THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1874.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 304, 26 December 1874, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1874.

PWs are invited to believe that Dunedin has not received a penny of public money, and coo'y defied to dispute the statement. JS'ow, putting aside the claims of a -central town to indirect support —more substintial than merely being the central fecus-'of capital and enterprise—we will look into the actual statement of .facts,, ~'- Provincial

accounts are not framed with an* necuhar clearness.. One item is put in one place, and another in another" simply because it always has been so' and there can be no improvement on what .has been. Tet, with all the casual, and all the intentional obscurities and fogs of Provincial Treasury accounts, which cannot even be made to balance, it is not difficult to select a few figures for considerations-showing the amounts from the Provincial revenue and estate actually expended during the, year ending 31st March, 1873 in Dunedin itself, and .on objects immediately connected with Otago's pital town. °

First of all we paid £4-340, which is an annual charge, being interest on sums borrowed for the purpose of decorating the town with ornamental buildings This is called the Public Buildings Loan. We also paid £5347 as an annual interest' charge on sums which, have been borrowed at the instigation of Dunedin merchants,, and clamorers for harbor improvement, which they now one and all declare to have been ' money'chucked into the sea, and want to try the experiment on a larger scale over again—only another way. Meanwhile, we pay the interest as above for the tune to which we did not dance. In charity we will omit reference to interest on dock buildings, interest on Port railway—also created at the instigation of the .Dunedin merchants, now, too, by them" condemned as useless, and only money thrown, we presume, on to theland—and come to the annual expenditure on the High School for the last year (£33l6)—a school which gives professedly the highest education at a nominal rate to children of well-to-do parents, resident in Dun- ..-, edin, while country boys are charged /'. rates for boarding sufficiently high to \ leave a profit to the authorised board-ing-bouse master. Practically" these boarding-house rates confine the benefit of the .charity to town residents, or ' those whose children can reach town by rail, with by the bye free passes. The Hospital received, not as subsidy upon subscriptions as with us, but as sole supply, £5184 18s. lid. Now, although the patients treated from Dunedin are greatly over the one-half coming from the country, we will speak of the Dunedin Hospital grant as only the half (or £2592), which, according to the country hospital system, should have been-subsidised by voluntary subscriptions to a similar amount. "We come next to a vote, that unless it is a free .gift we do not understand : it was not voted by the Council, bat granted by special order, and is called Eefund of Eents for University Reserve £835. Vote for Dunedin Athenaeum, £soo* Dunedin Cricket Club, £100; pur- .-, chase of Block 51, Dunedin, "- floodgates, Anderson's Bay Ro^" 1 ! % £2OO. Omitting votes for institutions * which are open to all alike, and fojf elrectly Provincial purposes, suck as * Punedin jetties, £1530, we next^fe> r } - to licenses derived under the O&qm-o * - Local Revenues* Ordinance:—Pu?§icans' and Auctioneers' licenses, £40Q0... Lastly, the money expended on roans'~\ ' outside the municipal boundaries, bW~? l in the immediate vicinity of not including the chief items on; '-% I main roads north and south, amoi.i' yd to £5732 Bs. The whole expend&t re carried out, especially for and in IlUnedin, during 1873, thus amounts to £27,482 Bs., while &&C X> represented the revenue contributed, with the addition of the suma v at the boundary toll gates, am* "ting during the year to a little overT* mother £4OOO. Add to this that the £arb& Board secured a free gift of l'iixd last, session, which the ' Guardia* * values" at £500,000, and which pre. bW.iir worth at least £300,000, and be thought that Dunedin has not ioensp. ' shamefully used after all. item for roads should be charged to the Taieri. f" , '" Of course we are well Christchurch merchants by* -* oessfully competed with; cr' in. * \<kri~ words, after we have bonus Dunedin manufacturers', and paid consequently deader for our boots'; and clothing, we are & a certain hypothetical advantage of 3s. per tori on goods brought u'^junt-y—yet, in spite of this we.- are still heretical enough throw-half-a-million of uujfeey at the heads of an a «d irresponsible Board contrbll^bj/gt'at least by no Government but', l?anedin clamor, ia solely an pecuniarly fb the advantage of Jpf&nedln itself. Let us hear no ill-used Dunedin,- - who gets no? a penny of public money, and are exorbitantly rated, ipVfor Provincial revenue, but " for drainage and improvement oftbeir own properties as they through their municipal representatives, judge best.

I ~»'' \_ -♦ . \p? Christmas Day we can hardly re. gain from wishing our subscribers all tfe good things the season ia hoped to bring, We have probably seen merrier nfepistas sea "than this is likely to bej-birp*t. £iy. rate, if the'district ia notyso prosperous as we would wish—and the ! 'aßex|iecfccd flood of last week ha,s,-aoubti£ s «:^d.jtoJh * depression sufienfig^under -.—yet beiieitthings are not now only to be Hoped-for. .but are within sight. By next ChrinVfiaa, we venture to predict that we be ,able to deal in absolute prosperity, that;at pres«&«ouid appear to pro! ceed irom oar %&* mocked. In depression or ouTgoodwiihes are aB true, gi ven as becomes the of a • that, in generously, district. ..

The official declaration of the poll is fixed * for Saturday 26th inst., at 10 a.m. Saturday and Monday, 26th and 28th inst., are the days fixed for the St. Bathans races. A 'teoNOKRT and ball is announced to be, held at Blackßtone Hill, on the evening of the 81st inst. * The banks will be closed on Friday and Saturday, 25th and 26th December, and on "7 the Ist and 2nd January. Subscribers to the Mount Ida District Hospital are reminded that all annual subscriptions must be paid to the Treasurer and Secretary on or before the 3lst inat., to enti- . tie the subscribers to vote at the election of committeemen at the annual meeting on January 4th. Thb first Governor of Fiji is to bo Sir Arthur Gordon. He is a younger son of the late Earl of Aberdeen, the Prime Minister. He was formerly a member of the House of Commons, and Private Secretary to Mr. Gladstone. He is half-brother to the Duke of Abercorn and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. A GBE.-iT rainfall took place at Kingston ou Saturday la9t, and detained the steamer until midnight Sunday night. Nothing like it was .ever knowr. In Quef»nsto*n it was quite fine, but Bultry. The rain did not fall in drops, and was as bad as an ice storm in its effect upon trees. ■* I? the members of the Mount Ida Jockey Club are at all alive to their own interest they "'''.;. will »ttend the meeting (called for the third time) by the Secretary. The Secretary and offlcerß,"who have worked strenuously for the club, deserve better courtesy than apparently is shewn to them. "We hope this meeting will result in a quorum to proceed with the ordinary business.

Good news has been received at Napier, from the Poverty Bay Oil Springs. The shaft is down 45ft., and the oil is welling up; from the bottom. During the interval between the men leaving work on Saturday night and 10 a.m. next morning 3ft. of oil had accumulated. It is estimated that from *j<;ht to ten barrels per day are now being without pumping, and twenty times fchut -jitautity can be obtained by pumping. *•*-*. «.j,t*i, ' Ll , a . u r rr>m the 'Dunedin Star' that the TarttitT, w' s>l three duys out from Melbourne, met witij h "vrii-ndous gale, which compelled Capfain Cliu ti' '•* heave to for fifty hours. During this tiuin .rtf, 1 ' teen valuable draught horses were killed, «u ' the life-boat washed out of the davits, ui»" >iul saved by becoming entangled with ropes' mast. 'The passengers were in their cabins during the whole be-. ing brought to them by the stewarda."-, ?,ho._ position was considered so perilous that the lady passengers rushed on deck in the night in a frantic state. Captain Clarke classed the gale a3 the worst he had ever met with in the whole of his experience. Wb understand that Mr. Warden Eohinson, in his capacity of District Land Officer, went on Friday November 28th, to Waihemo, to inspect certain sections applied for by Sir F. D. Belt, with the view of arranging for the •eourity.of the interests of certain miners, and ■of providing for a portion of one section to bo reserved for Mr, Deem, who has an hotel and ~ cultivation paddock upon it. We are not :;-. awaro what was the result of the investigation, but it will be seen by the report of the Waste Lands Board's sitting that the matter waß already settled for the present by the Board declining most of the applications. A cobbespondent from Maerewhenua in-

forms us thut the squatters are jubilant about the dirty water en so, and are open to bet any • amount that the case goes against the diggers. If bo, good-bye to sluicing in Otago. The rainfall thoro has been steady, so much so as to render the roads between the township and Oamaru almost impassable. The races are all . full, and in «no or two cbbcs running to waste, owing to the want of dams to store up water. Christmas is expected to pass ofF quietly. Our correspondent tells us that five men are .at last put on to mend the road through the Pass. They are expected to be some months at the work, as the track wnnts a thorough repair, a number of the Biddings being dangerous to pass along, especially in wet weather. Several of the sidelines, having been out on the Bhady side of the hills, are, in winter, nothing but sheetß of ice and snow. Plenty of new potatoes and green peas are expected for Christmas dinner tables. Shearing s on tho Waitaki is in full awing—the roads being quite lively with teams carting the wool down. Next season tho railway will be available to the Maerewhenua, and teams will have to push up country. The rails are already laid within a fnw miles of the river. „ Thero has been much talk of a bridge to extend the traffic to the north side. Now Government have swallowed the pill, wrappings and all—the £60,000 dole from the Colonial Government—thiß work will be carried out. Wb observe that his Honor the Superintend dent when undergoing the operation of receiving the Harbor Board delegation, headed by Mr. Beeves, adverted to the country papers -. —" For the information of the country papers, who -were continually asserting that Dunedin harbor was to be deepened at the expense of and to the detriment of tho rest of the Proviuce, ho thought that Provincial revenue was in no way responsible for the harbor loan no more than it was responsible for the loons of the Corporations of Queenstown, Inyercargill. Clyde, Dunedin, and Port Chalmers —(Mr. Tew'sley: And Mount Ida).—Yes, , and Mount Ida. In point of fact, tho expenditure on Dunedin harbor had hitherto exceeded the revenuo, and the deficiency had to be met by the Province. Now, it was proposed that tho Province should be relieved from that charge, and the Harbor Board . would have to find the funds." Hjjs Honor's earlier remurk that the Ordinance au'horised the Superintendent to convey 100 acres of what would be the most valuable land in Dunedin, which was Provincial and not municipal estate, proves thnt if that 100 acres is sufficient security for the lotm to be raised the Province ns a whole will have found the funds - for deepening the harbor. However, the country papers waived that point. They, without exception, protested, and still protest against those further powers which are ' still asked for—6ome of which his Honor is Btill very properly refusing to grant or aid in granting —and which will yet, we are afraid, be obtained, viz.. further colateral security on Provincial securities, and what is pleasantly called "certain reasonable amendments 5 ' whioh have yet to see the light. Wednesday last was what was termed the Cockatoo*' dav, and deserves to be a marked day-in Naseby; as prognosticating a dawn of bettor things in Btoreforall. The first land ever offered for settlement—although a large population has been settled in Naseby for over ten years—throughout the length and breadth of Maniototo, was on that day declared open to applicants. No great gift—some 17 sections Only in a small confined blook—which has been over and over again in our columns deolared, by those who should know, to be only tt shirgle bed. Before the evening 1438'acroB of.the block was applied for. Some of the sections by four or five applicants. Oh Thursday additional applications were put in and before tho month is ended it is expected that every section open will have been applied for. The Government would, we should think, recognise what an injustice has been perpetrated to a struggling district by so long withholding the land from settlement, and take stepß immediately to throw more land into tho market where it is bo keenly sought after, and so urgently needed. Wb regret to learn that James Murray, the unfortunate man who died on Sunday last at Maerewhenua, -was buried on Wednesday last

without enquiry. There appears to have been no difficulty in obtaining the burial certificate from the easy-going authorities. It was not even considered necessary to Bend a policeman up to enquire into M'Donald's statement of facts. The Magistrate is reported to have said—" If the man's dead I suppose you must bury him." Whether that be so or not, it is right that an enquiry should bemade as towhy the Oamaru authorities were so inert. This is not the first case the district has had a right to complain about. A few years ago a man was quietly buried, and the strange story started, and stranger still believed, that he died from eating toot berries. Later still Clarke, a miner, died strangely, and was buried without enquiry. Murray may have died from natural causes, or he may have been poisoned by adulterated spiritß. The fact that he threw away the contents of a large cheque over the bar of the public house, alone would justify an, enquiry. Quayle was the name of the mate who accompanied Murray home, and reported his illness, but was too drunk, or stupidly incapable, to return to help him.