TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 291, 26 September 1874, Page 3

TOPICS OF TALK.

"We know that the alleged reason why the Government absolutely refused, in the first instance, to agree to the alterations in the Sludge Channel was that the money appropriated for works on Goldfields was all expended, or liabilities to the full amount of the balance were impending. Among the Soggy items of news telegraphed from the North during the session, without explanation, was the passing of £50,000, in the Immigration and Public "Wofiks Bill, for works on Goldfields. We had hoped that this vote was to supplement the original "Water Supply .Vote. The last volume of 1 Hansard ' explains w.hat the vote was for. It appears that there is a Corporation at the Thames, and this Corporation have a big pump, the working of wliich drains a considerable area of the Goldfield and enables sinking and explorations to be carried on which, under other circumstances, would not be -practicable. On the occasion of Mr. Vogel's.visit, during the recess, to the Thames Diggings, the necessity of seme large expenditure to improve the machinery in use was brought prominently before him, and he agreed- to use the Government influence to get an advance authorised of £50,000 for the continuance of the pumping operations and for further explorations and improvements upon the Goldfield. This money is, however, to be secured in the following manner:—"'l'he money advanced shall be repaid, with interest not exceeding the rate of six per cent.'per annum on the amount from time to time advanced, within seven years from Ist March, 1874, and shall be Becured as herein provided. The Becurity given shall be as follows :—l. A mortgage of the freehold land on which the works of the Association have been erected, and of all the plant and machinery thereon. 2. As collateral security, a mortgage by the Imperial Crown, Tookey, Caledonian, and Golden Crown Companies, of all their property, to secure the several proportions of the sum advanced, as follows; Imperial Crown, 18-50ths; Tookey, 15-50ths ; Caledonian, L2-50tht8 ; Golden Crown, 5-50ths. No dividend to be paid by any one of said companies until ouch company shall have paid its Bhare, as herein provided, of money advanced." In addition to that, the Provincial Government of Auckland will give its guarantee. A portion of the money Lad already been advanced on this account-some £6,000 or £B,OOO. Liberal Mr. Waterhouse thought that, in aiding works upon Goldfields they were going beyond the functions of Government, and that the vote was undesirable. Mr. Holmes, naturally enough, abused such works. Such abuse in such mouths comes as natural as swimming to young ducks when taking the water : —" He believed that the £50,000 was placed in the Bill in consequence of a visit of the Premier to the Thames Goldfields, and that .it never would have had a place there, but for the fact of his having made a promiae upon that occasion to the miners at the Thames. He questioned if it was right, even for the Premier himself—perhaps in a fit of enthusiasm—to pledge the country to the outlay of £50,000 in such an extraordinary manner, and for a purpose quite unusual. Ihere might be no loss :it was quite possible that the money might be returned again, but it was quite as possible that the State would never see a shilling of it. They knew how precarious gold mining was—how extraordinary success might exist for some time and a collapse occur, and the Goldfield be deserted. He himself had seen Ballarat, which had turned out millions and millions, with only a mere handful of people in it after it was established as a Goldfield. Therefore, he said that the Government, in lending or giving the £50,000 for this purpose to the Thames Goldfield, was travelling out of its legitimate sphere, and using the public money in a manner in which it should not be used."

It should be certainly booked to the smull-weighted credit side of our Legislative Council that they introduced and carried a liberal Land Inheritance Bill, which was approved of and passed by the Lower House, affecting the division among the sons of all real estate the property of deceased persons who, as so many do in New Zealand*, die intestate. There is a great tendency for those who have made money in business, or in farming, to put their capital into land for the better ultimate provision of their families—the investee counting on the certain increase in the price of land, which is sure, before the younger ones of the family grow up, to have returned a fine per centage on the value of the original investment; but if, unfortunately, he who has so done in providence for his family dies intestate, the eldest son gets the whole, and the younger ones are dependent on the elder's charity for a mere subsistence. Under the new law the younger sons cannot get cut-off with nothing, unless by deliberate intent. It is not easy to see why the absurd restrictions and differences of sex should have creptinto this measure.—Why the daughter should not participate in her father's prosperity when no wish was by will expressed to the contrary £.'//Truth comes by instalments, and , this will come some day. +__ — -* ■' When we were penning our remarks on the action of the Duhedin Harbor Board, published in our -last issue, the,, breach of faith the Board appear to' be guilty of with the Province was proving greater than even we, strongly as we wrote, conjectured. Our Saturday's files brought us full particulars of a notable meeting of this

new creation. The Board found that they could not raiso money on their own terms, as laid down by themselves, embodied in a Government Bill after due legal consultation, and passed, through Dunedin influence, last session in the shape of the Harbor Board Ordinance. Not to be baulked, they set about other devices. They dare not advertise for tenders for this deep channel, Because they have no money to pay the tenderer. Mr. Macandrew, as Chairman of the Board, said, "If we had the money, I should have no hesitation in recommending that we advertise for tenders." Mr. Reid, the only country representative on the Board, advised that, as they could not see any possibility of getting the money to proceed with the work at once, he would rather agree to some reasonable offer than have it long delayed. The Chairman said, "That if Mr. Proudfoot (who had made an offer sub rosa) would undertake all responsibility and risk, if there was any, and perform the work for anything like a reasonable sum, he would decidedly close with him. It would be the most effective way of getting the work done quickly. Supposing there to be no difficulty iu petting the debentures negotiated, a considerable time would be spent by the Board in negotiation." Not a word in the whole of this as to the enqniry which was faithfully promised should be first made by systematic survey of the whole Harbor before a scheme of any magnitude, was attempted. Mr. Proudfoot offers, at —Mr fish says, without contradiction —Mr. Turnbull's suggestion, to construct the deep channel,, to reclaim a certain amount of land, and provide wharfage, which is all the Dunedin merchants, of whom Mr. Turnbull is so able a representative in the Provincial Council, think is required. They cannot see a. yard further than their sugar bagß and the 3s. freight per ton which tiiey will save. They could not conceive a danger to the splendid harbor and fair bar at Port Chalmers through their artificial experiments. Action of tidal currents, velocities and scouring power of tides, are not to be found in the ready reckoner and interest tables, so are placed on the same footing aR spiritualistic theories, and alluded to only, with regret, as the weak points of that otherwise excellent marine engineer, Mr. Balfour—the Provincial Engineer being, they regret, tarred with the same brush, to the sad depreciation of his fame. A direct promise was given repeatedly by Mr. Eeid and Mr. now members of this Board—in the Council, that a full enquiry and survey should be undertaken; indeed, the only reason why this Harbor Board Ordinance was pressed on last session was that this survey might not be delayed. I'et this direct pledge is broken without a word, and a costly and huge work, the maintenance of which is only guaranteed for two years by the proposer, is only not at once accepted because the Board wished to make one more effort to raise the money to carry out. the work themselves. When these big ships are in to Dunedin what will it .profit if it is found, in five, ten, or even twenty years time, the bar at the Heads, improved for the time accidentally by the great tidal wave 3 of recent da*e, is totally destroyed, in spite of all the harrows that could he mustered—as once before in the history of the Provinceto be dragged over it. We should have thought the very strong part Mr,. Gillies took in advocating this premature Harbor "Board should have taught him the desirability of not being an applicant for the first handsome salary attaching to the incipient creation. It is chaiitable to suppose that these circumstances are unforeseen possibilities. If it be so, unforeseen possibilities have a great deal to answer for. The voice of the country should be heard in this matter, and the strongest possible protest lodged against any such scheme as the Government now, again put under powerful pressure, propose—viz., " to relieve the jetty and tonnage dues from the cost of maintaining the Har-bor-Department,"—that is to say, violate the Ordinance (amend it, of course the Government will say) passed last session, by giving the Board the Harbor dues while charging the Provincial revenues with the coat of maintaining the Harbor Department —in other words, giving the Harbor Board £6,636 per year (taking last year's cost of maintenance) to be used as a fund for interest on the mouey needed for their doubtful venture upon hypothesis. Of course, this is merely the Provincial revenue being security for the Harbor deepening, which we have always maintained was intended-and must be the ultimatum arrived at. This device would enable the Province to borrow £IOO,OOO, by means of and in the name of the Board, for Dunedin Harbor Improvement—or destruction.

Since the above paragraph, was written another meeting of the Harbor Board has been held, in which the question of survey, so late in the day, has been mooted : 80RVEY OF THE HARBOK. . Mr. Tewsley moved, " Firstly, thatimme : diate stepH be taken to git a correct survey of the harbor made; secondly, that anew hull be ordered for the present dredging machinery, according to the designs of the late Mr, Balfoiir,..or such modifications thereof as may. render the dredge more efficient for its work;, .thirdly, that such new punts as are necessary to save delay in the working of the dredge be also ordered; and fourthly, that M'Neill, Ree\es, and llamsay be a committee to make enquiries with a view to either purchasing the Peninsula steamer, or ordering a" hew and perhaps more suitable steamer, for-the work of towing the punts, such committee to. report at next meeting of the Board:" ;.-..

Seconded, by Mr. M'Neill. The motion was carried, The survey not to be the predecessor of expenditure, but contemporary with

it. How little the Board are in earnest in this survey motion is evidenced by the fact that it was only proposed after it was found impossible to consider the advisability of closing with Mr. Proudfoot—that gentleman withdrawing his sealed offer. We quote from the ' Guardian ' report: LETTBE WITHDRAWN. The Chairman read the following letter:— " Dunedin, September 16, 1874. " To the Chairman of the Harbor Board, Dunedin. " Sir,—As the object of my letter and the conditions under which it was lodged appear to have been misunderstood by several members of the Board, I have to request that you will consider the letter withdrawn, and I will feel obliged by your returning me, unopened, the sealed tender.—lam, &c., -. "D. Proudfoot." The Chairman said he regretted that Mr. Proudfoot had withdrawn his offer, because he thought it would have been as well could the Board have seen it.

Mr. M'Neill: I must say that I confess to having entertained the same curiosity to see the offer.

Mr. Tewsley: But.the terms were such that we could not break the seal.

Mr. M'Neill: Precisely. We were all dancing, as it were, around the fringe of it, but afraid to touch it. His Honor said lie did not know its contents. The object, - he believed, was, and would have resulted in, the deepening of the Harbor. However, he supposed they must now return the offer unopened. Mr. Reeves thought.it would have been scarcely right to have opened the envelope until the Board had decided whether the work should be done by contract. Then, again, this vague motion as to survey—what does it mean ? Does it mean, as we were told once before, was the only thing a dozen boresoff Jack's Point, to see whether rock cropped up there or not. Or does it mean an accurate ascertaining of what the best engineers lay down as essential knowledge to prevent the-possible destruction of one of the best, harbors in the world, 'before the least artificial work is undertaken. Fortunately, under the new Harbor Wor-ks Bill, the Colonial Government will have" a say in the matter. . *