THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1869.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 36, 8 October 1869, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1869.

The good people of Naseby.. were somewhat startled on Saturday last by the arrival of Mr. Harry Nettlefold, Messrs. Cobb and Co .V road manager, with the intimation that on Monday the coach conveying the mail from Dunstan to Dunedin, would pass through this town, to be succeeded the following day by the coach from Dunedin to Dunstan. Ingenuity was put to the test to divcover if possible by what miracle the Government had been induced to travel out of the course which they had prescribed to do a simple —though tardy—act of justice to this much neglected town and district. There were not wanting some (and we must plead guilty to being among the number) illiberal enough, and sufficiently uncharitable, to look upon the sudden recognition of our rights by the Ixoveminent as a political dodge, and as an attempt on the part of Mr. Macandrew to regain popularity. His Honor has ever been noted as an accomplished political schemer, and an able and artful dodger; and it occurred to us that, having forfeited an amount of popularity which he could ill afford to lose by his support of the new Hundreds Kegulations Act, he was now endeavoring to counteract the ill effects ot his doings in the Assembly by performing one at least of the many promises which he had held out to the mining communities in general, and the Naseby communityin particular. We were under the belief that he harl come to the conclusion that the District of Manuherikia, of.-which this town and vicinity form a strong and influential component part, mig : ;t oo jti .;i position to exercise some.sma-1 amount of influence when the next Suporinteudential election shall take place, and that the present action was therefore taken to secure, if possible, that influence in his favor when the trial of strength should take place, was, in fact, a kind of sop to Cerberus.

Our expectations and surmises on this ground appear, however, to have been altogether and entirely unfounded, and "we find that, for the present reformation in the mail service, we areindebted—not to the Grovernment who last year received an eighth of over £20,000 for export duty alone, from this immediate district, and from whom we had a legitimate right to expect consideration and assistance —but to the private pluck, enterprise, and indomitable perseverance of an individual or firm (Messrs. Cobb and Co.) from whom we had no right- to expect anything, and who have, we understand, undertaken to convey the mails, via this town, purely as a private speculation, aud at their owu risk. While, however, we are thus compel led to ab-solve-his Honor of any desire, even though from a motive of -personal consideration. of meeting the wishes, forwarding the interests, and advancing the progress of this district, we cannot so easily acquit him of a direct breach alike of his promises and his pledged word. When, during the visit of his lioyal Highness the .Duke of Edinburgh to Dunedin in April, several members of ihe Improvement Committee waited upon his Honor in reference to this matter, his Honor stated that a sum had" been placedupon the Estimates to form the portion of the road between Kyeburn and Eden Creek, and that, it the sum .were voted by the Council, the road should immediately be placed in as good a state of repair as any other portion of the main road to the interior. iNTearly four months have elapsed since the sum of £SOO was appropriated for the work in question ; but, with the exception that Mr. Oliver, the road engineer, some three weeks back visited the pla.ee, and put in a few pegs, no action whatever has been token by the Grovernment. As a mere matter of economy it was absolutely necessary that the Government should see this

particular piece of road put in a proper state of repair, as it was fully known to them that the tenders for tlio next mail contracts were to he from Palrnerston to Dunstan via Naseby. It does not require a Solon to arrive at the conclusion that upon the state of the road must depend very much the price at which tender* will be- sent in, and that consequently it would be not only the duty but the interest of the G-overn-ment to render the road traversable. Now that Messrs. Cobb and Co. have, in spite of the unfavorable state of the road, determined to run their coaches through, it becomes our duty again to call the attention of the Grovernment to the unsatisfactory, insecure, and dangerous state which the piece of road in question presents, and also to the fad; that the Provincial Council has voted a sum of £SOO for its repair, which sum has been for mouths (and is still) lying untouched in the Provincial Exchequer. We warn his Honor the Superintendent that, should the bad state of the road compel Messrs. Cobb and Co. to discontinue this service, now so happily commenced—or should accident nap'ieii to the public from the same cause —they, and they alone, in either case, will in public estimation, he held responsible. No time—not a da.v—should be alio wed to pass over before men are placed on the road to make sale at least the mist dangerous pi-ices. To call for tenders is now too late, at all event?, for the repair of the worafc portions of the road. Let the Grovernment, trien. issue immediate instructions to one of thnir officers and give him sufficient authority to employ wages men to fill in the holes and'tail races, and make the few culverts that may be immediately required—leaving, if they so desire it, the remainder of tlie ! work to be done by contract. Time in | a ease such as the present is everything. Action, and immediate action, is necessary ; and we hope to find that the Government will acknowledge and be alive co the necessity, and enter into the matter at once, and with spirit. In conclusion, while we cannot but condemn in the strongest terms alike the direct breach of faith on the part of his Honor the Superintendent, and the supineness and indifference of his Executive Council on this subject, we cannot too highly extol the pluck and .energy of the spirited firm of which Mr. J. T. Chaplin is the recognised head in this Province ; and we can assure him that he has not only our own but the best wishes of the entire district tor their success in their new undertaking.