THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1873.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 250, 19 December 1873, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1873.

Last week we drew attention to the desirability of a Hundred being opened for selection on the Maniototo Flam. Jf gold»mining is not assisted by other industries, the semi,stagnation which has been the rule in go many localities •of the district during the last year or two roust continue, Nothing but the opening up of land for settlement will ; improve the communications, and en* able the residents up-country to parti, cipate, at a very slightly enhanced cost, in the benefits to be obtained on the coast, It requires no great fore* eight to perceive that, provided the wqpl market keeps, up, and the Manictoto Plain the Ida Valley are unoccupied by agriculturists, the country's debts will prove a, great temptation to any Q-overnmenr to sell-fine land as being golelypastbral, at ridiculously low priogs. When the formation of railways is'spoken of we are met over and over again by the questions, Where is tbe money to come from ? Will it pay ? We have long been converts to a belief that, in all and every case where a road carrying traffic has to' be maintained, a railroad could be.maintained more cheaply, But waiving that opinion, let us in turn ask a question' If 200,000 acres, with cartage at £9 per ton, are worth 10s, an acre, what would they be worth if a railway placed goods within the settlers reach at &l per ton? Bail communication haß been proved to trebled the value pf land in Southland-=-in one case alone of 5,000 acres the speculator pocketing £10,000; he bought at £1 per acre and sold at £3,. The difference in valued'the Maniototo Plain—not reck* oninsj the hill country-=-with rail com. munioation and without, .is some £200,000, Il'improvedcommunications are delayed till speculators have bought the land by agreemeut, they will get the benefit, If, however, a moderate portion is opened to the people, and the remainder conserved until commu-, nications are effected, the countrywould get this ;£2OO,OQQ-=-mp.re than sufficient to pay for the railway itself, We have purposely ignored the im. mense area of country along she line pf route, either by way of Waihemo, Strathtaieri,or Maerewheuua,, all whioh routes are available,

' The excessive waste of money yearly, and diversion of labor, both human and animal, i'vom more legitimate ! and equally profitable undertakings than n]avip,g through ruts and mudholep, has tempied us to stray from what we intended to d r a\v attention to nt tine outapt of this article—ths settlement for

many years of-Any further difficulty of grazing' rights abofxt -Naßeby and the other towns in the'district if a Hundred of 50,OQOacres were declared. It would be the interest of every owner of more than ten head of cattle to purchase on the Hundred, f©r a small treehold would at the first carry a eonsu derable grazing right. He then would find it his interest to use his stock in connection with Ms -farm, and while feeding .one he would find he enriched and made profitably fertile the other,. A large class of cattle who at present are the black sheep of the run. holders, would thus be removed to where they had m actual right without | fear or favor, at nearly as small an expenditure of money in. one sum as they were paying yearly-—if they were honest—for their former half-and-half right. If this class of stockowners were thus removed ' from the immediate neighborhood of the tow»B, a very small commonage would h© amply sufficient to maintain all the working horses and the few cows in milk of the resident families. It might, indeed, be quite feasible to agree with a runholder whose run should be unmolested to give up a portion for public purposes, It must be remembered that however anxious we or our representatives may be to obtain permanent settlement of the interior to the advantage of the district, all efforts will be fruitless if the people themselves will take no interest .or action in their own advancement. If every inhabitant of the Province would look upon himself as having a right as a co-equal with any other, be he rich or poor, to provide by forethought for his own and others advantage, _ public opinion would be less spasmodic—more vitally beneficial and powerful—and that great curse to any country, of a dependence upon a few individuals only, would be altogether removed, Jjand for efficient settlement can be only obtained at present under the law by taking advantage of the clauses in tho "Waste Lands Act which provide for the declaration of Hundreds. There should be no difficulty in selecting a "block fulfilling all the conditions requh'od, and sufficiently removed from the G-oldfteld outlets to be a very trifling source of danger to mining, ft is probably better to incur a slight risk in that direction, and determine to shape -future legislation with a due regard to the gold-miners' necessities than to stand still and let speculators swallow' up the lands at nominal prices whether we will or no.

Thebe is a veryuneasy feeling preva* lent among practical men in the dis. rtriot -that the Sludge: Channel, as at present laid off; willr/not prove so bene* fiiiial as it might be'made to be. To :the; ; broad iorm: this feeling generally finds vent, we dissent entirely, forthej?e. can b©/rio doubt tha,t, oon* structed of a sufficiently;durable nature and on .scientiflciprinciples,, .as.a mere agent to carry off tailings and prevent •further accumulation,.the Channel will work well, It should not be forgotten that the original idea. Of the 0 hannel wa? thefacility it might offer as a'darrier of tailings, ngt.'anr'opeher up /'.of new ground. It is v now,/hpweyer, it may b© made, to jaerve a\double pur« pose-=not only to ;! parry; tailings, but", to open up about few miles of auriferous ground, Itiis, then,, simply a matter of expense, ■:• Erom the prospects already made by 'the Miners' Association^—which, ; no doubt, .'that body would supplement if necessary—a large extent of rich ground has been traced and bottomed, , It has. also been shown that the Channel, at its present depth, will not bottom this ground.- It then becomes merely a matter of arithproportion sum, If it will cost so many thousand pounds to cut the Channel as : at present laid off, and the additional gold returns (independent of the Head liaee) are nil, what extra expense would-it be justifiable in going to to obtain the mineral wealth contained in four'square miles, more or less, of rich payable ground. The point, raised is of such great importance to the district and to the GoTernment that a full inquiry should be made before it becomes necessary in any way to interfere with the contractors, At present, by—commencing at the point now reached-*=*a very slight reduction in the gradient, every pur* pose can be met, The main expense, it should be borne in mind, is not a foot or /two in depth of cutting, but the stone wort, which at any depth is exactly the same"cost, It would be satisfactory, at any rate, if it were known what the Government do. intend to do, The difficulty has, been raised before, and been represented to the Engineer, who, having since visited the ground, has probably, given -it his attention, The fullest publicity should be given as to any determination arrived at', or possibly we may hear, in answer to our objections raised hereafter with a faulty work, Oh, why did you-not object sooner, when there was tirne P How can we object when we are kept in ignorance of what is proposed to be done ? We believe that there Ms a time for all things—a lime to speak, and a time to' keep silence. The time to speak has - now arrived, "We only hope pur voice and the voice of the district,' through its representative bodies, will be listened to while the members of the Provincial Executive are in Naseby, that a personal visit may be made to the ground,- and a 'full inquiry instituted at the hands of experienced' men who have been and are mow working in the localities affeoted. y