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

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 45, 10 December 1869, Page 2

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

We have frequently invited attention to the obstacle which the Houndbura Hill offers to anything like safe or legitimate communication between Dunedin and the inland diggings of the Province—an obstacle, at certain seasons of the year, absolutely unsurmountable—and which, by the additional wear and tear it entails both upon horses and vehicles, materially increases alike the charge of transit and the carriage of goods. Our j surprise has been, and still is, that our | contemporaries, whose districts are j equally injuriously affected with our j own, have none of them yet raised their j voice, and brought their influence to 1 bear to rectify this shameful and disgraceful state of a.!fairs Jt has been ior some time—some years we might, with truth, sav= —known to the authorities that there exists another, afar better, and a far more practicable route, which, at a comparatively small expense, could be made traversable, and, by the adoption of which," much expense of carriage and danger to man j and beast be spared the inland diggings' ! < communities. ]Nor are the differences j in the price of carriage and the com- ] parative absence oi danger the oniv ad- 1 vantages to be derived from the adop- | tion of the road to which, we refer. By j forming the road from the fl.uming of]

the Shag Biver "Water Bace CompajM and keeping on the spur rumuM parallel to that at present from the Kyeburn to Naseby, a in distance of at least six or eight would be at once effected, and the which "the transit would occupy 9 thereby in the same ratio diininishefl We do not mean to say to the Goverfl ment: —Form'" and construct this ronfl at an expense which might be beyorH the means at your disposal; but do say, looking at the revenue which iB being fortnightly derived from tad direct tax upon gold alone from Queen* tdwn, the Arrow, Clyde, Cromwelß Alexandra, St. Bathans, Mount Ida* and the different workings in their resj pective neighborhoods, that the que® tion is one which . requires immeJ diate attention, and that justice alone* demands that the principal natural dif-j Acuities of the road in question shouldj be removed, the necessary culverts con, structed, and the necessary sidelings, cut to render the route at least pra<% ticable. We were always advocates ot quick communication from one centre of population to another, and have always in our humble way advocated the introduction of the railway system, into this Province, and we still trust that the day may not be far distant when' the whistle of the steam engine may be heard daily from one end of the Province to the other. Still, when we consider that not only are the North and South blessed with good natural water communication, but have also good metalled roads, which have drained * heavily the public chest, we cannot butJ feel that, before an additional expendi-j ture of something like £SOO,OCX) is tdl be spent yet "further to improve the communication between Dunedin and the Clutha, some few pounds might, with justice, be laid out upon the improvement of a line of road which is* the only means of communication withu the inland mining centres of the Pro! vince. 1

This is a. matter 111 which there| should exist no feeling of jealousy oa the part of any particular district or any particular class. Each district would be equally benefitted, and every class of the community—whether carrier, merchant, or miner—would, in their respective businesses, share iiJ the advantage* The hi'gh price paiS for the necessaries of life on the digJ gmgs is the theme of very generan complaint, and there can be ni> manner 1 of doubt that this exorbitancy of charge , is, in a very great measure, attribut-J able to that standing disgrace, theJ " Houndburn Hill." Indeed, we hav« been informed that were the road tfl which we have alluded, via the olcl iluming, rendered practicable, there| would be an immediate and considerable reduction per ton to this place from Dunedin—a reduction which up-country districts would feel in afl equal ratio. Xiet all the districts, the™ unite and endeavor to get this gresM alteration in the. line of road madeß Let them either petition the Provincia* Council upon the subject, or let them call upon their respective members to cause to be placed upon the Estimates for the ensuing year a sum sufficient for the purpose. All that i 3 wanted is\ action, and it that action be a united! action success caimot be for a momenta doubtful. The Government, Ave hav« reason to believe, are not unacquainted! with the necessity of the case, likely, it properly called upon, to turn j a deaf ear to any proper representation! upon the subject. - . *