THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1877.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 444, 20 October 1877, Page 3

THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1877.

In another column a, table" is printed showing the pre emptive rights exercised by tho runholdcis in tho Mount Ida district. Of these rights ten at least have already been converted into freeholds, and tho rest will, be similarly secured under the law as they mature A number of them have been applied for quite recently. The total amount of land thus pre-empted is a little more than 13,762 acres. Strictly speaking, the pro-emptives in tho districts of Waihemo, Tiger Hill (Ida Valley), Sutton, and Lauder are not in ouv districts, although closely abutting upon it. No one would be so churlish as .to object to these rights, but yet a smile may be forgiven as the loud protestations of some among tho more recent applicants are remembered, the echoes of which are " still lingering in the air. The land upon the runs of the. protestors has been declared to bo utterly worthless ; a nevcr-to-dio announcement has been heard that, come what might, the tenants of desert wastes would never buy an actV. There can be no reason why the tenants should . not their innings first, neither do we think that the hollow emptiness of the protestations alluded to (made by a section only of tho tenants) in any way affects tho position of the class in taking ' advantages of legal privileges. What is maintained is, that the turn has now come. The people elect, at least to go in second. The ' Mouut Ida Chronicle' has maintained for some years that our land is a fair land, a land that was desirable to make homes for men. So long as that position could be challenged for lack of evidence, it has been challenged. When truth could no longer be re- ' tained as an unobstrusive handmaid to self-interest, the hesitating tenants followed in the wake of their moro decided brethren, and exercised their dormant rights. Land that was not worth more than 10s. per acre, and was unfit for anything but to be treated for ever as unimprovable, is suddenly snatched up at £1 per acre.in blocks as nearly as possible 640 acres. The large number of holdings over 500 acres tells plainly that cream of the kind required by wide-awake land buyers is plentiful all over our plains. Upon this table of pre-emptive rights and upon tho results of the first ploughing match instituted by the Mount Ida Farmers' Club, we claim to have secured an irrefutable testimony to the soundness of the policy advocated iu this paper since its establishment. There it no necessity to ;call in'support the more visible evidence to be found at Hyde, Kyeburn, Blackstono Hill, and Ewcburn. It is pleasant to be able to believe that the greater portion of the pastoral tenants in our district are more than willing that it should be so.

Tub English mail, via Suez, closes at the district post offices on Monday next, 22nd. . A NEW morning penny paper, to be called the 'iMorning Herald,' will be published in Dunedin on an early date. The Kcv. J. Clark "(Pajraerston) will conduct divine service at Blackstone Hill on Sunday morning next, and in Nas>eby in the evening of the same day. The notorious Captain {""Bully") Hayes, well known in New Zealand and the South Sea Islands, was murdered in March last by a Dutchman who shipped at Samoa as cook and seaman.

A i-aboe number of subscription lists for the Indian Famine Kelief Fund have reached this district. We are sure from the successful efforts that are being made that Naseby will not be behind districts similarly circumstanced.

Such is the demand for land in the district that on the opening of the small block of 2500 aoros on the Maniototo Plains a feW Weeks ago sevural of the choice sections were "applied for by , two and three applicants. The District Land Officer appointed Tuesday last the day on which balloting for the sections should take place. There was some excitement over the result.

The Immigration and Public Works Estimates have been printed. The vote (£90,407) for waterworks on Goldfields is apportioned as fellows : Thames, £6505; Waikerei, £3BO ; Waimea, and extension to Kumara, £25,82$ ; Mikonui, £15,650 ; Nelson Creek, £24,314; Mount Ida, £25*3; Beaumont and Tnapeka, Mount Pisgah, Tun death of the celebrated Capt."Semmes is announced. He commanded the notorious (.'••n fed crate cruiser the Sumpter at the'comtnencement of the war between the Northern \ and Southern States of America. He afterwards commanded the celebrated Alabama in her privntenring forays on Federal merchantmen until she was sunk off the English coast by the U. S. Kearsarge. On Monday last, before a special jury of the Supreme Court, the case of Geo'-ge Proudfoot, indicted upon a charge of rape, was commenced. The only fresh evidence' adduced was as follows:—"Jane Angus, mother of the prosecutrix, ropeated the evidence given by her at the Police Court, and 'also stated: The prisoner came to the door of my house, and said he wanted to soo Bella. I said ho could not see Bella. He then went to the other end of the house, and called mo to speak to him. I went, and ho said he was not a married man, and wanted to marry my daughter, and was sorry for what he had done. Ho said he had plenty of property and cows, and he might have her now to keep hor for the rest of her days. I said no, and went away from him. He stood till uiy husband came home. Ho spoke to my husband, but I. did not hear what ho said. Mr. Proudfoot drove away. My other daughter, Jane, was standing in tho doorway when I was talking to him. I did not hear what he said. 1 am a little hard of hearing.—To Mr. Smith : I do not think the prisoner was the worse for drink. He came close to me, and I did not smell any liquor.—Jane Angus gave corroborative evidence, and also stated that the accused asked her at this interview to tell Bella he had come to marry Iht.— James Angus repeated the evidence givtjn by him at tho Polico Court, and deposed that ho had seen the prisoner on 1 uesday evening, the oth instant. When witness went home in tho evecing of that day he met the prisoner at his door, Tho prisoner said he wps sorry for what he had done, and said, 'Supposing I was not a married man, Would you allow Isabella to marry me?' Witness said he believed the accused was a married man, and the accused replied that he was not married, and that ho would be willing to many her and mako her comfortable. Witness said he could not do that. Mr. Stokes came up, and after a few nmark* Proudfoot

said he wanted to speak to witness privately. He said again he was very sorry for what had happened, and was willing to marry her, and would make over anything to her wit ■ ness would mention. Prisoner asked if he should come again, and witness replied he might do as he liked."—' Times.'

SHEAniXG commenced at llaniototo Station on the 13th November.

Tkndki.-h aro called by the County Council for maintenance and part formation of main branch roadn in tho County. The road leading through tho Kwobnrn Farma is to be put in good order. Tenders for the work are called for, to be lodged on 26th October. The Undaunted Water Race is advertised to be let by tender for 0110 or more yearn. Tenders to bo lodged on Saturday, 27th October. The Naseby Colored Minstrel Troupe intend giving a concert, in aid of tho District Hospital funds, on the evening of Friday, 9th November proximo (Prince of Wales' birthday). Thk tea mooting and concert in connection -with the Ark of Safety I,odgc, 1.0. G.T., takes place on Monevening next, 22nd insi. A IjECTUUE on tho "Conditions nnd Problems of Human Lifo" will bo delivered by M. J. S. Mackenzie, Esq., at the Kyeburn Schoolhouse on the evening of Friday, 2Gth Oct. inst. The proceeds of the lecture arc to be given to aid the school funds.