THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1875.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 319, 10 April 1875, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1875.

Judging from the Dunedin papers Otago is on the eve of ruin—because the scheme of a few.private gentlemen to construct a railway (about two miles long) toi the Eorbury is retarded, simply owing to the,;, directorate doing what they .'.-Knew-..-perfectly .well they had no right : to do,:. and. neglecting to,, do what they equally as' well knew should.have been done. Fancy starting in opposition to a village barber; and counting on the loan of his brushes/ Wisely or unwisely, the Government, acting on English precedent, declines to allow railways ta be constructed anywhere without Act of Parliament, and declines (in this particular case) to make over for private benefit its rails, required for the Kingston and Winton and other railWays. The ' Star'says :—"No doubt, on technical grounds, the action of the General Government may be upheld," but at the same time attributes the vexatious delays to departmental jealousies. The'Guardian'condoles with the company, while admitting to a little Colonial blowing in the private enterprise of Otago men. The Company's idea- appears to have been that the railway was a small concern, andmight be smuggled through as a tramway oh the ground of its insignificance. To those who are morally .censorious, and do not see why a little game should be worked for the emolument of a few who are speculating for a quick divi-dend-2-prior to a sale to the Colony of the Company's right, plant, &c—the directors reply, "Please, mem, it was only a little one." Still, if the railway had been constructed, no one would have been injured and a few would | have an. advantage. ' What strikes an outsider is the clamor and fuss made, in consequence of a few months delay in a work solely *of a private nature—a delay arising entirely out of the self-assurance; of the management, possibly inflated by the expression of-opinion (under champagne influences) given vent to by the Commissioner of Customs..', Columns upon cpliimns of newspaper are devoted to twaddling correspondence as to who is toj blame for the inevitable past. Leading articles thunder at the offending gods ; " poor, Mr. Beynolds " gets : _pitied—and his position appears pitiable enough. The ' Daily Times ' says —f" Everyone who has the true interests of the Colony at heart . is; bound to fight to the death. . ," and peroates thus—" If a work of such value is to be delayed a year by such shilly-shally devices the discretion and wisdom of the marplots (a singularly happy word) will be rudely quesand very justly." After all said and done; the only injury-to these few energetic gentlemen who constitute the proprietary of the Company is a little postponement of traffic receipts owing to 'the delay caused by their own neglect in not ordering rails, but counting-instead upon being fed by the Government spoon. Ear, independent of the rail question, the Act of; Parliament' would not have been flouted in th.e Company's face, but wpuld have been conveniently postdated to.suit the special case. -; . What is said about a ; few months delay in this private work is' evident enough. - Now, let us turn and; ask what is said of nearly .'two years' delay in carrying out; s the works entailing . a ■ large- expenditure of public moneys now dragging on their miserable; progress in this district Ri Outside the district—nothing.!. Yet, the money; wasted in delays and mismanagement would construct the Eorbury railway! !> . We ourselves have unceasethe careless way ; in which these Works have,, from the very, been "carried ion. ; We have1 f bullied: the contractors in 'every shape and form, short of finding' ourselves in the libelcourt, Jtp induce: them to "do theV,,wprkVtheyV,.Haye' con? tracted,-under imaginary penalties, to do. We have " embittered our own supporters by the vehemency of our remarks as to their apathy in quietly submitting to so much injustice. Beyond this we decline to go. We believe in the old saying—that those are helped who help-themselves. If the miners around Naseby are content to stand still, and incur debts-they cannot pay off—because of the breach of faith in the carrying out of these works —well and good ; we cannot help it. If those who can do so'prefer to leave :the district, knowing that the world is wide—we would rather they had the manhood to remain—still, r -we cannpt make them. The Assembly will be 'in session in a short time, and if money is not provided for the eonnectiort'of the head i ace and the channel, these works must remain a monument of the folly of the delegation of powers to an unfriendly subordinate Gov eminent The existence of su.:h a uiohuiuejjt will not, euab!e L .t;-,e a/ini va" and their families to livei. Do not our miners know.that a man is ,* -.man ■ he

cannot destroy his own influence except by passive non-resistance. • l)o they not know the influence and power they have if they choose to assert it? If not, we fear the case is hopeless. For our part for years we have represented the immense auriferous wealth on both sides of Naseby—extending for several miles below the town—only waiting for plentiful and cheap water to develop it, and a channel to furnish an available outlet. The water is now available, or nearly so. The channel could easily be made so. Strangely enough, now when the goal is within sight, is the time when those who are to be benefitted refuse to put their hand to the plough, preferring to throw the blame of delay on to some one else. "We ourselves have not escaped the sputterings of this mumbled discontent. It is well it should be understood that as a district newspaper we have endangered the little influence we possess by ourincessant complaints—unsupported as those complaints have been by those interested. It is no compliment to us to say tacitly—" Tou growl so well you needno help." We are beginning to believe, as the general apathy justifies us in believing, that we have been wrong; 1 hat the Provincial powers are Teritably our best friends; that the miners of Naseby are prosperous in the extreme; that the Mount Ida Public "Works will be completed about the year 1980. So firmly is such a creed instilling itself into us, that we decline to actively interfere any more in these works until the miners see the propriety of exerting themselves to represent the whole bungle and its consequences to the General Government. Next week we will give a summary of the whole miserable affair from its beginning, and the mining community can then please themselves as to their future action. For our part we shall have done.