TOPICS OF TALK

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 237, 19 September 1873, Page 6

TOPICS OF TALK

It is not often that we make public confession of our ambitions, or desires. The exception shall prove the rule: simply, we are very anxious to see in the flesh, bones and all—being osteologists, or judges of character from the bony - development—a writer to the ' North' Otago Times ' who signs himself " Clo.docrat," and who heads his remarks "My Own Thoughts.'? Just as if original thought was so common a thing that a man could, off-hand, fill a coluina or two of a newspaper with his own thoughts. There is nothing new under the sun. Gunpowder, electricity, steam—all what we are accustomed to call, somewhat boastfully, the results of modern thought, can be traced to the times and country of Confucius. Quartz mining even, which some say is only in its infancy, was understood and followed in the days of Job. No man can judge that any idea he may think legitimately to claim as his own is nntinged by what he has learnt—is not merely a partial reflection of what has been said or written much better many scores of times before. Writers may be classed into two sets—one that pilfers honestly, for those who have not time to steal for themselves ; and the other, that pilfers just as much and more, only hangs out the signboard " My Own Thoughts," &c.

.. Mr. Fox's Permissive Bill opens up the whole question of the " tyranny of majorities." Two-thirds of the inhabitants—male and female—in any district, are to have power to dictate to the remaining third as to whether they shall drink in a public house or in their own houses. Suppose the same principle was applied to other matterssay education, criminal law, management of philanthropic institutes—asylums, for instance—how Avould it work? Could it be trusted ? Dare we say that for all time the majorities will be for law and order, decency and truth ? Does history justify such an affirmed belief? Chartist riots—persecutions, even to the stake and torture chamber, of Catholics and Huguenots— Reigus of Terror in France—are these not all agiinst such a hopeful hypothesis ? True, the majorities are more educated, more highly cultured, than those of the times to which we refer* Yet, looking back further still, to ages probably more refined and more highly educated than our own—when ancient Rome and Athens were in their glory —is it not still the same : an utterly untrustworthy majority ? It is to be feared that the idea of finding, as a rule, majorities that could, in all cases, be safely entrusted with deciding what is . best for themselves and for the minorities, will not be realised this side of Utopia. j

Mil Fox's Bill, however, opens up a more practical matter, for discussion —viz.,.the licensing authorities. It has been objected to the present system of licensing that local Justices are subject to inconvenient local pressure and influences, and that even where these are not apparent in new applications, yet they must—it has been taken for granted—affect decisions as to renewals—or, rather, refusals—of licenses already existing. Be this as it may, a unpleasant on in is at present thrown on the honorary magistrates, that they would be very glad to get rid .of. It is proposed to place this matter of licensing in the hands of a Board, to be elected by the district residents themselves. Mr. Vogel pro- ! posed a peripatetic Commissioner—a I plan we rather incline to, provided that such an officer was not the direct slave of the (to vera merit of the day, but an officer holding a permanent officesimilar to a District Court Judge. It is possible that otherwise, where°money was wanted to swell an .unsatisfactory budget;, licenses might be very easily obtained. A hotel, the ordinary business of which is subsidiary to the bar, should not be licensed ; on the other h'aud, where the bar is handmaiden only to the hotel proper, a license should' issue. The evidence of the Police should be conclusive on the point ; and it would not even be a great hardship to throw the burden of sich proof through the local Polios upon the publican applying for a li-

cense. • Such a system would have this advantage, • that all blame that might afterwards arise would fall upon the constables, who would, in self-de-fence, take care to satisfy themselves as to the nature of the business before giving favorable evidence. A probationary license could issue to new houses —say for sis months.

Two Acts were passed through the Assembly—in 1871 and 1872, we think —to encourage the planting of forest trees'... These Acts are permissive, as far as the Provinces are concerned. Otago has now declared herself under them, by resolution carried in last session of the Council, and some very liberal regulations were drawn up and published for general information in the ' Provincial Gazette.' Anyone who plants an acre with frees of any description, and brings them up to a certain standard of height (according to the sorts) in five years, will be entitled to a free grant of another acre where he chooses to select it—that is to say, in blocks open for agricultural purposes. It cannot be doubted that it would pay handsomely to form plantations of quick-growing, hardy trees on the G-oldfields. The ten-year old timber would be invaluable for slabbing purposes, quite irrespective of the value of waste for firing. The lines of light railway that are sure in that time to Wave been formed, through the interior main lines of communication, will give an alternative market, making a good speculation almost a certainty. The runholders in the district —who, we observe, are taking up their pre-emptive rights under the Land Act of 1872—might well turn their attention to the desirability of planting on a large scale. Anyone, however, can get land on which to plant by making application to the proper quarter. We do not pretend to give here quacklike specific directions. Full particulars can be seen on reference to the ' G-azette ' of a few weeks ago.

Is - old countries old grooves are very hard to get out of, even where the need of repair or of fresh lubrication is very apparent. Custom and form are emperors, possibly emperics under which Europe groans. From the cradle to.the liberty of manhood, What will be thought ? What will be said ? —is the constant inquisitorial phraseology applied by and to all. In new countries, on the other hand, we encounter a greater evil: the very excesses of common sense —reason run riot—-by a too great despital of formality, throw around life an aroma of false shame, exaggeration, and materialistic quackery which, if persevered in sufficiently to take a permanent hold of a new people as a characteristic, will leave it to be a matter of regret hereafter that the good old forms —the slow-going yet safe footsteps of our ancestors—have been too hastily despised.

If the ancients equalled, or even excelled, us in what we have called above " modern thought," the present era may very well be given credit for unexampled powers of practical devel-. opment. Yet it is of interest just now to note that one of the best modes of practical boring comes from China. A jumper of considerable weight and length is suspended and worked by a rope passed over a wheel; the twisting and untwisting of the rope give the necessary rotatory motion. The is hollow, and is so contrived as to receive and retain the debris, by means i of valves opening inwards. This mode has been adopted, with very little altoration for blasting . rock. Ordinary field boring, as conducted in prospecting for coal, is a simple though rather tedious process. It is done by a chisel of an indefinite length, from 20ft. to 1,200 ft. or more, the continuous length of which is formed by pieces of iron about 9ft. long. The chisel at first, and for a number of fathoms, is lifted by the hands, until the weight becomes inconvenient to lift directly, when a lever of the first power is_introduced. The chisel, or rod, is suspended from the end of it, and the workmen exert their power at the other, while the person in charge turns the chisel by a cross piece of wood, termed a bracehead, attached to it. The process of

cutting is thus performed "by raisinothe chisel, turning it, and allowing it to fall by its own gravity; and the strata cut is proved by introducing for the lowest division of the 'chisel a hollow tube, with a valve in the bottom. When it is forced down into the bore the valve opens, and receives the broken stuff produced by the action of the chisel, which,, when brought to the surface, is washed and preserved in samples, and delivered by the borer to his employer, in proof of the journal he renders. The writer from whom we take this description says, that "To perform this description of work well great care and attention are required, and though there are frequent failures, yet a skillful workman renders a very correct description of the strata he bores through, and generally from a few well-selected bores a good general idea can be formed of a field and what it contains."