THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1874.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 296, 30 October 1874, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1874.

The ablest newspaper article writer iu the Province, whose gifts of improvisa-. tion, added no doubt to a large experience in active contact with the world ,are...on all occasions so conspicuous, is without, dispute connected with the Dunedin 'Evening Star.' Yet the very gifts so highly possessed by this writer are dangerous in criticism, for they lead to superficiality. A theory is supposed to be held by the offender who is to be castigated, because like has been seen before,' and the assumption is at once started that like has repeated itst;]f. On this unverified assumption, a bogie is raised, and of course very easily demolished in an able and readable manner. Pitv though, it is,-that so much talent should be so often devoted to bogie-slayincr We do not suppose foil a moment" that the editors of Dunedin papers—who have to watch two worlds, their ovyn

small non-descriptism of-cliqu'es (capitalists, and - those: who. .; would be capitalists in their r turn -to -combine, extort, and generally carry-on/"war of brigandage) and the great world outside—have time or'inclination to keep up with opinions as expressed by Provincial journals; yet,- when such opinions are thought to be so erroneous as to be worth-replying to, we and our contemporaries have clearly a right to claim 'that it should be first ascertained that we have either directly or indirectly expressed them, "Referring to the ' "Wakatip Mail' and ourselves as the centres of grumbling at Dunedin Harbor Improvement, the 'Star' say a :—" The pretence is that the jetty dues are Provincial revenue, and that it is not fair to "outlying districts to spend the amount on Dunedin while so many up-country districts require roads-; " and'again, "It is the weakest possible reason for not executing a necessary work- to say, if it is done, one place will reap the benefit, before another, and therefore it should be left alone."," On the statement thus put forward, as being" the objections of the Provincial Press to the present Harbor Board Scheme, a long and able leading article (well worth perusal) is written, ably demolishing the bogie of Country versus-.Town, thus pleasantly raised by .the ' Star' itself. ' The - real objection has found - expression -in every paper in the Province, except in the Dunedin Press ;■ for - even the ' Bruce Herald' used to delight its readers with fierce onslaughts, against the scheme —until coal railways to private estates were mooted. Secretary-ships,-.and'other circumstances altered cases-.

So far from -claiming harbor dues, and fees as Provincial, revenue, we have in more than one article especially deleted it from the,ordinary revenue, and credited Dunedin- with the full amount." We repeatedly -have stated legitimate Harbor Impiovement is only restricted by the value of • such rates and dues as can be derived from it; "that expenditure in excess of such derivative value, of securities, supported by Provincial revenue, in any country, is wrong in principle; and, in a young' country struggling to disseminate her increasing population, over the interior lands, so as to be self-sup-porting, is simply cruel and suicidal. In the very article which, has drawn the attention of the ' Star'. writer, we appealed to the ' Guardian,' who had kindly undertaken .our- instruction—"Prove to us that no experiment is to be undertaken in the Harbor the expense for which is not to be met by Harbor charges-, and revenues we will cease from troubling." Was. this proof attempted ? No; for it was impossible ? The ' Wakatip Mail' can very well. defend itself: we may say, however, that, so- far as we are aware, both the I ' Mail' and the c Tuapeka Times' have taken the same position as we have done. This being so, no doubt our at all times courteous Dunedin contemporary will acknowledge that in stating as a pretence advanced by us, adverse to the Harbor Board Ordinance Amendment Scheme, what never 1 was so' advanced' or dreamt of (except in Dunedin, he was misled by those splendid improvising-talents he, has,-such, complete mastery of. • The '. Guardian,' while also dazzling, is more ingenuous : professing to answer our few simply stated enquiries, it quietly ignored the whole,, and raised a phantom also for pleasant demolishment —the phantom in this case being that the country Press are opposing the Harbor Board Ordinance. On the contrary, we uphold the Ordinance. The Ordinance does protect the Province to this extent, that the securities for the proposed loan are simply and solely the Harbor dues and rittes,.added to the gift by the Province of certain reclaimed lands. - Our contemporary ought to have known better than to think that all the Harbor below high water mark that may happen through time to be reclaimed belongs to Dunedin. We might as well say that the results from the sale -of the Maniototo Plains, or any part of them, would belong as of right to -the small Municipality of Naseby. In the gift of the reclaimed land, the Province has most richly endowed - the Dunedin Harbor Board ; and although till the Ordinance passed we did our best, N .hopelessly enough, to check it (judging, - as we still think, rightly that the Provincial, Executive vvere useless if* they could not do that which lay right under their own eyes), yet, since it has passed, we have never said a word against it. There is the Ordinance, the Harbor Board also, and their Secretary. In Neptune's, or any other Deity's name, make ,the best of it all; we will not laugh. Trouble enough will come through the now very necessary Act of 1874 to regulate the dealing with all lands below high water mark.

What roused our opposition—and we may well believe that of our contemporaries was the feeler published in the ' G-uardian ' itself—that the Ordinance, being useless, as no money could be raised on its securities, certain amendments would be needed; these amendments being nothing more than the Province being the guarantee —possibly the sole payer of interest of money to be borrowed without limit, which has since developed into an understanding that the Provincial Solicitor should draw up the said reasonable amendments.

The ,' G-uardi in,' in referring to the Mount Ida and Waipori worlcs, instinctively points to the true position of Dunedin Harbor Improvement. Any such improvement—. if in excess of the rates, dues, and, we would even add, other revenue from endowments should be a matter for Colonial decision, If it is not for the benefit of the

Colony that securities, which are very limited, should be strained for thatparticular work ; it is not right that it should be done It was well known that the Colonial Legislature would not sanction the Dunedin Harbor works at the present or any time; hence the haste to coerce expiring Provincialism.

The Colony has made Dunedin a railway at her own request, and we assert fearlessly, in spite of all the tall talk of our enchained contemporaries, * that, so far as can be, it would be far wiser to exhaust the whole of our Provincial securities in opening up the interior, and making of best, value • the; land we are determined -Jojl sacrifice,, besides saving from £3 to £8 per ton, instead of only, a suppositious 3s. per ton. Ve are truly very blind not" to. see how we are to gain this 3a. per ton. We might retort —Dunedin is equally blind not to see that her merchants are' losing £3 to £8 on every ton of goods they send to the interier. We are accused, too, of dishonesty - in being aware—as we admit we were —that it was represented as not "being the intention of the Board to come year by year to the Council for an annual appropriation. What! would our , | G-uardian' friend- grab' capital and interest too ? "What is this saving .we are -to be thankful for ? An immense * loss in endowing- a Board- which has shown by its beginnings what its" endings are to be,- with a sum of money, as represented in the land to s be reclaimed, far greater than the - sum represented by the present unjust annual appropriations for Harbor maintenance. '[

One more word,-, and we :have done. The "'Guardian ' asks, in tones of. amazed incredulity :—-.".We should" like our country-.'cousins to. tell.us whether they are of opinion that money • raised in Dunedin ought tobe expended on works, out of Dunedin ?."• We have already shown that no Provincial venue is raised in Dunedin save censes given to the Municipality for road maintenance; that "every ~ upcountry consumer pays this harbor due and rates—not the importer or- the exporter, whose profit we may be sure, is the same in any case. We never have asked such a thing, nor do we intend to ask it.'" What we do ask issubstantial enough, without dealing with shadows. But the poor country cousins ask one question which it is hoped will not be evaded by their richrelatives in town; ." Does the Dunedin" Triumvirate mean to say by its silencethat money raised on the G-oldfields-should be expended in Dunedin; that it is right that over four times as much should be locally raised, ly direct taxation on Goldfields, as is returned. ,The City Press profess to represent the Province and the Colony, while by their weekly, reprints sold in the coun- - try they chiefly exist. How is it, if Dunedin is acting honestly in her Harbor Board and other schemes, these reprints dare not defend heracts, nor of late help to put a stop to the spoiliation of the Goldfields.