THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1874.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 281, 25 July 1874, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1874.

The following enclosure, for the Provincial _ Government, has struck consternation in our midst:— Colonial Secretary's Office, "Wellington, July 2nd, 1874. ' Sir, —I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 19th June,' covering papers and correspondence relative to '■ deepening the Sludge Channel at Naseby, and to inform your Honor that the Government regrets they cannot authorise the additional expenditure, owing to the fact of the money placed at their disposal.being so, nearly exhausted. I have the honor'to be, Your most obedient servant, Daniel Pollen. His Honor the Superintendent, Dunedin. Those who thought agitation being necessary a myth are somewhat rudely shaken in their dreams. The matter is not yet beyond remedy. Funds appear to be the only -barrier to success. It may not be difficult to show that the expense to deepen the Channel to a sufficient distance is not: more than the Government can meet out of the-, special vote. The Engineer's estimate of increased expenditure is, ,no doubt, based on a deepening of the expensive ground up to Koach's Gully, which, possibly can be left untouched without any great harm. The Secretary of the Mining Association, on behalf of his Committee, has asked the Mayor to. convene a public meeting for Saturday,, when the whole matter should be gone into with a determination to leave no stone unturned to prevent the immense loss of public money that would ensue should the alteration not be effected. In the face of that loss, we hardly like to speak of the loss to the district of such an abortion as the originally planned ichannel. s Stated simply, the.Government determination means very little less than ■ the speedy ruin of Naseby as specially a Goldfields town. ■ ♦— : •" Such -professions .of-.zeal for the " Goldfields can now be better estima- " ted' at their true, value, and for this ' we are indebted to the Government, " for endeavoring to get the Provincial " Council's decision burked, by intro- " during a special Ordinance instead of " introducing the sum into the Appro- " priation Bill." So we wrote a few weeks ago, almost hoping that our fears were not true; but, in truth, the wish was father to the hope, as, week by week, we noticed those who should have been, supporters of even an infinitesimal'alleviation of Goldfields taxation—if it be such—in arms fighting the battles of our opponents. ]Vow we know that the'diiect and indirect pressure" of the Provincial Executive has been brought to bear in

Wellington resulting in the disallowance of the. Ordinance. A telegram we can rely upon, published in another column, states that the Gold Duty Eepayment Ordinance dissallowanee was because of technical objections and imperfections in the Ordinance itself. Eurther, that there should have been no Ordinance, but (as we said) the item should have been introduced into the Appropriation Bill. All the indiscriminate bogyism raised of endangering the Appropriation Bill, under cover of which the Provincial Government managed to make the Governor the ! hangman "where their prentice hand had failed, is shown to have been simply a dodge—an evasion of the will of-arfarge majority of the Council. Out of even dodging, evasion, and humbug sometimes comes good, and •we have this much to be content with at any fate, that the Colonial Government, in-spite of our would-be friends, see no difficulty in the rebatement by the Provinces themselves—on the other hand, they point to ■ the very mode which was fought for in'the Council, namely, insertion of the sum conjectured necessary in the annual Appropriation Bill. " Was it likely," said an indignant contemporary; " his Es- " cellency "will be advised to permit " such an over-riding of the.expressed' " wish of the Assembly." We see not' only was it likely, but it would! have been done if the, Provincial Government had acted in good faith with the Council— i.e , assuming the over-riding, which we have already shown to be -untrue.

Then the other argument of our friends —one of whom could easily show, in a numbei of ways', how the Banks were to profit—was knocked on the head, because the Banks at once consented to take upon .themselves the collection of the rebatement,. in the meantime handing the 6d. extra to the producers.' '

All real arguments that have heen raised are, then, now done away with —clean blown away—and there is only one consolation apiece left for the two classes of objectors to the. reduction : The one will still be alble to chuckle and say—Clever as you are, we are too much for you. > Xou , shall not,- by a popularity cry made no longer a cry, but turned into a positive benefit, obtain prestige and power on the • Goldfields. It is enough satisfaction for us to defeat anything emanating from Mr Vincent Pyke, although, as a set-off, in this case, the miners may lose the odd sixpence. The other equally are pleased—caring nothing for the Goldfields or the gold-miner— to have their own way in spite of the Council; having lost the .battle in the arena' where fought, by underhand ways to trip up their adversaries, salving- their coni sciences with the idea" that they have saved—misguided mortals—the revenue : their only. argument being the 'old, old cry—The miners would not benefit at all. ".'.'',) The fact remains; ,on record, and should not be forgotten, :that the Provincial Council -was,,wiiling,-£q reduce the Gold. Duty; that'the .Colonial Government were willing to,allow%£such reduction; other fact, that Mr. Eeid, Mr. Stout, and Mr: MacKellar—- -we don't mention .those juvenile inanities, Messrs. Turribull and Webster, nor the small minority that followed Mr. Eeid dimply because it was Mr. Eeid, notable' ..among whom was that most excellent of bell-wethers, Mr. Henderson of Clutha—did their best, not without success, to impede for a time such a just concession, of the most illiberal taxation * probably ever imposed invidiously upon" "a'single inthe history of the Australian Colonies. -, . ,