THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1869.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 32, 10 September 1869, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1869.

There would appear to be some hope that the mail service will be so changed that the coach will, after the new year, pass through Naseby. Tenders are called for for the conveyance of a biweekly mail from Palmerston to Dunstan, via Naseby. We have so often written upon this subject—so often expressed our conviction as to the advantages which would necessarily accrue to o this* place from the coach passing directly through; this town —-that we feel some hesitation in alluding again O O to the subject. - Still, as we have said the matter is so very important a one, so far as regards the future welfare and prosperity of the District, that it can scarcely betoo frequently alluded to. It will be within the recollection of our readers that the sum of £SOO was placed upon the Estimates, during the last session of the Provincial Council, for the purpose of putting the road between Kyeburn and Eden Creek, via Naseby, in a good and sufficient state of repair to be traversable by coach. Four or five months .have elapsed since the above sum was appropriated, but no steps of any kind have been taken to proceed with the work, and the road from Kyeburn to Eden Creek, via Naseby, remains the same as it was before the £SOO was placed upon the Estimates. Is this, we ask, fair ? Is it reasonable, right, or honest? Tenders, as we have said, have been called for for a bi-weekly mail service, Palinerston to Dunstan, via Naseby, but it must be apparent to all that the amount at which the service will be tendered for will depend in a very great degree upon the state of the road to be traversed. It is more than probable that, should the tenders be high or extravagant, the Postmaster-General may think fit to decline accepting any, of them, and the result would be that the same monstrous mail system .as heretofore, will have to be continued. It is time something was done, and some effort made'Tto stir the Grovernment up to their duty, and compel them to expend the money voted by the Council upon the work to which it was appropriated. Spent at the present time upon the construction of the piece of road, lor the conveyance along which tenders have now been called for, the whole affair would assume another and a brighter aspect, and tenders would, beyond a doubt, be sent in which the Gro vernment would feel justified in accepting. As the matter now stands there are portions of the road referred to which are absolutely impassable, and which would naturally deter any parties from tendering. Let, however, the necessary repairs be made, and let the money which has been voted by the Provincial Council be expended upon the work for which it was designed, and there can be no doubt that tenders will be sent in which it will be alike

the desire and the duty of the Grovernment to accept. What we want at the present time is action—prompt action —and we are, we confess, at a loss to imagine how Mr. Donald Reid, the present Secretary for Land and Works, who has the reputation of possessing a knowledge of, and application to, business, can have allowed this matter to remain thus long in abeyance. If we are to have the coach pass through this town during the next year, it can only be accomplished by the road being placed in a good and sufficient state of repair, to be traversable with safety. "We again call the attention of the Government to this matter, and earnestly beg them to lose no further time in proceeding with a work which will confer the greatest possible amount of good upon this much-neglected and ill-used district.

We would remind sportsmen that the close season commenced on the Ist of this month, and will remain so until the 31st of March next. Any persons shooting ducks during the close season render themselves liable to severe jjenalties under the Birds Protection Act. We perceive in the Northern news that the Upper House refused to sanction the loan of £50,000, to be secured on the pastoral rents of the Province, and which was carried by a large majority in the House of Representatives. The influx of Chinamen still continues. There were, the other day, two waggon loads of them, amounting to between 40 and 50, from up country. The Little Eyeburn is said to be their destination.

We are requested to draw attention to Messrs. Inder and George's monthly sale of horses, cattle, &c., at Inder's stock yard, tomorrow (Saturday). In the evening, in the Victoria Hall, an assortment of jewellery, watches, clocks, pipes, and a quantity of books, ia announced for auction.

The Northern telegrams announce that Dr. Featlierstone and Mr. Dillon Bell are the gentlemen who have been selected by the Government to proceed to England to negotiate with the Home Government respecting the reten - tion of a regiment for permanent service in the Colony. It would, we fancy, be difficult to find two gentlemen more fitted to perforin this important mission. Dr. Featherstone and Mr. Dillon Bell are both of them "old identities," well versed in the past history and present affairs of the Colony, and are besides men of undoubted ability, and unsullied reputation. We sincerely wish them success. The sale of the Antrim Hotel, Kyeburn, took place on Wednesday, the Bth inst. The property was sold by Inder and George, under warrant of distress, in the cause v. James Donnelly, and realised the sum of £3O. At Clarks, Surface Hill, and Kyeburn, mining works are in full operation, with good returns and still better prospects. An accident occurred to Dr. and Mrs. M'Cambridge on their way to Eden Creek. The vehicle in which the Dr. and his lady were driving was a two-wheeled gig", the shaft of which, from some cause or other, broke, when the horse bolted. Dr. M'Cambridge was at once thrown out but not hurt; the horse continued running" away with the trap with a single shaft —Mrs. M'Cambridge retaining her hold to the rail. In the end the vehicle was broken to pieces, and strange, Mrs. M'Cambridge being unhurt.