THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1869.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 27, 6 August 1869, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1869.

The construction of a sludge channel is a question of such manifest importance to the district, both presently and prospectively, that none will, we imagine, be found sufficiently bold to dispute the advisability, if possible, of its adoption. Hitherto the public of Naseby have been content to live in the hope that the Grovernment would be induced if not inclined to take the matter into their own hands, and as amends for the systematic neglect with which they have uniformly, one after the other, treated this district, construct a channel at their own expense.' Any opinions on that score which might previously have. existed must have been dispelled by the remarks which fell from Mr. Grillies upon the subject, when consulting with the Joint Committee. It has now become evident that if we are resolved upon obtaining Governmental aid in constructing this great •work, we inust.. accept that aid upon the only terms which they (bhe- Grovernment) will condescend to grant it—namely, by subscribing a certain amount among ourselves, and requesting the Grovernment to supplement that amount as they have done at other places, at the rate of £2 to £l. At St. Bathans this has been done so effectually that that district possesses a channel which works admirably, and is not only an inestimable advantage, but at the same time a great credit to the district. Following in the wake of St. Batbans comes Blacks, whose residents, fully alive to the importance of the matter, have come manfully forward, business men and miners together, and, as we are informed, are making every possible effort to place themselves in a position to demand every supplementary aid which it may be in the power of the Grovernment in terms of the vote, of the Provincial Council, to afford them.

If, therefore, St. Bathans arid Blacks, both smaller places by far in respect of population than Naseby, be so impressed with the importance of a sludge' channel to maintain their present position and develope their vast resources as to have made' extraordinary efforts to secure the advantages of G-overn-ment aid, shall it be said that Ave are. bo dead to our own interests, both present and prospective, as to allow the sum of £IOOO, which lies waiting our acceptance, to lapse for the want of putting ourselves in the requisite position to ask it ? We trust and believe not. "We feel convinced that the matter has only to be gone into in a systematic and determined manner to receive the assistance and support alike of the business men and the miningcommunity. Both must be aware that, though different, their interests arc, in some measure, identical. Paradoxical as such an assertion may appear," it is not less true. On the prosperity of the miner must depend the success of the. business man, and without the business man the miner could not exist and carry on his arduous avocation. (Seeing, therefore, that the interests of both classes which constitute our community are indirectly, if not directly, the same, and that that which will benefit the one must necessarily benefit j the other, we trust that united action [will be taken by both to obtain that

which is generally believed to be not only practicable, but, at the same time,* essential to the mutual well-being and advancement of both.

There is, in all human affairs, no such thing as standing still. Either we must progress or retrograde. "We would, therefore, take the liberty of endorsing the remarks of a member of the Joint Committee,, which appeared in a late issue, suggesting that a public meeting of all interested in the matter should be convened at an early date, in order to test the question as to whether or not the people of Naseby are desirous of obtaining a sludge channel, or whether they are resolved to allow the present opportunity to slip by without making an effort and, if necessary, a sacrifice to secure the assistance which it is in their power to obtain. "We have no fear of the result. We feel that the miners, jointly with the business men of. Naseby, acknowledge and are fully alive to the importance and necessity of the work, and are prepared each, so far as his means may admit, to assist iu its promotion. All that is required is action, and that that action should be united a,nd immediate.