sdch a |york, it will be necessary andfemuiie:-yitive-—not till then. Dunodiu should "jpaake the deep channel, not the deep //channel Dunedin. Of eourse,'*if it were Jikely to cheapen imported; goods to the consumers generally, and so in/jreasp the prosperity of the country, it would .be different; but shat has never been proved, nor is it Jikely to be. When the time does 'pome that the country's railway cannot carry with sufficient celerity the -Requisite traffic, an extra line of rails %ill be a far cheaper and more solid Speculation and remedy than an attempt to raise the value of properties frought on the reclaimed ground about |)unedin •'-at the expense of Port Chaliners and the Colony.

'.■'''Kia&liar Fraseii has taken up the pause of the lunatics, not apparently feefore a champion was needed. It

appears that there are at present 600 ' tunatiL's in'the various asylums hi the Colony, some of whom are evidently "Very improperly attended toV At flawWs Bay, for instance, Captain Friaer found, in the local institute,

geven lunatics—four uieri and-three . sromen. *' Three of the men," he £sid, " for want of curative treatment/ jjad become idiotic and incurable ; the '-■ fourth'was restless, and had been placed in a cell —it was cheaper than anyone being appointed to attend him. regard to the female patient's,' of them, he presumed for want of purative treatment, had become -incur--and the third case left a very sad Jnjnreßsiou upon his mind : it was that ' ' pf a young married woman who was ''buffering from puerperal mania, and sr&B far advanced in pregnancy, and '' 'tbem wag no matron in the gaol." 'A •.. yatber good eaae was, however, spoilt t>>* the introduction of the ludicrous 'Element, Captain Fraser rather piteexclaimed that '* during the whole ~.isJme:J3fM * connection with the Otago jwylHin, %e had. npyfr had- th^jsatjpfae-

] tion of seeing a member of the G-'eiieral Government within its walls/' Verily he will soon have.that satisfaction, if the continued stir ring-up of the Otago representatives goes on much, longer. We continually get telegrams that Mr. :Bathgate ■;.." was roused/' ".was considerably &c..; his colleague, the not faring much better. some retreat.is very soon provided'for'the Ministerial Jonah, instead of ..the whale's., belly, he may possibly.be driven to visit the Dunedin asylum, to the satisfaction of Captain Praser.

The Hon. lioberfc Campbell writes to the I Guardian' in reference to the Maerewhenua block. He says: — " Now that I am, the,-. purchaser, it would afford me the utmost gratification if those who have written and agitated upon this question would point out.to me this auriferousground. I have seen such statements as, ' This is-a huge goldfielcL' It is with the utmost regret I cannot coincide with the views of those who written and declaimed on this subject. • It would be vastly to my interests if theit statements were correct. As, however, I wish to encourage mining enterprise, I make them this offer :. ; I will give a very liberal reward to any person who points out to me five acres of payable auriferous ground in the block lately purchased from the Government. This is not a large amount out of 12,000 acrei." "We would suggest that some one brings Mr. Campbell to book. We have heard of old ladies offering liberal rewards for lost pets, and old gentlemen for lost purses—such liberal rewards turning out to be the smallest coin of the realm. Xet' Mr. Campbell state what be will give, ; and it might be worth while for a party to prospect. However, the evils of the sale were not the. gold the block contained, but the way it lockedup-land-'in the immediate vicinity of a good diggings, and also, to a more or less extent, shut up the outlets/ and possibly- interfered with future water rights from the Otekaike. ~.,.-...