TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 271, 16 May 1874, Page 2

TOPICS OF TALK.

We have bad occasion before, nowto draw, attention to the excessiveadroitness of'. Captain. MkKenzie..inmanipulatiug matters, in a perfectlylegitimate'wwary r before the Waste ' Lands Board. Like great orators' or generals, he has chosen the epoch of his ohfif d'ceuore to culminate and re-, tire from the position of carrying on private business before the great irre- - sponsible tribunal of Otago. Block " VII., Glenkenich, was the scene where this last display of genius was con- - ducted. , It appears that some littletime ago, at the Governmentlandsaleof that block, at which Capt. M'Kenzie - was a bidder, the Government themselves bought in, for what purpose wedo not know—possibly the mineral wealth—certain -sections (12, 13, and - 16 respectively) amounting in acreageto 232 a. lr. 35p; the price at which, this land was reserved being £757 Bs. The purchase was effected' for the. Government by the Warden of, the. pursuance of instructions, received* no doubt, from the Secretary .for. Lands_(Dr. Webster), who justifies his seat on the new'ly-eonstrucied Go* vprnjnent by suggesting that men of J som<=s stability and weight should be on, the :benches men who have proved eminently capable of conducting their t own private business, and I inferentiaHyj aie> in » position .to- act, 1 nuw.ster affair*,.

>of this Province. This by the way. Tii proceed with our narrative: At the last sitting of the Waste Lands Board, reported elsewhere, the Captain, ap. plied to purchase these sections at the upset price of £ I per acre. It appears that the Government were understood to have paid the deposit on the day of sale, but failed, on the 2nd of April, to pav the balance. On the Ist of May, accordingly, the application by dipt. M'Kenzie, who was on the watch, was put in, and it appeared that the Board had no power to refuse it—it being the first application in—or thought they . had not. We do not see clearly why the land should not have been reserved for special purposes. Probably, as Captain M'Kenzie promised that this wan positively his last appearance, the Hoard thought he was cheaply got rid of at the cost of £SOO. We do not ourselves believe in " the last appearance ;" we fully anticipate, at a very ahort interval, that the gallant and vivacious Captain will make his re-ap-pearance with a " Here we are again, gentlemen !" We sympathise with the applicant's pathetic appeal to the late Goldfields Secretary, which does not add much to the dignity of the great Irresponsible: Captain M'Kenzie: Mr. Bastings, let me have it and I will give youas much coal as you want. Mr. Bastings: I think it is wrong for you to get it. Captain M'Kenzie: I believe Mr. Bastings wants me to get it all the time, though he says he don't. • I Mr. Strode: Special care should have been taken in this case. Evidence was then given that not only the balance but also the deposit had not been paid. Mr. Strode: Why there is no contract. The Government is out of Court altogether. Captain M'Kenzie was then declared the purchaser. Captain M'Kenzie: This is my last appearance. Mr. Strode: I am glad to hear it. It is highly satisfactory that the survey deficiencies of the Province have been brought' forward so, prominently in. the Provincial Council. We do not allude to topographical or trigonomejtfrical'ilefieiencii'f, but to the insufficiency, of the staff", and the heavy and oppressive fees charged under the survey regulations, more especially on the Goldfields. We do not see why the agricultural lessee should be charged Is. extra per acre for his land than the applicant under the deferred payment, system. Nor do we see why as much as twelve per cent, should be charged on the inspection of races under construction with the aid of Government subsidy, before vouchers for that subsidy can be entertained at Wellington. In some cases the charges amount to more than this, depending on the distance of the race in question from the survey office. As we write we have more especially in view the Kakanui Water race now in course of construetion, which can only be inspected, it. appears, by the District Surveyor from IS'aseby. _ Each inspection would amount—in travelling there and back, and in inspecting-to'four days' work, or £l2 i2s., on a piece of work worth*' probably only £2OO, or on which £IOO subsidy was. due. Parties availing themselves of the subsidy are presum-, edly deficient in capital, and probably could not carry on the work without frequent applications for progress payments. It is mentioned that in some. 1 districts the District Engineer does his, work of inspection free of charge. "We do not see why this should not always; be the case. By hampering works,! encouraged by special subsidy by the: General Government, with on imposi-, tion of twelve and enn more percent, is a suicidal policy for the Provincial, authorities to adopt.

The Goldfields are to be congratulated upon the inauguration of the Colonial .Bank of New Zealand. The enterprise is put forward in such a manner that it is bound to be a suecess. The monied men of Dunedin have determined that they will not any longer put up with the indiscriminate and vexatious charges put upon them to fatten banks whose proprietary is not represented to any great extent in the Colony. They wisely think that it will be better to hold large interests in their own bank, and tjius reduce the plunder point to a minimum, and, besides that, participate in their' own plunder, rather than, contribute to the wealth of absentee directors. To the mining interest special attention is to be given ; and, to guard against a,n imputation that the directors are prepared to buy gold at as low aerate as possible, at the expense of the miners, it is determined rather to advance the highest rates possible on all gold deposited with them for coinage than to buy. This will get rid of the main difficulty holders of small parcels find in sending gold to Melbourne through the Gold Receivers' offices—that they will not have to wait for their money. The bank wisely puts gold on the same footing as other produce—wool or f grain—and as it docs not intend to' establish a wool murt nor a dry corn store, neither does it purpose to buy'gold in quantity. By this means the producers will get the higbept price possible for their gold, less only the charges for transmission and insurance, which, however, being conducted by an incorporated , bank, will be reduced to a minimum. The Colonial Bank, will offer all the facilities of a .special joint stock bank spoken of as being -likely to be floated for the Goldfieldsi without the risk and expense of management. The initiatory steps taken by the Colonial provisional directors will no doubt brinir the other banks to. their senses. Nevertheless it will, ,we conceive, be admitted that bank which has broken the monopoly ought to receive the universal support of the Goldfields, •