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Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 263, 21 March 1874, Page 2

Mr. F. Bunny" has received ths appointment of Postmaster and Talegnphisb at St.Bathans.

;Mr. James M'lntosh, of the firm of Grave and M'lntosh, carrying on business at--Qamaru, has been committed to take his .trial for forging an instrument of lease." Inn Mount Ida Pastoral Company have purchased Mr. Maitland's Eweburn :md Eden Creole stations, with ,-i in pro vempn tsj * auo- over 21,000 sheep, for the sutn of £21,000.

By advertisement—in-anotlier" column we notice^: that a Derby, sweep istbeing got up at the A ictoria Hotel, on the Dunedin Cup. Ihe drawing - takes, place on~ Saturday evening. ' " .

Mr. Bastings and the Provincial Engineer have visite.l the Maerewhenua Goldtield, and promised that the bridge , shall -be at once erected. . I hey speak -as*' being-.very favorably impressed with the Goldfield.

... A. woman named-Mrs. Avery, riding -over from Maerewhenua last week for medical advice, unfortunately fell. from her. horse and broke her arm. The fracture is . being treated in the district Hospital. ' ' Mb. Puruie,'onTliu rs d ay, 'iaspf>e ted aud'exariunedv the Naseby snliool. ■ die- expressed himself .as highly .pleased'with .t-lie tuition employed, and especiallv commended the build mg as being about the best" lie had met 'With up c 'untry. . • <

Mr. James Mills, M.P.0., for Waikouaiti, was to meet his constituents on' Saturday last.,: The- '.Star evening hears that lie .leaves by mail on VVctliicscl;iy (last), to'place the share list of ; the Dnnedin Harbor Company in the Horns market, with a view of obtaining an : extension of its capital to meet its ;gro wing,, requirements.";;, Mr. Mills is a stanch supporter of the. present Government. • - -

On the lOthr .instant a named SeweJl reported "to thepolice at Switzera that, on the 6th instant, ; two'young men, brothers, named Roderick and William Stronach, left Mr Kitchen's station at Spylaw;' they shortly ; after i parted company, ■ and William returned t) Switzers. Kod'erick intimated his -intention of' returning-by the' ( o"mbralla Kanges, in search of cattle, and has not since been heard of.

Wjs have had the curiosity to ascertain the value of the: annual..licenses' applied for in this district. The result of our. calculations; gives £1,070. This is rather a heavy sum direct taxation for the public-house and liquor trade. Of this tax Naseby alone contributes£slo, —her residents having put, in no less' than 17 applications for general" and ni<*ht licenses. 1 general license, 6 wholesale, aiid I : brewer's license were also applied for. The ' Bruce Herald's' "Traveller" says "A good block of agricultural lan 1, situate *' between,(ilassfprd's pi;e-emptive, would meet the wishes of the' great proportion of the people in thte-quarter (Blacks, Drybread and Tinkers). .The tailings water from Drybreacl and Tinkers can be made subservient to the double-purposes of irrigation 'and' manure ; indeed, there is no place more eligible -for settlement in this quarter r -the soil being an: alluvial deposit with clay subsoil, and capable of producing good wheat crops; especially' when the culture of grain of this kind is pro-; perly understood."

M'Ardell and Co. sold the' Wakatiput Runs on- Monday." The attendance ■ was, large, and they had to adjourn to the Town' Hall, which..was full. Prices ranged from' £6OO to £IOO yearly rent. The bidding was, most spirited, :.and much astonishment was felt at the high'prices given. The twentj-, three runs, sold will average a yearly revenue' of over £350 each,' or from'ls: to'ls; 2d; per" acie. ■ : ;

SoME,time.ago an' abuse arose in the sur-' vey of applications- A surveyor might have twenty independent surveys to; make in one; locality, twenty miles from his usual residence, an.d yet charge his travelling expenses* per mileage on the whole lot just the same 5 aa if heliad only one. In this way a verygood thing was being made by the staff, andf a direct inducement offered tham to delay attending to work till a sufficient harvest' was' ready in one place. The. present retracing to' a former system of (rovernmentsurveyors probably haa put an eni to ths,abuse.; t

During a debate at the Mining Conference' in . reference to the assumed right of the miner to discharge tailings on to Crown lands,: and into rivers ancj natural channels, Mr! Gwing is reported to have said that ' ; « the Dunstan Creek, for instance, had in it»win- 1 ter average of from sixty tc> seventy and summer of fifteen heads. The debris the foot of their sludge channel, accumulated many foot deep over a large extent of ground in summer, while in ,'the winter the floods' carried'-it away through half-a-dozen water ■■ courses. He believed some small stones from hia claim'found their way to the Moly-: iwaux during these floods, therefore there

was no rule in some localities to go by. He considered the fall of the ground should regulate the tailings to be got away—of course, subject to certain restrictions, -which the Government should provide, in the definitioi of sludge channels, tail races, &c." ; Captain Maukenzie-writes to the Dunedin 'Star' in explanation^):—'.'Sir,—As it appears from your report of the Laud Board meeting, on Thursday last, that I claimed compensation - for-land-for which I -had-' already received the consideration agreed upon; I- trust you will do me the favor to insert the following:—l never agreed with the Government to give up any lands for» ments, without compensation. The I,SJO acres referred to were sold to.me at £i 'rer acre, without compensation for determination of lease or fencing, in consideration of withdrawing from my appeal, and allowing the land to be sold a* - previously agreed upon—that is to sa3% by application or auction —I am, &c., T. W. Mackenzie.—Dunedin, 11th March."

One matter, possibly a minor one, but still of importance, . was discussed by the Clyde Conference, resulting in a motion that, in litigation, the latest certificate should be held to be sufficient title, unless fraudulently obtained. Ihe object of this is to meet those cases of hardship where, owing to the nomadic -habits of- miners, particularly in the early days of gold-mining, a right is not easily traced back thrash all. its stages. We are aware of several instances where great hardship has arisen through boia fids holders of rights being liable to receive no protection in consequence of some such defect. We are not sufficiently acquainted with the subject'to -venture an opinion as to whether- the-concession thought so desirable could b j safelv granted. The Conference appeared to think it could. ' ' _ The case at St. Bathans, hearl at the sitting.of the last WarUen'sCourfc there, of ail application for an agricultural lease—fully reported in our "supplement published with this issue—is a practical commentary on another' motion passed by the Conference—- " That some definite information - a3 to locality is desirable in applications for agricultural leases; that a Board- of Enquiry should decide a3 to the probably auriferous nature of each application; and that a renewal oh lease rather than an absolute sale' should ' be encouraged when the ground was likely to be proved auriferous." The objectors at St. Bathans did not make out much of a case simply because they were not posted in facts. Whether this was, as is moat likely, owing to the dilatoriness of those interested, or the obscure description of locality, it is hard to say—probably a little of both. In any case, the objections were put'in much too'late. It have been quite easy to have made inquiries at the right time,' and so have made out a better case and given less annoyance to the applicant and the Court. , -

The V chronicles the following welcome news concerning the existence of I salmon in the Molyneux, which ha 3 been received by the Provincial Secretary:—"Port Molyneux, 13th March, 1871. Dear sir, I have the honor to inform you. of there bein' salmon in the Molyneux! The facts are these: A small party want'out with a net to catch a few flounders and and while -making : a haul they-observed a fish swimming about the water, which they took to be a mullet, and which was put in the boat such; but,-on coming with their I-found this to be a young salmon, measuring 13in long, an l weighing l()oz. None of those in .the boat ha I ever seen.a salmon,- otherwise it never would have been taken out of the water.. t The fish had evidently been hurt, as it bore a bruise on the back, and,underneath 'the. tail, and that may perhaps be the reason for. itsjbeing so- close ,in. shore.. |I. thought.- it' only proper that [ should: report the matter,' so as to clear any doubt' 'as to whether salmon existed in the Molyneux.--1 am, &c., John Paterson."- The writer added that the iisli would be put in spirits of wine, and forwarded to the Museum.