MISCELLANEOUS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 238, 26 September 1873, Page 7

MISCELLANEOUS.

A correspondent to the ' G-uardian,' referring to the proposed dredging of the harbor, says :—" How stands the case ? In connection with our harbor we have already one work completed which, must be maintained, which has already cost the Colony a sum of £200,000. that is the Port Chalmers and Dunedin Bail way. This taking-money at the rate of six per cent., is now costing atthe rate of four shillings per ton on 60,000 tons of goods per annum. Yet above this we now propose to undertake another work at an expense of say £200,000, for the purpose of bringing up vesselsof large tonnage to the jetties at Dunedin, by dredging the harbor, so that goods may bo landed and stored in the stores of the consignees at about the same expense as it at present costs to have them removed from the railway sheds to the stores, thus saving the four shillings per ton for carriage from Port. So far the picture looks very well, but it has a background, as a necessary consequence, which I fear "Subscriber" lias never examined, and it adds a profound interest to the obtruding foreground. Has he cast his eye over the amount of money already paid for interest on the railway ? Well, let us add to this another sum'of £200,000, and we double that amount of interest annually paid, thus amounting to a cost equal to four shillings of 120,000 tons of goods, this being merely interest, payment of which has to be continued, independent of maintenance, or the refunding of principal : So that if the amount should not be raised directly by carriage, it must be indirectly by taxation in another form. Hence, ii we get the harbor improvements —a most desirable

thing in itself—what will be taken off the one side will be multiplied by two and placed on the other. If " Subscriber" can show the farmer of Tokomairiro, Taieri, and Clutha where their saving will be, he will do the Province a good by solving the problem. If the merchants of Dunedin are the Province, then it will be an easy matter for him to prove his position; but, if not, he stands on the wrong scale." The following letter appeared in the ' Nelson Evening Mail' a few days ago : —" Mr. Macandrew, representing the progressive Province of Otago, recently appeared in the House of Representatives in a suit of Mosgiel tweed, with hat and boots of Dunedin manufacture. "* I wonder how many of our JN~elson representatives appeared in suits of Nelson tweed. It appears to me that we are wanting in that regard for Colonial and Provincial manufacture which some of our more progressive Provinces display.- 11l vote for the man who patronises local manufactures." —'Star.' It will be remembered that when the lads Gately and Mulligan were charged with being neglected children at the. Police Court a few weeks ago, the master of the Industrial School impressed on the Bench the evils that would follow were the former to be sent to the school. The Bench, however, not wishing him to associate with the criminal class, ordered him to the Institution. He ran away one day last week, -taking Mulligan with him. Search was immediately made, and Gately went back the next day; and Mr. Britton took Mulligan from his father's house.—' Star.' Qun Working- Men.—The following opinion would apply to almost any part of Otago where Government laborers are employed. Says the ' Cromwell Argus' —Some arrangements should be made by the Government with the Banks in this Province, whereby the men employed on the road might be able to get their monthly "vouchers" cashed. At present, the Banks will only take them for " collection;" and storekeepers look very suspiciously at them, at least when presented by men who may happen to be personally unknown to them. The l)ri T B.4CK Eeefs. — So far .as we have been able to ascertain there is positively nothing being done at these reefs, and' those interested have no reason to feel jubilant at the result of their past outlay. . One of the great drawbacks to some returns on the expended capital' being realised is set down to the difficulty experienced in obtaining coal for crushing, the scarcitj 7 - at the pit's mouth, and the high rates of cartage demanded included. Previous to the winter setting in with its excessive rainfall and consequent almost impassable roads, the hitch was the limited quantity of water, available for machine purposes—the drainage from the surrounding hills being of far too limited an area to supply anything like the quantity required. This cause will be found to seriously retard crushing operations on both the Perseverance and Shag Valley Freehold Co's., claims. We believe that the claim known as Pearco and Company's, in connection with which machinery was erected at M'Cormick's Greek some time back for crushing with water power, promises to pay as well, if not better, than any claim on these reefs, as a large expenditure will be saved in the substitution ol water for steam. We understand that it is the indention of the present holders of this claim to work'it in a systematic manner—all the working shareholders being practical miners themselves, and consequently givingthem an interest in the result. . In reefs' such as the one referred to, we have no in saying that' this is by far the best plan on which to work them. If they w r ill not , pay in the hands of interested workmen, we fail to see how they p»n do so where the men engaged are paid wages. In the one case the more energetic and persevering the workmen the better it is for themselves ; while on the other, no matter 1 what efforts are put forth in the interest of the shareholders, the vnsult will be the same to the men employed. Before the Dunback Beefs will, in our opinion yield a return to the shareholders for the capital expended, some more effective system of working the claim must be resorted to than that at present in existence. —'Waikouaiti Herald.'