CORRESPONDENCE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 303, 18 December 1874, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

Wk do not hold ourselves in any way responsible for the opinions and sentiments expressed by correspondents. All communications must be accompanied by the correct name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

(To the Editor of the Mount Ida Chboniolb.) Sib, —As I have not as yot seen an examination of the merits of the three candidates for the vacant scat in the Provincial Council —especially with relerenco Lo the immediate requirements of the district and Goldfields generally—with your permission I will endeavor to ventilate the subject. Education : The enhanced wage paid to youth daily increases the temptation to sacrifice the ri«ing generation to the gain of the present. Compulsory education cannot much longer be refrained from. Railways :—before any extended settlement "i.<\ tako place in the district it is necessary there should be cheap communication with the seaboard. The price of carriage is a heavy tax now—sucli would bo prohibitory to the export of produce. Pastoral: —As this interest dominates the Colony through the legislative Council there is little danger of its suffering except through oversight. Agriculture : —The settlement of the lands is desired by all; as it means increased working power by the cheapening of induce, but to alienation of auriferous lana and the water courses (the natural outlets of the same) the miner objects that the outlay on his already speculative pursuit should not be increased by wanton compensation, as he conceives there are lands enough for occupation without saddling him with an Old Man ot the Mountain. Mining : —The abolition of all class taxation except such as is for services rendered; the localisation of Goldfields nett revenue deducting what is necessary for purely Provincial purposes. As goldmiuing has ceased to be a temporary and become a permanent interest, requiring the outlay of extended capital, and, as such capital cannot be induced by the present ambiguous mining titles, it has become necessary that all doubts as to titles (except those incident to the laches of the holders) should be removed. The Maerewhenua case beiug sub judice. I will but refer to. If the decision is in favor of the plaintiffs the handicap will be too heavy to accept. Mining must cease as a general pursuit. It may be said that the making of mining laws is not within the Province of the Council, but as the Superintendent and Executive hold the delegation empowering them to make rules and regulations it will be admitted it is to a great extent under Provincial control. Taking the above into consideration, I hold the wants of the mining interest as most pressing (the trading interest being bound up in the well being of the other three). Therefore our member should be identified with the district by his interest—should be possessed of local and technical knowledge—and a man of some experience in business. Let us interview our candidates: Mr. Armstrong, our old acquaintance, remarkable for his bonhommie, without being locally interested, without technical knowledge, of but mediocre business habits, the " good boy who does as he's told," would be a too facile tool for the manipulation of the designer. Mr. Leary :—lrrascible, not locally interested, without technical knowledge (his Victorian experience is valueless here), but probably a man of business. Still, if elected, he would require coaching, and even with that would be apt to retain on our hands, through the want of technical knowledge, the inefficient mining rules at present in force. Mr. Ewing:—locally interested, with undisputed technical knowledge of good business habits, perhaps not an orator, but a good committee man, already in the confidence of the mining community as President of the Central Miners' Association, driven by the spur of self-interest, whose usefulness might to some extent be marred by his rash act of the past. Still, I think with a thorough knowledge of the circumstances, and a little self-examina-tion, but few will find they have a right to cast a stone at him. I vote for him. I am, &c,

Sckutatoh