THE Otago Daily Times

Otago Daily Times, Issue 166, 28 May 1862, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times

" Inveniam viam aut J'aciam." DUNEDIN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 28; 1862. It is said that public men like to be well abused ; hate is certainly a more active principle than love, and nothing is more disagreeable to the aspirant to- publio honors than to be regarded with mere feelings of passive indifference. Of all public men that it has ever been our good fortune to have presented to our notice, the members of the Town Board of Dunedin are by far the most abused, and therefore, we presume, tlie most happy. Theirs is, indeed, a never-ending source of amusement. They need not wait for their daily morning paper to read the abuse.. which brings delight to their minds, they have only to step out in the highways and byeways, to hear any amount of opprobrious expressions applied to them, and their mode of fulfilling their duties. Each mud-bespattered passenger they pass is inwardly cursing or outwardly anathematising the presiding deities of the mud-deluged city. Happy beings; they are in everyone's thoughts, they can enjoy "the delights of domesticity and feel the comfortable consciousness that thousands of their fellow citizens are thinking of them, —no matter favorably or -unfavorably—they are still being thought of! Nero was a knowing old chap. We do not believe he felt any real pleasure in playing the fiddle while Rome was being burnt ; probably the sight of the fire would have I been far more amusing to him ; but he wanted to be talked of, and to the hunter after, notoriety, blame is just as pleas-ant as praise. Warren, the ingenious concocter of extrordinarily polishing-power blacking, with an equal amount of knowingnesSj hit upon the Pyramids of Egypt as a medium for disseminating'his advertisements. He adorned, " those illustrious monuments of art, celebrated from remote antiquity," with the yery type of ephemeralism, brightly colored paper posters, and all Europel rang with the desecration. What' matteu ?—he gained notoriety. So does the poor • monomaniac, whose morbid vanity insatiably craves for nourishment to feed it, shoot _ at 'an Emperor, stab a King, or strike a queen with a cane; "he wants notoriety, - and he takes means to acquire it which are sure to be successful. 'Infamy is cheaply purchased at the cost of notoriety, at least he probably thinks so, until a bread and' water diet with occasional interludes df salutary flogging, probably brings him to another frame of mind. The members of the Town Board of Dunedin seek to. make their monument in mud. True it is a perishable material, but they con-~ trivc' to furnish an inexhaustible quantity. They 'do not ask a costly obelisk, visible only from one spot; —give to them the all-pervading memento —- the memento

constantly before tlieir vision, the memento which not only *encrust 3 them without, but which seems to coat with a hazy envelopement their mental as well as their physical attributes. But surely such excessive enjoyment should carry with it, its own Nemesis. Niobe managed' to dissolve away into tears, could not the Town Board be made to dissolve into mud ? May they not be made to feel a lively (pardon the anomaly) apprecia-; tion of the mud which they so beneficently bestow. Treating of accidents arising from Railway Carriages taking lire, and passengers being locked in, Sydney Smith wrote: — The first-person of rank who is Villed will put everything in order, and produce a code of the most carcfnl rules. I hope it will not be one of the bench of bishops; but should it be so destined, let the burnt bishop—the unwilling Latimer—remember that, however painful gradual concoction by fire may be, his death will produce unspeakable benefit to the public. Even Sodor and Man will be better than nothing. From that moment the bad effects of the monopoly are destroyed; no more fatal deference to the directors - no despotic incarceration, no barbarous inattention to the anatomy aud physiology of the human body ' no' commitment to locomotive prisons with warrant. We shall then find it possible " Voyager fibre sans niourir." Will,not this afford us a clue to reprisals on the Town Board which will warn them, it is time to stop their " mud larks ?" What if the outraged and much enduring citizens were to go to the expense of procuring photographs of the members of the Board ; aiid, posting them about the town, enable every unfortunate frequenter of the mud-swamped streets to recognise their features and give them whenever he meets them a thorough bath of mud? Individuals might be employed to dog their footsteps, and aid in sousing them. Their houses and their windows might be covered with mud ; bakers might be bribed to put .mud in their bread; grocers', to. ihingle'it with their coffee ; nay, even their domestics might be got at, and mud might be put in their beds. The citizens have nothing left for it, but to try an active course of reprisals. Remonstrance, persuasion, entreaty, have foiled; the argumentum ad hominem might succeed. It is something too much to ask, that some thousands of people sfeould submit to have their health endangered,their comfort destroyed, and; most keenly felt of all,: their pockets attacked, through destruction to their clothes, because the Town Board is too slothful, foo apathetic, too stupid, or too incapable to perform its duties. Who could blame the citizens if, rising ere masse, they were to seize the members sitting in conclave, with town clerk, overseer of works, rate collector, and books and papers, and, carrying them all to iManse,street, drag them through, a practical lesson in the art of " mending their ways ?" • If the Provincial Council will only pass an Ordinance of Indemnity, we strongly recommend the attempt. We have known in Victoria, on. newly formed diggings—-tovvnships,hundreds of' pounds subscribed' by a few inhabitants for . .t-hp-jmioiose-of-making passable roads. ■ If left would soon have the roads scraped, and the streets sufficiently metalled to effectually dispose of the mud. But the Board Will not act itself, and the fact of its,.existence precludes others from acting. It :has the money •at jts command voted by the Provincial Council, it r has full powers ,to act, [but it groyels and delights in mud,, and persists in keeping the city submerged, in it.! Every i other process having failed, we see nojremedy but to make it the victim of its own disgraceful negligence.. " ...-.; I '■ " ;:—: ♦__ I_ j In yesterday's paper we incidentally alluded to a measure in contemplation "to do away with " the Waste Lands Board and give ito the " General Government the irresponsible power "of dealing with the -Waste -Lands. 1' This definition of the,,proposed bill,- is perhaps a little too strong, inasmuch,as, though, jinpractice, it will have the effect indicated] it will have ostensibly another purpose. In brief ■terms, the Act is not so much to do away with the Waste Lands Board, as to give all the power it possesses into the hands of Commissioners appointed by the General Government. Speaking of the proposed bill, the Canterbury Press says;— j In other words, the whole administration of the Waste Lands is to be taken out of the Waste Lands Board • is to be" removed entirely from Frovincial control, and to be placed in tbe hands of a< Commissioner of the General Government. But the worst feature of the case is, that the '-'Waste-Lands Board is not destroyed or its functions taken away by this act; so that two conflicting bodies are created with coordinate jurisdiction. - In fine; a machinery is provided in-which mutual antagonism and conflict is a fundamental feature. The: long confirmed -wishes of the inhabitants of this province are set aside as utterly nought; for we believe there is no one: principle which is so entirely a matter of faith with all persons and all parties, as.thatithe lands shall be. administered by a board and not by an individual^—by Provincial arid not by central authority. ; That these remarks are not too strong we think will be admitted, when we quote the powers and functions which it is proposed to vest in the Commissioners. These are defined in Clauses 7 and 8, as follows: — ■ VII. The duty of. the commissioner sliall be as follows/viz. -.'To manage and superintend the custody, preparation, and issue of Crown Grants, Licenses, and Other instruments ,of disposition [relative to Crown Lands, subject'to such provision as is or shall be made bylaw relatiugthereto.' ■ ■ j ■ . . A. To perform and exercise all.such dutiesjand functions as by any laws or regulations for the time being in force in any-province relating to the sale, disposal, or management of waste or Crown lands, are or ought to be performed and! exerfeised by a ' Commissioner of Crown lands.- -:'A . , : n. To prevent unlawful trespassing or intrusion upon or occupation ofthe lands of the Crown. c. To remove and expel all trespassers and intruders on and persons unlawfully occupying sucli lands. D. The commissioner on behalf-ofthe Crown shall • '• ascertain; limitj-and define,* according to the laws and regulations relating thereto.Athe 'boundaries of all waste or demesne lands of the Crown, held or whereof, .under, or affected, by any lease or license. .* ... ,*.. ./ f \ B. The commissioner shall on behalf ofthe Crown .., . settle all disputes and differences whatever arrising out of or in relation to leases1 or 1 icensos of or affecting Crown lands, or betweeD lessees . '.: ;and licensees or>persQns claiming to be lessees or -.. ; licensees, of such lands in relation'to such leases op licenses,; ■ ./;:v/ -, -,:■ <'..; p. The commissioner'shall perform all such other '•:■■■ duties ■in relation- to any lands of the Crown on behalf of and- as the agent ofthe* Growri'Us shall ;'h- -from time, totime.be prescribed by instructions .■/.■.■■ in^that behalf from timeito timo.made and issuedui; ' by or.under the authority of the; Governor. *"- ''VIIL'-Un execution of the duties hereby imposed on bim every commissioner of Crown lands jsliall 'have" power :' ; A/jAt.-y _<; !l!/i^\A, . . > a. To enter on.any lands of .the qfowri jin .order to take x'ossession thereof in the name of the ~ .•Crown;-'.-' ■:-' ,:'*, . f -■■ »' j-.'"' 'b. 'To'expel ill persons' unlawfully occupying such '■■'-■■ lands' and''to remove or cduye" to ;be removed ' therefrbrn' all* cattle;-stock;'- goods, chattels, and effects'whatsoever of such'pei-sbhs; j , r o. To distrain, sue for, and recover money due to the Crown for rent, or ior use and occupation in respect of any lands of the Ciown.

D. To enforce contracts respecting sales, leases, licenses, or other disposition of the waste or de- < mense lands of tho Crown, and to compel '■' payment of money due to the Crown in respect thereof. ■ ' ■ ■ . E. To determine any determinate contracts respecting w.uste oi- demesne lands of the down. p. To resume possession of Crown lands on non-per-formance of contracts. '.''.. . G. To recover and receive rente, purchase monies, and other monies due to the Crown m- respect of any sales, licenses, leases, or other dispositions of waste or demesne lands of the C :own. ii. To do all matters and thing* whatsoever which - may be expedient or proper to be dope- on behalt of *ller- Majesty, her heirs and successors, touching any ol the waste or dem?sne lands ot the Crown," for saving, protecting, or enforcing the rights of the Crown in reference thereto.