THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1874.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 274, 5 June 1874, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1874.

The inconvenience arid, perhaps, even the absurdity of the Province maintaining a cumbersome and expensive form of responsible Government, to deal more especially with the fees delegated as .provincial .Revenue, is now and again .raade very manifest. Gene-, rally, whether such fee 3 are made up of gold duties, mining fees, &c., all are comprehended under the term of Land Reveuue—indeed, we are not quite sure whether the license fees themselves could not be, by sotne metaphorical nicety, designated as a portion of Land lieveuue. The late sale at GLenkenich, which we have already alluded to, is one such case con lemnin" the system now forced upon the Pro" vince of au Irresponsible Waste Lands Board. Another such case has, fortunately, been lately exposed, which we will briefly allude to : It appears that during the last session of the Council some sections in the Moeraki district, which had been open for sale under the Hundreds Act for over seven years —sections amounting in area to over 2,00U acres—were l , under the provisions of the Act, advertised for public sftle by the Government auctioneer at Palmerst.on,, the sale to be held on the l(sth of July. Settlers in Shag Valley, unwilling that this land should be sold—it is probable that they had been enjoying a free grazing right over it—urged their member in the Council, then in session, to get that body to agree to its being reserved. A resolution was, without much consideration, passed .advising the withdrawal of the land. The Chiet Commissioner accordingly telegraphed, on the 14th July, to Mr, Shrimski, the auctioneer, ordering him to withdraw the land He accordingly attended at Palmer, ston, where a larg? number of intending purchasers were collected, and informed them he had no alternative but to announce that the sale would not be held. There was, naturally, great dissatisfaction expressed at this, and Mr. Elliott, on behalf of Colonel Kitchener, insisted that the auctioneer should note that he, at any rate, was prepared to buy the land. Mr. Shrimski telegraphed for the reason of the withdrawal, and also as to .wheii the land would be again offered. He received a reply that the sale was withdrawn to an indefinite turn. After the Council had closed Mr. Jilliottput in ah application to the Waste Lands .Board, to buy tha sections in question. Fhe Bo&rd, knowing quite well that the Council bad reserved them, refused to ea notion the sale untii the Superintendent hid an opportunity to reserve the land, if he thought lit; In answer to the Board's enqniry the i>u•periatfttfwi 4otiae<* badv ao

'objection toTthe.sale. .The Board, in consequence, seemed to consider thai they had no alternative but to allow the sale to be concluded at the upset price of £1 per acre. We do not clearly see why they could not have insisted on the land being submitted to public competition : there may have been some legal obstacle in the way we do not know of. Mr. Elliott then, as agent, for Colonel Kitchener, was declared the purchaser. The auctioneer gave evidence before the Council's Select Coinmitteo that the land would have all fetched £2 an acre and upwards if sold as originally announced. We then see that not only have the public been deprived of the privilege of competing for the sections, but there has been a loss to the Treasury of over £2,000. No wonder it is difficult to find money for a bridge here and there when such waste of money is the rule and not the exception. The inference is very strong that private influence was brought to bear upon . the. Government—for t,hr> Superintendent, in the sense spoken of when we say '' the Superintendent did " or did not exercise his right of reser- " vation," ia simply the Government —to cause, the resolution of the Council to be disregarded. Whether the Council acted wisely or riot is outside the question—they had a right to insist upon the Governnient carrying out their resolutions arid there can be no question .that the land should have been reserved till the Council met again this session, when their action, if thought desirable, could have been reversed, and the land offered to public competition. The sale to Colonel Kitchener is a hole anil corner affair that, will not bear looking into, and could not have been done if there were not an irresponsible Waste Lands Board, to. act as a convenient cloak to the maladministration of the Government. Considering this and the Glenkenich sale—considering also that the Council has now been in session a tnouth (a space of time which sufficed, last year, to do the whole work of the session), and that even now the.Treasurer is nutable to lay his balance-sheet before the House, and that the Estimates are as far off as ever—it is abundantly evident that wise Mr. Turnbull did well not to dare to meet the Council as leader of the Government, but should avail himself of the sheltering cover afforded him by being a member, conjointly with his .old colleague Dr. 4 Webster, in . a new Government not responsible for the defects of the late administration. We are eritirely at a loss to know how the Press.of a commercial centre.aiming to hie. the Empire City of Commerce in Sew Zealand can bolster up acts of maladministration such as We have pointed out.

Mb; M'Leaw, in his anxiety to, as he' said; ventilate the desirability'"o'f 'sell-' ing the auriferous lands ■■of', tHe ! Pro"' Vinee v prepared a lot of which; w.e are sorry were. not reported. His wbole speech, was so carefully a semi-capitalist; semi, pastoral-tenant point of. view—-that we' very much regret there is no permanent record left. To take one instance' of the numerous ,fallacies; oja which ;thc whole argument wss based, Mr. M'Lean stated that the value of produce re: turned hy the pastoral - interest -was £ 1,703,147 in the .year.; that' the,value; from the agricultural interest was £1,707,487 } and then that the Value from tlie gpld-mining interest, derived from ; ftix million - odd acres, was only £607,045. • (>f course -this--proves that the , value from the pastoral interest, and a great portion of that from the agricultural dropped .from the inoon, for the whole—speaking broadly—of the pastoral produce comes from the Goldhelds; aud,. as the member for the Lakes (Mr. Clarke) pointed out, a great portion in his district of the agricultural. Of course, tying Mr. M'Lean down to his own statement that the country in area is divided into two blocks, that occupied by the agriculturists, and- that occupied by the. gold-miners—it is obvious that the pastoral produce, coming from neither, must come from some unearthly: habitation Alluding to Ballarat, Mr. M'Lean stated that it liad become what it was by this private ownership of the freehold of auriferous lands, and that this aloue, by inspiring capitalists with confidence, was a reason, tor' the., pros- , perity and the large working population of that mining centre. Fortunately he was refuted by certain statements culled from the work of Air Brough Smyth, the Victorian Secretary for Mines. That gentleman says : —"lt is estimated by the Mining " Board of Ballarat that about 12,117 " acres of private lands are held under " lease by mining companies, and that j " of this large area only 500 acres are " actually occupied or rendered unfit " for other occupations by the opera- " tions of the miners, and yet the sums " paid for leases are said to amount *o "£410,692. This state of things " surely calls for a remedy. The " length of the leads and lodes within " the private properties is estimated at. " twenty-four and three-quarter miles, " and the value of the gold therein " (how arrived at it' is impossible to " say) at £6,600,000. There are only " 1,032 miners at present employed in " the mines in private property, where- " as, lender the bye-laws, the same area " would, theoretically, require the em- ' ployment of 5,000 men." We thus see that, at Ballarat, the private owners of the freeholds are not the workers of the mines, but leasehold companies, who are handicapped by having to pay enormous rents to these capit«ilist-privateo wne rs. Such a state of things, vyhich .m'aliea Mr. Smyth

New Zealand would, no doubt suit the same class here, but it would assuredly drive our .mining population from the country.

Thk spcond anniversary ball and cupper in connection with the 1.0.0.F.j will take place i*i the Masonic Hall on Friday evening, "June sth.

•Thk" following curious advertisement ap" "Wanted', a Secbrid-h'an'd net of Commandments. Old fashioned ones painted.on wood will do." .

Among- the wo«-ks proposed to be constructed out of revenue or out of loan is the erection of a bridge across the Taieri at llyde at a cost of £2"00.

The body of Oassels,. one of the unfoftuate young men who were drowned on Mondiij' week last was found by the police on Sunday last.near to where the accident occurred. Operations for the extension of the telegraph line from JTaseby to Alexandra, via St. Bathans and Blacks, nave been commenced, and the erection of the poles will be proceeded with immediately. Jttdgb Ward writes to the editor of Hk' ' Otago Guardian 'as follows Sik, —1 beg to. inform you that the documents purporting to be telegrams from myself to the Hon Mr. respecting Judye Chfipmnn, recently printed in tlie 'Otago Daily Times"/ are simply impudent, forgeries.. - 1 Wue.v in Committee of Supply on ;Mondly last Mr. Bastings was to move—' !,That an address be presented to his Honor the" Su,. psrintendent, requesting that a sum <jf £4oo' be placed upon the Supplementary Estimates, as compensation to MrV-William Williamson, Manager of the Kakanui Water Race Company." We have received from Messrs. Russell, Ritchie, and Co. the following copy of a telegram received from their London house, dated 19th May : —" Average fall in prices of wool estimated at Id. to 2d. per lb. Market since recovered, and improving. Present value of wheat, <34s. to 685., but these prices not likely to be maintained."—'Times.'

We are in receipt of the April part of that popular magazine, the ' Family Herald,' and have been requested to state by the publisher that No. Kil2 coutains the commencement of a. tale of New Zealand life, entitled "A Strange Friendship," written by an Otago lady. Orders should be sent in to Mr. Buscb, the local as early as possible, to prevent disappointment.

An accident happenedJon Tuesday last to Mr Roseveare, the schoolmaster at Hamilton and Sowburn. It appears that while proceeding to the latter his horse stumbled and fell, and before he could free himself from the stirrups he must have been dragged some distance. When found he was insensible. Dr. Dick of Naseby was at once sent for, and it was discovered .that Roseveare had sustained dislocation of the shoulder and several wounds about the head. He is progressing favorably.

Mr. J. T. Cole informs us, in reference to the Samoa rush, that he has received nearly fifty applications for passages. It is intended, so soon as a sufficient number is obtained,-to charter a vessel and proceed at once to test the riches of this new El Dorado. While wishing the prospectors every success, we would advise them to be fully assured that the extract from the .'.Pall Mall Gazette,' in reference to Earl Granville's communication, is genuine and authenticated. Mr. Cole 4 party, at any rate, will have the advantage of being the first on the ground.—' Times.'" A contemporary says:— An important decision as to whether a man can excavate close to the edge of his own land 'Without bein" required to protect .his neighbor's land', has just besen decided in the County Court, Melbourne, by his. Honor judge Cope,, in a case: where 1 one Cray sued his n ighbor named Walsh, the owner of a-block of land adjoining that of Gray. Walsh excavated a cellar close up to his boundary line, where Gray's house stood, and in February last the bank, gave way, and Gray's'house fell. He sued his-neighbor for £l5O damages, but the learned Judge, after reserving judgment for some time, .decided in favor of the defendant, : stating-that it was clear, from the well-,-known case of Wyatt v. « Harrison and ; others, that a person could excavate to the edge of his own property, and without responsibility. .

: Ox: the proposals ns brought down by the Government.-notice the salary of a Mining Engineer provided for. at the. rale of 43500 per annum. ' A salary of £4OO for the UoldfieJtls Secretary is also on the table. Our district, as indeed all, the Goldfleldsj'have.coiue off badly with regard to'new works, more especiaily on the reacts. A gain is put ion,.*however, at lust for the much needed bridj|e at. ttio; Ilamilton crossing of £IOOO on account. A sum is also put on iii the schedule with branch rai'ways, contingent on a loan being raised. Among road works we notice is a lit' lo lens than usual for the main north road—something like £SOO being thought sufficient to maintain the road from i-lough Ridge to Clyde. Among small sums we notice £SO for the Clarke's diggings road: £SO on Hie road Naseby to Kyeburn diggings; and £2OO from ,Kyeburn to Mnerewhenua, via the pass. We hope the residents on both rides wiil insist on this vote, if passed, being expended this year:' 1 Th e boundaries of the reserve recommended by the Provincial Council as security for the loan to be applied for in the next, tesaipii of Assembly are as follows The Clutha 'river from some 12 miles above Cromwell to about, as many below Alexandra—in fact, with the exception of a block set apart as a District Schools reserve, right down to Roxburgh ; on the north boundary the line runs through the Dubstan mountains to the north head of the Jlnwkdun moiintuins; .from thence down through the length of the Mount Ida and" Kakanui ranges, to within a few miles of the back of Dune iin ; from thence by a line to the Taieri Gorge above Outram, np the Taieri to the Sutton, then across and joining the starting point in the Lammerlaw ranges It will be seen by a map that this ring includes the .Strathtaieri, the Maniototo, the Ida Valley, th'e Manulierikia and Serpentina Valleys. Yet Mr. Reid chose to say that the whole of thi* was pastoral lands, and not above J 000 acres in.the entire area fit for settlement on deferred payments. Besides this there is a large block in Southland said lo contain some of the best unsold land in that Province. There can be no doubt that an amended Waste Lands Act will be introduced, giving power to the Provincial Government to. deal. with this reserve in any way necessary, whether large sales, or not, according to the liabilities of the Province.

On Monday last the Provincial Treasurer laid the long lboked-for ; balance sheet , upon the table; The Speaker, in receiving the document,' iiitihiated' that he had not received a certified copy from the' Auditor, as required by the Audit Act. The schedule of the Act of 1866, which enumerates the Auditor's duties, states, in clause 4:—" To examine the accounts and balance sheets to be forwarded for examination by the Superintendent under the above Act, with a view to ascertain: (1) That the same are in the form required, ancl are correct as accounts and balance sheet of transactions for the periods comprised therein, (2) That the expenditure shown thereon has been properly classified, and that any part thereof which may have been incurred without authority of law is separately shown. Clause 6 states:—" To forthwith transmit to the Speaker of the Provincial Council of the Province to which such ac.count, balance C&eeV fepoit, »

of the same. " ; It will be seen that the balance" sheet coming down without the--"certifi-cation of the Auditor leaves something unexplained behind the scenes.,*

Mb. Bpnn>, the Provincial Secretary at Wellington, in bringing in a new Licensing Bill for that Province, said its object was to enable laboring and other persons who dined with their families" only once a week to go to. a public-house during certain hours on Sunday to get a glass of beer for dinner. And why should they not have that priyilege. while tbe uppef classes could''go''to" their club and obtain anything they wanted 111 the shape of'drink ? - He had seen a room' full of gentlemen drinking: at the ' S-affdayr"anil' why should nof the 'workmen have the privilege of drinking at home ? If the Council refused to open the publichouses on Sunday, to be consistent it should close the clubs, and he should go so far as to say that if the clauses were struck, out he should propose a new clause for shutting up the clubs. The Bill was read a second time, and referred to a select committee.—' Star.' ~ T he following very important opinion by th.i Provincial Solicitor was read at Friday' afternoon's sitting of the Provincial Council: - Tam of opinion that the licensee of an allotment under the system of deferred payments must, under sub-section 5 of section of the ' Otago Waste Lands Act,. 1872,' reside personally on his allotment. The whole scope and intention of the Act, in roy : opinion, clearly showing this; but even were any doubt to be raised regarding the meaning of the. words occupy,' the last provision of subsection 5, by providing that on the death of the licensee or his as" signs during the currency of the license, it , shall be on tlie executors or ' administrators of such^licerisee■or assigns to comply with the conditions 'of occupation, clearly implies that, so long as the licensee hves personal occupation must be complied with."—' Star.'

, We are requested to call attention lo the advertisements that, f ppear in another pnrt of tins paper ° n the subjcjct of tlie He jstnrion •«£ Policies-of LitV Assurance »n lei ins of ihe "Life Assurance .Companies Act- 1873 " The Act required that all companies- carryinv 'bathe bnnness of. Life Assurance iu jNew Z«land sh-ill deposit cash or Government- securi- !'? e , i'uhlic Trustee to the extent, of fcoOOO, which is-to be increased as the' busi- ! 1 1 -onnL th< -„ < ; oinp:ir, - V ROea 0n unf f if' readies » u'r -n lheße B ' mi3 ,he Act requires the lubhc Trustee to hold in trust for policyholders being Buo j, in respect n.f ~policies .issued in the Colony by the comply making sudi whether the p.>li(y has been granted before or aft or the passing of iheAvt ' providing that such policies, it'granted before of the Act, be roistered witlnn twelve months of such commencement (November-1,1873), or if granted after the passing of the Act, within six months after the masiug thereof. It will follow from the above, that holders of policies granted oil or after the Ist of November last, must register b^ r J? s '* monthshave expired, or they the benefit conferred by the Act. Lhe Australian Mutual Provident Society has given the holders of its policies the opportn*V 'J - 0 register. tliein, so that it now rests with t.jose po.icy-holders to avail themselves of the privilege. .

Mb. p. Farquhaimon,. Secretary Miners' Association, Maerewheniia, writ in sir to the Otago Guardian,' says :—ln a late issue of your paper the Hon.,R. Campbell has taken upon himself the hard task of showing how lenient- and conciliatory the squatter? have been toward the ungrateful diggers'here. If Mr. C. had a better memory he would recollect, in bis-late, conciliatory, trip np the'north side of the Maerewheniia liiver, that his moderate request was for the miner to suspend operation* for eight weeks ins'ead of three, as he states ; and: instead of V-nly 25 men at work I anV prepared to prove to him there were four times t.hbt number actually at work at that time. And for the offer of 'employment to us during the suspensio-i. it mav have been in his mind, but; only one ' party heard anything of it, and that paVty says tliat.Mr. Gardiner (Messrs. Borton and Co.'s overseer) . seemed to be uncertain whether- he > could or not. At. all events his answer to Mr. Campbell left' tli's impression on the party who heard it. Mr. Campbell, from the - tone of his letter would lead the public to believe tha» this G-olilfield is oua lii.r"e urea of' fertile land. Such is not the case 9 ; neither does it in any, way interfere with the'settlement further down the river. In fact I don't think from one boundary of this Goldtield to another you could find fifty acres of agricultural land in one block. If the land is so very fertile how comes it that the writer, possessed of so many thousand acres adjoining the land in question, has. not long ere this started to swell the agricultural returns of this district ? lam not aware that the miners have proved themselves to be so very much more seliish than other people; in fact, if they had been more awake to their own interests, we should not ha l e been squabbling about water pollution at this date. We have yet to learn in what respect the squatter has done so much more good for the Colony than the so-much-despised miner has ; but now that the miners' squatting friends have come out in their true colors, it may be ; the means of awakening them to a sense of the dangers they are suirounded with. That this is a subject of con-idemble importance to the Co'ony I admit, and as much to the settler as the miner. I'hope, when it is brought up in the Assembly to le legislated upon, that we shall find from the expression uud vote of the lion. ft. Campbell that he has imbibed a large amount of that spirit of cono»'ssioii of wnich he speaks so smoothly in his letter.