"WOE IS ME."

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 370, 7 April 1876, Page 3

"WOE IS ME."

QurTuapekaebntemporary indulged lately in a Jeremiad upon the state of - Sympathising, as we "cannot fair to do, with the' necessity that unfortunately exists for the frequent insertion in newspapers of jectless articles, the one in i question, other things being equal) should, so far as we were concerned, have laid as it was meant to fall, stillborn. Unfortunately for the 'Tuapeka Times,' some of the statements made have been quoted by the Dunedin ' Star ' without an explanation that, while no doubt an authoritative statement is to be accepted when its originator deals with what is under his own eyes, its weight is at least doubtful when the range of a very limited vision is passed. Our contemporary tells his readers that " Goldmining has been in a languishing state during the past few years, and it now behoves the populace of this rich mineral Province to endeavor to infuse new life into this important industry." He goes on then to write of " the immense alluvial deposits along the front of the Dunstan Kange, the Molvncux bmks and beaches, all of which are known to cortain the precious- metal in large quantities." Next, alluding to the utter absence of careful enquiry having been made by competent authorities into the probable profit to the country to be derived from the outlay he instances the Mount Ida Sludge Channel and Head Race, the Waipori Channel, and the several water races, as notable failures. Allowing, which we do not, that the ' Tuapeka Times' is correct in its estimate of the value of the Waipori Channel, it certainly knows nothing of the Mount Ida Head Hace and Channel, or it could not publish that " competent men assert that the payable ground which the Mount Ida tlead Race commands is comparatively speaking small, and will be exhausted in a very short time." This is truly a matter of comparison, in the same way that savants tell us that in a comparatively short time the cooled world will in its turn b-come one of the last scuttles of coal for the suu, in its turn to cool and become habitable, till again it too is but fuel to some remote centre of systems about Pleiades. These are all clearly matters of comparison. Our contemporary can write in faith of the " immense (unreported upon) alluvial deposits along the front of the Dunstau range" (whatever that may mean), but he cannot conceive that Mr. C. E. Haugbton, Mr Vincent Pyke, and Mr. H. W. -Robinson, all o£ whom carefully reported on the Mount Ida Head Eace as a remunerative undertaking, knew anything about extent of auriferous country, otherwhere than along the front of the Dunstan ranges. Some little time ago our more careful Wakatip contemporary thought it necessary to write in the same tone of mild depreciation of the Mount Ida Race, and could not avoid adding something like this—"lf this money was only spent in the immense plateau of auriferous deposits—" . . . . we forget where, but it was not far from Wakatip. It is quite true that the management of the expenditure ot the £300,000 Tote for water supply was not given on its merits, but as a sop for political support. Being so given, it was perhaps natural that the expenditure should be flagrantly wasteful and careless. In private hands, the Mount Ida works would have been completed two years ago for £IO,OOO less than what they have cost, and, besides, would have,,,already earned back fully £IO,OOO more. It is quite false that men, as our Tuapeka friend btates, would not take the r.ice at a gift, and work it for the trifling respoiir sibiiity of maintaining it. The maintenance of this race has been vary much exaggerated. Whatever fault may be found with the Government management for the interminable delays, the work itself, so far as done, is betterdone than any uuningwork in the Province. As, however, the works are

nearly finished, and will soon justify themselves, our neighbors'jealousy can be overlooked.

District jealousy is one of the difficulties we have had to cot-tend with. There is some excuse for such libellous statements being published by our contemporaries, tor. they originate from our own people. Men who have been amongst us, who have warmed themselves at our hearths, who have perhaps looked forward to reap great things where they cast in never a seed themselves, have left us, because their hopes were delayed, in a semi-dyspeptic state, ancL would vent their chagrin upon the district and more cheerful residents that they have for a time deserted. These men never cease, in their thoughtless chatter to drop, wherever they go, the insiduous lie that sinketh in. The credit of our business men has been, by their means, strained to the utmost. They would have the Otago world believe that they sacrificed themselves oa the altar of patriotism by remaining in our midst so long, and that now, when they have left, all hope for our prosperity is at an end.

Fortunately the auriferous ground at Naseby, and for sixty miles the line of the Head Kaceis practically inexhaustible. Fortunately, too, goldminers who know the locality are meu of patience, who know that, sooner or later, when departmental impedimenta are out of their way, aud a false labor market is exploded, a certain livelihood is before them at Mount Ida. In spite of all, our business men have been able to live down, in a commercial integrity unexampled on the Groldfielda, the false statements made by our deseiters in the social and business circles in which they have mixed, which have d.e-

veloped'members who havefWnd it no difficult tliing to impose upoii tlie ignorance of even members of the Government and our conternporari?s. If the Head Race bad been finished this "summer, the autumn revenue would have been the best answer to our detractors. |

As our contemporary's article has nothing in it but. a cry of " Woe is rile," and a disparagement of all Government work on, Goldfields ; as it tells capitalists they have nothing to gain and everything to lose by "embarking in mining speculations; as it points .o nothing, and is in verity that indefinable thing itself—we nowleave it, with the hope that, all these things belnor so, and mining taxation localised being also a good thing—which the Tuapeka miners do not quite believe—we shall yet have an explanation and plain direction as to how " the populace of this rich mineral Province (can) endeavor to infuse new life into this important industry."