THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1876.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 377, 2 June 1876, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1876.

The Government will have one more opportunity offered it in 1877 of peopling the northern interior plains of Otagb with a permanent' and prosperous population. It had one such opportunity before and missed it. It occurs again with the speedy completion of the Mount Ida Public Works.

Ten or twelve years ago, when the Hogburn was in its' zenith ; when even Hamilton, German Hill and Hill's Creek could boast of two or three banks, hotels by the score, and large populations, no public effort was made to locate the population before the more easily reached auriferous deposits were exhausted. As a consequence the population in each district in turn nielted away by a process of gradual starvation.,

At Wakatip and Tuapeka the Government jvas wiser, or at least, perhaps allowed itself to be coerced for once into doing a wise thing against its will. At each of these mining centres, at a- time when cancellation of pastoral leasehold under the Groldfields Act of 1866 was a legal process, large areas of suitable lands were resumed bj the Crown and set apart as Commonages for the mining population. These Commonages proved a substantial'basis of settlement. It is true, that oflate years; owing to divers natural causes, the over-stocked Commonages have been ah abuse rather than otherwise, jfet, they have served their purpose in the past, and now are by no means depreciated in value by their temporary alienation of purpose, as the late sales at Queenstown abundantly testify. At ETaseby and surrounding districts in:thenday of their-greatest prosperity not an acre of land was ever opened to the;public. " Even at the present momenta community resident 80 miles from/the coast, under great disadvantages, for the sunply , of -produce, supporting three churches and two large schools, besides nearly all the social institutions, so common in Otago, has not a legal right to graze a eow or a horse outside the residence area fences or garden ; gates: ■ _ Ij; is certain, if Mr.; MacKellar will overcame.,his national caution,..and divulge the long-brooded-over scheme of 'management for the Public Works, .and if the Provincial Engineer will use la little more energy in getting the last, contract let on the Head Race, that nest summer a large, mining population will be in full work once more in While'it isiuipossible to say what extent of auriferous country may be developed along the sixty mile-course of the Manuhferpiia race, we are safe in saying that "the greater that area may prove-tobe,,the more. reason there is: foi anticipating, by wise land administration, the possible requirements necessary to enable even the migratory miners—if they show the slightest in- ! clination—to, convert their picks and shovels into, ploughshares and pastoral crooks, to the mutual benefit of the Colony and of themselves. If large land concessions are not made in the neighborhood of Q-oldfields Public Works the wise policy of the last Assembly in sanctioning such works will be" successfully countermined. The Mount Ida works will cost the country from first to last over £60,000. The water wo rks in and at the Thames have farexceededthat amount. ; Every natural advantage to add to the reproductiveness of works constructed at suchan enormous expenditure of public money,, should be seized instead ofheing deliberately cast aside and rejected. To' allow of such a sale as was coolly 'proposed a week or two ago of 23,0.00 acres inone ; block to the pastoral tenant ori'the Taieri would be to do. the best possible thing to destroy the value : of the expenditure of public money in this district. Properly dealt with and supported, the Head Eaco and Channel .can be inade'as beneficial to the settlement of the Plains as a light line of railway wbuld.' The two icombined"would make' future success certain. We have'the Head Race. The railway is yet to come. ; Although, it is true that, until' the Strathtaieri is opened by a railway from Outram, or that the Shag Valley line is constructed to. Kyeburn,- agriculture cannotbe carried on to any great extent oh Maniptoto, yet "the resources the water'.'supply'-will- offer 1 ! tb working men in wages'will be an equivalent to .the ; eai|ly. farmers.,, which will almost; make a. temporary isola-) tion from markets. fact, should ,iiever be aH'owed'.to be-forgotten that ; tlie wisdotjiT'or folly of the water works ischeme will hereafter , hinge ■ entirely 'upon the good or bad administration ?Qf the Crown lands, of >Maniototo.and llda Valley. If the disgraceful land G'old'fields^f 3 the past ten .'years isfrfa jbe,Continued, and all land is to'b&lockedu'p untftthe miners are starved away to.the Palmer or to Queensland, and then opened in ridiculous allotments, and so : tardily as to be aeertain failure, it were.better that the scheme of water supply had never been attempted. "When will our public men understand that the eco- : nomic administration of our Waste Lands is of fur higher importance than

the obtaining of a few thousand pounds more or less to be frittered nway foolishly in bungled public works." Ifc i 3 surely wiser to have land opened liberally in advance of requirements, than to entice people to the country and not offer them an acre of land until the little money they have is taken fromjthem. - ... .>,_....„ ~„.. , _

Whatever administrative changea may be in store for New Zealand, the importance of preventing; the alienation of the Waste Lands of the interior cannot, bo too constantly kept in prominence. Important as this question is in Canterbury, and even in the INorth.it is of double importance to the Government as well as to the people of this district. The Government not unnaturally expect the Goldfields to help to bear up the population in intervals of periodic stagnation elsewhere. Let it see to it that the Goldfields are placed in a position to be helpful by liberal treatment. The Goldfields will do their part. At least 50,000 acres should be redeemed next year below Naseby, and set apart legitimately under the Goldfields Act of 1866, under depasturing regulations, for the large population that is waiting on all sides to come to the district directly the Public Works are completed. If the opportunity is lost of settling the greater part of this floating population no artificial inducements-offered later will bring back a people driven to countries less favored, but where the administration is not so foolish, so selfish, and so short-sighted. ._:'..

I» another|column we publish a practical letter in reference to the depth of the channel. So far from considering the channel deepening of no consequence we were the first to point out the present deficiency. At the-same time we do hold that those who spoke at the meeting at Naseby spoke without any accurate knowledge of what the depth will be. A» the mile peg the depth will be from 10 to 11 feet below the Dead Level, which, we- venture to think is not so bad as has beea represented. While quite agreeing with our correspondent as to the desirability of securing all the depth available, yet, knowing as we do, the determination of all those in authority either to ignore or to mar the whole scheme, which originated in abler heads, we say -—Let us get the work done at ; any risk ; let us get it out of the hands of administrative incompetency and deliberate neglect. We have such faith in the Head Eace, and the ground that will be available, that \vs are of opinion, in a few years' time the management will be able to run the channel down to as low a level as will be safe. As a proof that the channel is not altogether, considered valueless by practical men we observe that Johu Chinaman last week managed to secure 30 acre 3 in the Main Gully. John is not usuallyguilty of spending his money in protecting what is to be valueless. There, is no money for deepening the present, contract. The only chance availablewas to cut off a few chains of the length. This the Provincial Engineer,' for reasons best known to himself, re-; fused to do. Now, the choice is impossible. Rather than lose the next summer we are prepared to advise the miners to take the. work as it. is. To. delay six months to obtain a perfect channel, and then find no money available to bring the water to it, would be supreme folly. That this will not be the case as it is we are not at all certain. . Until the last contract of the Head Eace is let, while delay upon delay is allowed to supervene, there can be no certainty.