THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1874.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 257, 6 February 1874, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1874.

It should not be supposed that every Imperial Act passed is binding as rigid law upon settlers in New Zealand. On the contrary only such Actß as are of manifest general use, or deal with, large questions of morality—such as divorce and Courts of Justice—and even these have to be adopted by the Colonial Legislature. The complete liwt of all those Acts that have been so adopted since 1840 has been published m.tue proceedings of the House of Bepresentatives. "We need hardly say that we see there no sign of the adoption of any Act at all bearing upon the question of river pollution. In 1868 a Commission was appointed in England to inquire into the best means of preventing the pollution of rivers. The fifth report, lately issued, deals with pollutions arising from mining operations and metal manufacturing. The Commissioners thus state conclusions':

We are nf opinion that any law having for its objecl. the prevention ot river pollution should (1) absolutely forbid, under adequate penalties the casting of solid matters in river channels. (2) Enact the foregoing of purity, below which, any liquid discharged into water courses should, with the exceptions already mentioned, be forbidden. (3) Give power to all manufacturers In towns, except those of gas, paraffin oil, pyroligneous acid, animal charcoal, tinplote and galvanised iron, to discharge, their drainage waters info the town sewers under suitable regulations. (4.)

Confer additional powers on corporations, local boards, manufacturers, and mmeowners to take lan I compulsorily under " provisional order," for the purport] of storing thuir waste refuse, or of cleansing sewage or other foul liquids, either by irrigation, filtration, or otherwise. We are further of opinion that the equal and efficient administration throughout the country of any Act that may be passed for these purposes would be best secured by the appointment of inspectors, to whom should be committed the duty of detecting and proving offences against the law, and of proving the conviction of offenders.. We are,, .moreover, strongly of opinion that, in order to secure the independence of these inspectors from local influences, they should, like the inspectors under the Alkali Act, hold their appointments from Government. The first clause of this report gives: it as a matter of, opinion that any law, to be effectual, must actually forbid the casting of solid matters into river channels, and is tantamount to saving that at that date no law was in force , sufficient of itself to interfere with '. such pollution. We came to the same conclusion, from what we could glean of the Salmon Fisheries Act of 1861; the two together seem to make it certain that all legislation on the subject prior to 1840 must be very weak, indeed quite insufficient* to "attach any illegality to those who make use of rivers for industrial purposes. It is certain that an inquiry board of English Commissioners would be furnished with all existent legislation bearing upon the point. We are sorry that we do not know who constituted this important Commission ; we have no doubt that at least one lawyer of eminence would be included. We regret that, with our very limited means of reference, we are unableto immediately obtain the four preceding reports. They are, however, only of value to us as establishing, the inference of previous non-legislation in this vexed question of river pollution. It is apparent that,, if there, is no enactment against the fouling of streams, there can be no special right attachingto freeholders giving them power to interfere with manufacturing and other industries; for the meaning of a right is something that we are protected in the enjoyment of. The old feudal rights, so often spoken of as being guarantees of especial sanctity to real estate, were no such thing. Bight of fidelity by oaths, free acknowledgments, and reciprocal obligations entered into all ranks, whether freemen, lords, or villains—an attachment which, in modern times, has taken the other shape of connection only through mutual interest. This system led to the recognition of the duties of property rather than its rights. In the sixteenth century, when the merchants of London were beginning to settle themselves by the side of the old nobility on the lands, first as rivals and afterwards, in a great measure, as supersederß, the feudal system received'its first great weakening blow, to very soon after gradually decay. Mr Froude says —"The feudal system, though practically modified, was still [in the sixteenth century] the organising principle of the nation, and the owner of land was bound to military service at home whenever occasion required. Further, the land was to be so administered that the accustomed number of families supported by it should not be diminished, and that the State should suffer no injury from the carelessness or selfishness of the owners." And, again, he says of the same period—a period that had not violated any old principle by revolution, but that faithfully reflected older times—"Of liberty, m the modern sense of the word, of the supposed right of every man to do what he will with his own, or with himself, there was no idea. To the question (if ever it was naked) —May I not do what I will with my own ? there was the brief answer—No man may do what is wrong either with what is his own or with that which is another's." Thus it will clearly be seen that what peculiar rights may have attached to holders of land under the old laws they were more than balanced by the duties of service to the State and the people required from them. These duties are now not enacted by law, nor are they I voluntarily proffered. It is an entirely new feature in English history for trade and speculation to be carried on with the people's birthright—the land —and cannot by any pretence be supposed to carry with it ancient rights, the duties attaching to which are care, fully kept in the background and shirked. Notably among these being the duty of keeping on the soil the greatest number of people possible in plenty and comfort.