THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1874.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 262, 14 March 1874, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1874.

The small concession of land offered to emigrants and Colonists under tbe deferred payment system is not -hastily to be rejected. Nevertheless, no absurdity can be greater than a dole, of 30,000, acres, a-year to„ a. Province increasing enormously in wealth -and hereditary population, altogether irrespective of the impetus caused by forced immigration. "We learn now of 700 immigrants arriving in Otago, in one ship alone. The land open for settlement, in twelve months, to this one importation, would not be forty-three acres a-head. As to what other land is open for settlement' we know not. We can answer for it there is none between Palmerston and Clyde, a distance of over 100 miles, excepting the small block in the Tiger Hill district, near Blacks—nearly all taken up. At "the same time,' our agents at Home have to set forth* with what conscience they may, the extreme liberality of the Colonial laws, and their adaptability.to ' the universal desire of settlers to es-' tablish homes. Even if the land available by law for- declaration in blocks on the deferred payment system in "any I one.year was increased in.quantity—if ' the acreage was to be increased to j 100,000 instead of only 30,000—it is a system that is very unjust to a class that deserve" the greatest consideration —that is those who have already set-" '• tied title L or "less uuceri tain, on the waste lands of the Crown. j A great number of such settlements j were effected a few years under the Agricultural' Lease before that system was confined to declared blocks. Many' inentook fifty, acres on the lines of traffic, fenced, them in, built farm 4 buildings, erected; machinery for chaff-cuttmg, and,- in some' i cases'went to expense to bring, on to I their-small-steadings-water power to" i drive their simple machinery. Thus,in many cases; ah expensequite out of proportion to the extent of at first taken up has been incurred, in, , the expectation that, as that ground i was fenced and cultivated, the proprieI tors would be able to-extend their 1 farms on t the same'or on some other 1 analogous principle. "What do they. i find, however? That they cannot obtaifi" a single a.cre ! .Whatever .distance'they may be from a selected block it is no matter—they must/settle: there,-! and 1 there only. It' is-quite"'-useless for them to show to- the Waste Lands Board .that the fifty, acres .adjoining to their homestead—or, perhaps,' divided by a spur.of rocks and'.rocky ground —is quite good-enoughfor them ; they seek no better, and will gladly pay any reasonable t for v it,- rock and all. They aie told,-" Who are you, that you should pick the eyes out of the~coun-'" try ?—(An actual fact within pur.own knowledge.)-. . As, a consequence, the settler hasr.to -struggle on.as best he his ground in artificial pasture; or; put on a few head of cattle, or-heavy, sheep to keep in the. heart" of the' grourid,~/he is forced to-crqp and re-crop, "with" no -means of-paying back-to the soil for what, he takes from. it,, till his'" tion—for the first three years so fruitful and profitable—returns him little* but wire'-weed and sorrell.-,'Ndt then : is the unfortunate quite useless in" the" eye of the system that has Kept:-Him down, for his case points a/.'moral. We then hear of the miserable cockatoo who has taken ground to the annoyance of others, and to his own' arid' its ruin' and waste. It is convenient, theD, to forget'that this-poverty, arid waste is the direct fruit of a system that at one time'encourages settlement' only to starve it out at another.,' The evil is so glaring that.it is no new-thing to ask, What.remedy is possible ?> let. it is not Governments;. or .even representative bodies, who appear to seek for it. jSo far, it has been left" to the Press to point out the abuse, with what help they can from a scattered and uncommunicative .population. Hundreds are being tried—with great fear; and trembling that capital, at the price,' will monopolise the best ground, and thus defeat tbe settlement of the many. Hundreds are hardly a remedy for we point out, .for have -alh the evils of a confinement to locality. We know of no other cure but guarded free selection. ; '

, "Without speaking [dogmatically or with presumption, we would throw out suggestively-what, with our present, knowledge, we think would meet" the case; aud. not only meet individual cases, but be> generally satisfactory to all real improvers of the soil. This we would speak of as the alternate block system. Let it be supposed that all land in certain districts is "in theory divided into blocks of 100 acres each, something like'the squares on a draught board. There would be no occasion for any preliminary survey of the whole. Then let anyone, on payment of £1 an acre and the cost of survey, take up 100 acres where he likes, provided/that no 100-acre block so taken up should be attached to another—that in all cases a reserved similar block, as nearly as the. features of the ground will allow, should lie between two selected blocks ; or, rather, that, supposing one block taken up, no o;ther could be taken within a block's spaced,, .Certain compulsory .restrictions would be necessary in such a- scheme. The alternate sections would remain in the hands of the Crown temporarily, for the uses of whoever had the grazing right, for a certain fixed time—say" five years—when they too should be open for free selection at an increased price, oi- might be submitted to public competition. By such a plan any original settler would have "the opportunity to select land near his homestead;

the Crown would reap the advantage of the unearned, increment of the re- - mainder (a favorite word now-a-days of land theorists) —in plainer language, would receive the increase in value of the alternate sections—an increase caused by the settlement'of the adja- , cent areas. Nearly all journals are I agreed on the,great advantage of free 1 selection, if the dangers arising from ' dutnmyism are avoided. We commend . j our bantling notion for, at any rate, consideration, for it is out of the jumble caused by "criticisms of crude ideas that some satisfactory basis for settlement must eventually be arrived at. Such a system, being contrary to the laws of free trade, will stink in the nostrils of many. But we assert that there can-be. no such thing as free trade in Crown lands, unless these lands are competed for in the first instance at their'real yalue. No one can pretend that the real- value of the possession, in.perpetuity of land capable of producing any known in abundance is only £1 per acre. A sale at £1 is in. reality a gift of the d'fference in valueM;o the assumed , buyer; to promote settlement. That 'such a gift should .be made in 10.000 . 20,000, or 3OJOOO acre' blocks to capitalists, for sheep-grazing purposes, is one of those monstrous political evolutions that bad government, undirected by healthy-public opinion,"so often" breeds, to the after confusion of those -who, should have been legislated-for, and who themselves are not free from blame, in that they have not preserved the at-the first-conceded to them ' of self-government;' byraeans of a Ili- |p beral representative system. Such a plan could be practically' -- worked on"the Goldfields, by a -Tight . being reserved ~of uncompensated re's umotion for all lands a certificate from -\"~- the Warden show.ed to be required for / mining or for mining outlets. "Intend-;- ' x ing settlers on the Goldfields are quite."/. :practical enough to be aware of whac - _ auriferous ground is, and would -take ' '"care,-by careful prospecting;-to guard - against any ."loss through rash expen-;-";. diture'upori lands likely to be required - : for iriining purposes: A'right of- en- - try, as in land under probation on de- , ferred payments, would hav'e'to be al-- ■ lowed for ..prospecting purposes/ - It - occurs .to usthat'such a, system' would - -be a fitting complement to ;the present plan—so defective by itself—of. setting -/ "aside agricultural-blocks.--; "dt-would : meet' the cases of districts which", as a;' whole, cannot be said to be' agricultu-- - ral, and yet' con tain many" hundred blocks, each of, sufficient ac'reage-fof a : 'farm, -scattered --blocks,. that, •, under,, the present" practice of .'grazing upon natural pastnre/.bring in no.adequate revenue whatever.-- ' . -i " ' , .. " - r-»- : ' ■'. "'" " . x ' Eeom the' report"published -in "last - week's ' Hunstan-.Times\;'ofihe' pro T .-.. I ceedingsofthe'Mining-Conference at" i Clyde we are at a- loss-to"understand J whether the very desirable,.step of me-. - I moralising the Governments to.relieve "- | r i in the action now 'pending at Maere- ." j whenua was persevered with or not. In | one place we observe-that a Commit-. 1 tee," consisting of "Messrs. Healy. Ew- • | ing," and, Roberts,- was appointed to / I'draw up memorials.'' In another, we ! notice,-on receipt of ,a telegram "from the, Provincial Executive;' refusing ss.sistance, that the -matter dropped—, we hppe.it was.only.'tbe.matter, in discussion, nGt the'-memorialising.i- - The "telegram- we Te'fer to-'read thus:— r " The" " was, some time ago, ednsi- " dere,d by"the Executive, who' decided - " it' was inexpedient to promise .Go- ." vernment to,interfere on either side. "In all probability 'the-question, will - V come before the, Provinciaf.Couneil.' "A. Willis, Clerk to Executive Coun- " " cil."—" There" beiiig no- comment of-. " fered, the matter dropped,''"runs' our ' reports Memorialising would, at any rate, form a ground through which to ." introduce the subject into the Council; - and the Government,would then have •,- to give some more satisfactory reason., than can be obtained from the very clever correspondence of the Clerk to the'.Executive Council. The truth is, i we fear the Provincial Executive are l totally ignorant of the importance of 1 the case in question to mining indusj try, and probably the workers in their body have theirbands quite'as full'as they can manage.. . This ignorance of matters is so' general in Dunediritbat-we can hardly wonder at the -Executive not being" more, enlightened. ' - . . °

We. shall" riot reprint*- the : only report, of. proceedings ,in~p;u£"i'eafcb. at present,' till', we. ascertain * Whether a fuller statemehtjof proceedings is not obtainable.. The record we-have is so bare as to be singularly unjust-to" the Delegates, who, we believe,.did much good and useful work. It was very much to be regretted that' Mr. Millar, that old and tried servant of the Goldfields- was not present. His experience would have tended to concentrate the attention.of new Delegates to one or two leading requirements, to which popular mining opinion is awakened.' In a session of a .week it is clearly impossible for the "Delegates, however persevering, to master the cycle of mining grievances. Far better, in our opinion, would it Lave been, to have brought the whole intellectual power of the meeting to bear upon the most important questious of the day—river, pollution and diversion, and the price of gold. _ The great aim of the Miners' Associations should be. to arouse and consolidate public opinion. This can only be done by taking up the subjects of which that opinion js generally cognisant of. That power of consoh" dated opinion once all minor victories are assured, and till then can very well be deferred.

The English mail, via San Francisco, was t' delivered in Nasal >y on Wednesday last. fi The ' Guardian' is authorised to state that u Mr. Turton Ims no intcution whatever ofrr- y signing his seat in the Provincial Council. ° 4 ° c The School House, Kyeburn Diggings, has been guzctted a polling place for the election „ of members for tho 11 ouso of Representatives. A quantity of correspondence, Municipal business, and original matter has to be kept • out, owing to the pressure this week on our ' columns- t A one-eighth share in the Perseverance C Company, Hiirnilton, has been sold, we hear, by Mr. Tlw 3 - Mewton to John Allan, for tho sum of £250. n We are glad to loam that the Banks have t raised the price of gold to £3 15s. 6d. per o ounce. This is only an indication, we hope, a of better things in store. h The picnic in honor of St. Patrick's Day, at St. bathans, is to be held one mile nearer to the township than U3ual, to save visitors on foot crossing Muddy Creek. A On Thursday next a sale of bakers' stock 1 and plant is announced, by Messrs. Inder il and George. A preliminary notice of sale of pictures also appears in our advertising columns. '. li Wis are in receipt of a letter from a resident at tho Kyoburn Diggings, complaining of great irregularities at the local Post Office. ll This communication we are obliged to hold Sl a over this week, owing to the pressure on our ' space. P At tho Arrow Municipal elections wo are informed that Messrs. il. Prkchard, Harry 0 Wilkin on, J. O'Brien, K. Campbell, Henry a Graham, and T. Letcher, were elected Councillors; and Messrs. I). M. M'Kay and James Murdoch, Auditors. We are requested to state that Mr, 0. F., Roberts, Chairman of the Mount Ida Miners' Association, will be glad to meet the Com- a mittoo at Mr. Busch's residence, on Saturday v oventng, nest, at 8 o'clock, to give an account r of the proceedings at the Miners' Conference. Mr. 11. A. Stratfoud is gazetted as Registration and Returning Ollicer for the election of members to tho House of Representatives. Also, as holding the following offices : —Gold- o fluids Auditor for tho Goldfields of Otago, t District i and Officer, and Visiting Justico of Nmeby Prison, undor tho Prison's Act of e 1873. ■v The ' Daily Times' asserts, on the autho- j . rity of rumor, that a late Mayor of Dunedin $ ,' is likely to be called to the Provincial Exe- 0 cutive. Mr. Fish has been spoken of as a likely Treasurer for some time back. It is s not probable that there will be any further c alteration previous to the meeting of the 0 Council. / On Wednesday evening, at 7 p.m., an I )\ Evangelistic meeting was hold at the Presby- t terian Church, Naseby. The Revs. Mr. I ' Clark, of Palmerston, Mr. Todd, of Oamaru, I and Mr. Rylcy, of Otepopo, delivered short, ? earnest addresses. Mr. Baird, of Hampden, I and Mr. Christie, of Waikouaiti, engaged in c prayer. The meeting broke up shortly after x 9 p.m. The attendance was rather limited.' w J Mr, Dillon's contract, to finish work given j up by Messrs. Pierce and Fraser,, has been j completed and passed. Sixty to seventy j men are now employed by him on the lower ( ' contract—both Europeans and Chinamen. One r mileout of the nine is already cut. Dillon has now completely cut sixteen and a-half miles of the race. Mr. Johnstone has completed, c we believe, two, which gives eighteen and ahalf as finished. We have no information as , to the progress made 911 those contracts in A the hands of Mr Abbott. It will he seen that this large 'work is thus being gradually ■■ completed. i At tho Police Court Auckland, Captain i Holraan, appeared in answer to a summons c respecting tho stranding of the barque Anazi, Will'am ilellier Holman was first examined, < all witnesses bei"g ordered out of Court. The ( captain blamed the Bccond officer for the acci- ' dent. In nns.ver to questions, witness de- 7 clined to state whether he was intoxicated, 1 but admitted that when the vessel struck he ] went below. He also admitted attempting to strike tho second mate with a knuckle-duster. ' Tho witness said this was his first voyage' as nvister. He -had been chief officer of the ] Crusader, Zealtindia., and Charlotte Gladstone, trading to the South. The case was adjourned till next Wednesday. At the Conference, on the 3d, the following motions were tabled:—By Mr. Colclough: That, in order to defeat the present monopoly of tha Banks, tho miners be askod, through their several associations, to pledge themselves to sell their gold to only one.Bank, unless more than 735. per ounce were offered. By Mr. Ewing: 'Chat the Conference resolve ibsdlf into a Committee, to consider whether it. is possible to iustitute a co-operative banking company for the purchasing of gold and conferring other advantages not offered by the existing Banks. Uy Mr, Forster: That it is desirable a central assay office be established in Otago. Mr. Ewing moved, as an amendment, to place after tho word 'themselves' the words, "in all, cases where the miners cannot avail themselves of the arrangements made by the Government for the transmission of gold to Melbourne." The amendment was carried. A meeting of the School Committee was held on the 10th inst. Present—Rev. E. Williams (chair), and Messrs. George, Field, Stewart, Rowlatt, and Bremner.—A letter from Mr. Menzies, of 3rd March, resigning his appointment, was read. ';i.Mr. Rowlatt proposed, and Mr. George seconded, that the schoolmaster's resignation be accepted. A lengthy and exciting discussion then followed. Mr. Field moved as an amendment that'the resignation be not received till certain, as yet, unconsidered complaints be enquired into, in justice to the schoolmaster. A subsequent amendment Mr. Bremner was carried, to the effect that, as the Committee appeared disinclined to admit any consideration of tho alleged grievances, the matter bo put before the Education Board, and that, pending the Boards decision, the resignationba not accepted,nsit was his opinion that it was tendered under the supposition of an irremediable injustice.—lt was further resolved ;that a special meeting be called for the purpose' of -adopting a petition to be forwarded to the Education Board to havo the Mount Ida District School made a Grammar School. Too late for any extended notice we are in receipt of information enabling us to judge be,ttcr of the value of the work done at, the Clyde Conference. That value can hardly be over-estimated. It put on record by practical men, in unmistakeable language, that the gold miner's right to pollute rivers must be placod beyond doubt, and that, in I 'future sales of land, the banks of rivers should in all cases be reserved. For this alone the Conference is to be congratula ted on having met. We have memoranda of several other difficulties, and modes recommended by'the Conference for their solution, all of value —but these we must defer consideration of, owing to the groat strain upon our columns this week from all quarters. Mr C. F. Roberts, the Naseby Delegite, was appointed President, and Naseby itself chosen the head-quarters of the Central Association. In taking this step, the Conference have shown a confidenco in tho value of this district, its powers of sustaining population, and the ability of its leading men among the mining community—that will not be found, we venture to say, misplaced. At the same time, we would point out that a very gi-fiat responsibility is thus placed upon the shoulders of the local Association, for they are not only watching fpr themselves, but as

the trusted body of the whole Otago Goldfield. The district is to be congratulated upon the energy and ability displayed by its representatives—Mr. 0. F. Roberts and Mr. J. Ewing—-at the Clyde Conference, now closed. , ■. y