THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1869.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 44, 3 December 1869, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1869.

"Whom God desires to destroy, him " does he first deprive of bis reason/' is ail old saying, and: one wliicli would seem to be particularly- applicable to the rulers to whom, at tue present moment, are entrusted the des&nies of this Province. Those who remember what Utago was before the discovery of her GoldfieJds must admit (however much they may have admired her then, almost primeval simplicity) that there has been, since that event, a marked improvement in her position and prospects, and that from being a settlement

(little known and less appreciated, sld| assumed at once, and lias since continued to maintain, the rank of the first Province in New Zealand—in point of] wealth, importance, and progression.] There cannot exist the shadow of J dojiht-JLhat. her improved position iJ attributable to her gold discoveries, ancfl .to none oi her. Gold, and the desire \A obtain it, brought population and eapi-j tal to her shores, iustilled activity and! the; spirit of emulation intoVher iuer-1 chants and her farmers by forcing upon] them wholesome competition, while the] revenue, yielded to the Treasury from] the consequences of the .sold discover J ies, led to the construction of thos« public buildings and work's which wM are all so willing to congratulate ourß selves upon possessing We speak witn pride of our"Post'Office, Hospital, mm Provincial Buildings, and also of ou« Bonded Stores and Banks.in DunediJ and though the latter are not GovernJ ment buildings, 'they* certainly woulcS have had'no existence had it not been| for the impetus given to every iiv3l dustry, and the increased revenue derived from the discovery of gold. Again,—looking at the country,— / though the communication between the I capital and the inland towns'iips is not] in the state we would desire to see id "still there are many good, well forme™ and metalled roads in the ProvinefS which, had it not been for the power M gold, would have been in their old state! of primitive mud- and impassability. 1 Many rivers have afso been spanned] by useful and elegant bridges which, were it not for the same cause, would, nave to have been crossed, as in the days of yore, by swimming at extreme risk. Telegraphic communication, too,J has made rapid strides, and mairw places formerly—for all practical pur J poses —as"•far"apart as the Poles, havP now been brought into daily and hourly commuiiication one with the other. Many "of the Goldfield towns are also in the enjoyment _^of this boon; yet,i though promised, it has noil yet been extended to this town an<3 district. m

The evident desire —the main ail and object—of the present Execute appears to be to put money in fiq Treasury chest, without regard to the injury*or injustice which may accrue tc any {.articular interest, and, prosper tively, to the public semble the man whrepossessed thd goose which laid the golden eggs, whd

not content with the handsome return] secured by the eggs, was. sufficient]* silly, .in order.to obtain what he imal gined would be immediate and greatwealth, to kill his gold egg producing goose, and so lose his source of income for the future. The action indulgediu by the Government is something of tl J same kind, and entered upon in t!il same reckless and covetous spirit! Toe, mining -interest has, as we havJJ stated, yielded a revenue which has made Otago what she is, and what ifl greatest admirer*—the old in of their inos never expected 01 dreanicjd-of seeing her become. Ye upon thisS: particular interest do t' present-Government look with xaj thing but a. favorable eye—nay, the ex pressed wishes of the- miners are se aside, as .of no account, and action i taken diametrically opposed to"thoa wishes. The sale of the Island Bloc) —which was admirably suited for agri cultural lease areas—contrary to tn< expressed desire of the miners nn others, as conveyed in a petition io Tv Hor)r and his Executive,*demonstrates sufficiently strongly their appreciation of the mining interest; • and a block of .land which would have sustained q large population, have materially aidec settlement, and have afforded W handsome revenue,'has ceased to be a portion of the Provincial estate, and has passed into the hands of a and speculator. Thus one at least of th 3 golden egg laying aeese has been dfl troyed so far as the Province is concerned. There is also known to, exist among the present Executive Government—his Honor included—a desire to sell land as well within the. limits of a Groldneld <.s without;.;and we not that, unless the voice of th.e whole miuing community be raised agains tin's suicidal policy, it will be carried into effect at the earliest possible date. To sell land on or near any goldfieldij positively to stop mining operations by hedging it in with difficulties .absolutely insurmountable. The land once sold, prospecting would be at an end, race-cutting would be put a stop to; ir fact, the whole inining interest woul<

%F*4. &*% collapse -aud-miiHiig- -op.erabe ;^iri^al^c ejxtinguished. ¥e -warn the Government, to be wiser for tae future,, |ame time to-be 5 just to each- interest alike, or they will raise such an outerj and agitation as it will be beyond their power to cpn-*rol-.J -"They, have ..already "sown" the storm,' let'them be careful lest they " tee ip ; reaor the, whirlwind."