THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1874.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 301, 4 December 1874, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1874.

nric legislation" "the effect, through its imposts, of inducing New Zealand farmers to leave off raising .crops, because,it" came about under it that it was more profitable to seek employment on' public works than grow corn? if", fo,r 3 farming could just be made'to pay with oats marketable at 2s. 10d., and wlieat at a proportionately low rate —the' legisla-ture-were.to impose a corn tax on all produce broughfcto market of 6d. or Is. a bushel P The results sure to follow; in ; such a case, when-: a i sound > economic: base was ■ wouldbe apparenj in all their folly. There is no ■" difference in fact -or m results—exceptin more apparent obscurity, when general principle* are applied to, mi ning—in what is actually done with regard to the production of gold. Bread is no more a special commodity, when alternative foreign; supplies- in any quantity are procurable at an increased price, than: gold - is.- ' ■ Both bread and gold are produce; and, to the extent of their values and cost of production, are money, and add or subtract, accordI ing to the amount of the annual supir.ply .< o the wealth of the community.When, owing greatly enhanced price of provisions and;,timber, caused by the artificial stimulus of our public works, alluvial mining (on an average) cannot be prosecuted witKleiven moderately successful results,, a* prohibitive taxation ,is . continued, which—as has been , repeatedly shown, and never tradicted—was only:experimentally introduced with fear and trembling to secure -means < sufficient to' meet the - enormous! expenditure it- was' thought would be necessarily entailed in keeping order m an unopened and mountainous country, which bid fair to be rushed by?thousands of. Victorian' and Oalifornianfminers,?who (for'the''most' part), .ifrom th'eir "unsettled life? had a" character for rowdyism to this day not wholly eradicated. The mosfestrenuous resistentof the - regorgement ,-by' the l 3 rovincial-boa-coustrictor of' a fourth only of the Grold" Duty admits in theory the injustice of the whole four .quarters levied.. . . The.P,royincial Secretary, ' liansard"'" records', voted for its reduction in the Assembly.. We recognise the fact that it. must"beimdesir-, able that a tax which is fixed-by Colonial statute should be unequally col - lected in different parts of the Colony-; that it is indeed certainly-inexpedient,'' while, at the same time, its inexpediency s is not sufficient to justify the continued toleration of a .positive : injustice. ' "

The Goldfields revenue, is as "oppressive as, the duty, though founded , on; more being, a pay ment .. for* a service; rendered. ;',WKeaj,rhowever,*!'itj becomes an o_ver-payment : for such service, oppressive 'taxation upon an industry cbmmerices. The case of tolls on roads is, to a certain extent, analagous. In no, case that we are aware of do tolls Zealand pay for the maintenance ; cf "the; roads on •-•which? they are collected';' but there would be no injustice if the rates of toll were raised to such a point as to pay for such maintenance, "although it might be.extremely impolitic so to raise, them. Ify-however, tolls were to be raised so that the amounts collected on fif y miles of ithe • Waikouaiti and Dune din' road were sufficient ..to pay for the maintenance, not only of. that road, but also of another fifty miles on the Tuapeka and Dunedin road on which no tolls are.collected at all, a very apparent injustice against the Waikouaiti farmers and travellers would plainly be perpetrated. The object of all agitation on . the' Goldfields, in the Provincial Council,- :and of all voting'in the A ssembly. is-to - remove an undue burden from the miners for gold. The black mail levied by the gold receivers under Goldfields revenue is not so apparent as that collected at the Customs under the Gold Duty Act ; but. it is equally as much a burden'; and can be more easily removed. At any rate, the Provincial Government cannot, say that they are powerless to reduce it, as it is collected under regulations they had the framing of and can at any time add to, alter, or take away from. The ordinary G.oldfields revenue, which brings in twice as' much as is spent in special maintenance, isfixed : " in every except miners! rights and _ business" licenses, -• by the J Provincial Government itself, for the i benefit of .its own revenues. : We 1 show, in another column of tthis issue, that such self-assessed rev uue collected for mining leases alon = in Ota-£o-amounted, in : 1873, to more ■ than £IOOO above, the' whojg charge for Goldfields- -maintenance: If the advocates for the relief of .the duty are honest in' "thenr-advocacy; and "'only stumble, as they'say, at the difficulty of dealing positively with' what is not in their .power, why W/ill they not agree to, a proposal to do. what they ./must admit is in Iheir power, viz.. recast (st far as the fees chargeable are concerned) the whole of the Goldfields Rules and Regulations.- ;• Clearly, charges tljnt were reasonable seven. or right vjpar-H .ago, when ■g.oldj was being picked U p almost'in shallow ground,. with little or no trouble, are not applicaltl =) now. jfi-ut for mining: leases-sh6uld be reduced to .ill .per acre per sifmnm.- registration, and other fees, -miyht be greatly reduced, and survey fharges. oil' both leases aud extended 'chiiiiis should be

abolished altogether —for:?it is; monstrous to charge "anl-applioant marking off of whatfis soldHo Jiim£-arid for which he pays so '-heavily. This could all be done, and yet the" revenue would be in excess of the sum appropriated yearly for maintenance. "We do not mix up the miners' right and the business license, because the - Colonial statute. We know of no other principle upon which the frarna rate of charges, was delegated by the Assembly to. the Provinces other -than we. have stated -in:- former'' articles," simply to preserve the inferior Governments from" pecuniary. loss in local administration. ■ A profit to revemie is, an abuse that has crept on because it has been nobody's business to check it as ifcs~pread.- '

r The,attention of the Colonial Government Eas been thoroughly awakened to these inequalities of revenue and expenditure bythe > efforts _• of the Central-Association of Otago ; and, if the Province itself will not rectify the abuse (or "even seriously consider it), ■ should the Mining Associations be main- ; 'taiued, and the same intelligent course fol'.owed up'that has so happily beeii begun by Mr! J. A.'Millar and his little band at Arrow in a . very shoit time the revenue abstracted from G-oldfields will be limited in accordance with reasonable statute law to the expenses -necessarily incurred in ma- - nagement. G-oldminers—unlike dist 11- ■. i lers, papermakers, cloth makers j- whale- ' fishers, and their kind—ask no bonus : they merely plead to be exempt from direct and indirect taxation, ]evied specially-on them, as a class, for the benefit of special land agents and merchants in''capital towns. 1 • '" ; " «■ ■■• ' •*■ ■ --

W ' . --J.' ■ —••;;.... - • - - - ' r-,- . _ jTENDEBs are called for supply of forage;-'to Police.stations—See '.Gazette.' . i ; . - A cheap clearing out sale of'the extensive istpok of Messrs. J. and E. Bremner is advertised. - Mb. J. Ewing is a declared candidate for the for a seat m the* ProTincial Council. The formal announcement will appear in to-morrow's issue.

The business transacted at the Mining Association. Committee's-meetirig, - held 'on IYi~ .day eyenitig Jast, we regret, to say, .crowded out; 'a!so",'a"note"df the-interesting life of the? late Hospital wardsman:

Court of Appeal the caseyDodson v. Macandrew wae occupyihg'the Court early in . -j e . e 5 .pi am tiff j the Attorney-General, -with 'Messrs. Sinith and Stout, for,the defendant. " ' - Station-hoi/deks and boundary shepherds are;earnestly, requested not to set fire to grass, On or about the 9th of December, as,by so do-, ing, they-will very; seriously, interfere' certain state-of;the'.atmosphere', with the* accurate observation 'of the, Transit ef Tenu's.*, A COBBEspondent ,writes;to us, urgingithe nomination of-one-who .fe said to.he a- miner, while every inch a tradesman, who he : admires and wishes iC^ntestjthe;election: I The,pressure upon7our~~sjpaee this week" eludes us'from publishing the full'letteiv We agree'with' the*prineiple of bringing forward local men, " who have a stake in the district."

The first lecture at Auckland under the auspices Reform Tieagnn.'hv MV T..i»v on the question, 1' Why should'tlie' 'proymcial system ?" as a complete failure*. •The;, first time the_ lecture.; .was.:-announced there was no meeting,^and tlae' second time/ last night,-only- sixteenr persons were - present when the lecture began. The League contemplated the employment-of lecturers to st'impj; the j;eountryyvbut *the' 'first 'attempt *is rather a damper. c:ijiiio:.;

, We regret having to hold-over-the report I of the business.,at the ordinary meeting of the 1 jSaseby Municipal day evening last, All the-Uouncillors were present. The principal-, business was the reading of a letter from the Under secretary, stating that'-the - Superintendent ' had .written to. the Colonial Secretary-urgiug-the building of anew. Court House at Jfaseby—a.suiif of moxiiey having been voted "dixrina the last session .of the>: Assembly for that object. , .The resignation -of the "Fire "Brigade was also considered,': and a motion earned that they be asked to furnish a list of grievances. * - °

Ihehe appears to be either, great dishonesty among the carters, orin connection with the D unedin weighbridge—dtaads constantly com-' iug up charged, from. 5 cwt. to half ■ a ton over weight. Suspecting the imposture, some of the Naseby .tradesmen .have lately weighed gewds on delivery, imd find out that from £2 tcn£s on the load is to be saved in very many cases. We do not know who is responsible for the management of the Dunedin weighbridge. The inaccuracy must wholly arise or be connived at there, as the weights that prove •so erroneous are marked by the attending cledr One or two cwt. might be wirikecVat; - but when it comes to half tons, it is time i action was taken to stop it. The fact is indisputable that the dishonesty is becoming notorious. "

, Stjbely there- is something -wrong in the social ethics of the South. With its moral and religious institutions in full vigor, with a fine, cold, bracing climate, we would not have expected such a disregard -for proprietry as this record reveals,.and are really astonished at .the people of Otago, and would recommend them to look into this matter to set themselves in a more respectable position before the eyes of the colony, lfc.is all the more remarkable because it is a violation on all established ideas of climatic influences. Byron says, ' What, men call'gallantly, and the gods adulfery, is far more "comnibn where "l:he climate's sultry ' But either this dogma is as baseless as the fabric of a vision, or the people of Otago are in a hopeless condition.—'Auckland Star.'

The Corporation. have done well to lay off decent surface drains, but these are altogether useless if measures are not taken to" clean tliem: down. Since the" heat his "set in the .odor from the drain in Tay-street is not only disgusting, but tever-breeding " Could not Councillors 'arrange to have these drains 'flushed down at regular intervals. Apparently,, Councillors have-more—pressing engagements than their public duty ; for, with regular meetings at a fortnight s interval, we find two running lapsed for want of a quorum. A month's neglect of simple sanitary reports at this time of the year might be the precursor of a reign of fever-am) death as experienced at Cromwell. What foresight would not do, nature is doing as we write. At the Puncdin races, on St. Andrew's' D;iy, Ivildarj won the Hurrlle R ice—merely • coding 5 lo the post and will king '<sVer.~' For t he M;u len JPJajte,. .21.) eov*.. Captain-, Hutchison's Kni;i Piiillip, just. imported, scared a " in ;Hor the; handicap of 25' sovs.-, with t a .sw.eepiac.ded, Goodman's Kathleen was' first'v I'ottun's Envy- second ; and .Nelrnes's Faugh-a-b.illngh, Ihml. Captain llutchi-on's mare which, vvas backed ai, level mo icy, ] jailed "Hind at tin- post, :.nd Icihiplv c.iitered after -In i field. A Bi'otea. iuvl lalifv'L A'owner and

the jockey, which has yet to be decided, was entered. There is said to be" a very strong feeling on the subject. Selling Bace, of 25 sots. Mr. Water's Miss Alfred, entered to be soli? for £4O, won; and was bought in by the owner for £42. Mabel came out for the,next race, the Spring Handicap of £SO, running straight, and won with the greatest ease-—be-ing freely 'hooted and groaned at - by the crowd. Dodson's Polly Green secured the trotting race, and Verbena the. .Consolation ■Stakes'." " ~ " - • - '

The Eendigo Deep Level Company— of rather the Cromwell shareholders, who so fooltheir Dimedirr-agent—-liavte very seriously injured the prospects of quartz reef development. A more foolish, / or badly advised course could not-have been' taken than, when the appetite of capitalists ' _was fairly whetted, to steer a course which, perhaps, inits'suspiciousness,-more than justified the harsli and unqualified judgment "of the ' Guardian.' At the same time, beyond a desire to keep a good, thing to themselves, - we do not condemn the local shareholders. ' There is no reason to believe but' what the scheme was as bona fide as any wild diving ; generally is, ostensibly to cut leads of gold ' supposed, on no data whatever, to exist. The accusation of a sham, "an attempt to rig the " market, and so on, can hardly be borne out. For--th*e action-as a whole, we can; say no " good word. Miserabtymean in itself, it atthe same time most seriously -injures the _ Goldfields of : the - Province, and'will pro- . bably ruin many honest men engaged r -with i partial in developing main lodes, which; are indicated from their surface sprays : -to be sufficiently legitimate objects for prac- : tical and exhaustive search. At the last "" meeting reported, the following gentlemen - were chosen directors Messrs. T. Logan, Jv Mitchinson, J. Taylor, W. Cameron,: T. M'Morran,': J. -. Marsh; .and E. Murrell. fit s * Was decided,, as all the shares were taken upj to register the- company under the-' Limited " Liability Act, and to commence work at once.:i Mr. Marshall was legal- ~ manager, and, at a directors' meeting after-"* •wards, Mr. George B. Douglas was appointed working .manager. : A special claim of sixty •-- acres was resolved to be; applied" for. and work cpmmenced ou Monday, 23rd instant.