THE ISLAND BLOCK.

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 96, 11 December 1869, Page 3

THE ISLAND BLOCK.

(To the Editor of the Tuapeka Times.) ''Nemo vie i.npune lan&set.'* Sir, — In a recent ltjsat; ox your pittter^ I noticed two very inflated /utters, pur-, porting to. be written uy individual!} wiic, ulanu ou represent til© Ciioirw puulic u\MU ion of the uwtnot. In nouoing these precious eli'usioiiSj I am not going to adopts the "Tv t^uoque" s.tyle, vvhich would, probably b« relished by those gentlemen, but as nolding different opinions to tnuse enunciated by your correspondents. I would beg you aude alteram purterr\, while 1 advance a few facts in support of my views. * The burden of these letters referred to> is ruin! rum! ruin! because the land did not fall into the hands of a few miserable cockatoos, who would revive in Otago the mud cabins, potato rields and pigs, .with, their attendant misery, which made Ireland at one time the horror of the civilised world. Because of the wise policy of the Government in introducing foreign capitalists to divert some of their surplus streams of wealth to flow on the soil of Otago, and convert the howling desert, into a smiling garden. Because of these, things, 1 say, our clodhoppers must, pari* • passu, raise such a howl of mingled cupidity and disappointment, forgetting~tas;~ m the nature of clodhoppers) that there, is such a thing a& the comm«n weal, far transcending in its claims on the attention of the Executive taosg of an unreasoning, unthinking class. Sir, I hsve been, informed the Island Block is to be at once and thoroughly worked for gold, under the auspices of a. wealthy and influential company, who. will employ a very large amount of labor* in wresting, nolens volens, the auriferous, treasure from what would have been (if the agricultural lease system obtained the* mastery) potato beds of a numerous and. squalid population. If it is not more desirable to thus encourage and employ foreign capital than to sacrifice the land, in the manner indicated, then t own that my views, which 1 am aware are those of " the minority (an enlightened minority), I may be permitted to say 1 am, wrong. As a proof that the district is not utterly goin^ to the dogs, as your correspondents would have us believe, I may inform you that a large and commodious, hotel, second to none in Duuedin, is shortly to be erected in the vicinity, by a gentleman who would not thus hazard hia capital if the .Benger district was. "going to pot." I might advance many other instances, of the benents to be derived from the. wise action of the Governmeut in selling,, instead of leasing, the Island, but I fear;of trespassing on your valuable space. - 1 am, &c, COSMOPULITEL J Roxburgh, Ist December, 1869. j