THE ESTIMATES AND THE ROADS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 318, 26 December 1862, Page 6

THE ESTIMATES AND THE ROADS.

(From the OtXao Witness,' Deo*'2oi> -'«»,. The passing of the Estimates for the ensuing half-year, was finished on Wednesday evening, the House having wasted no time in discussion upon the items $ indeed were we disposed to be captious we might well exception to the easy-going style in which the public money' was voted away. Almost the only items which were altered, were the salary of the Clerk of the Council, /which was increased from £100 to £125 for the half-year, andihe allowances for .-non-official members ;-.of the Executive, which..were reduced..from '£2oo. to £150 for the same period. With these two paltry exceptions, the Estimates may be said to have been'passed bodily, as introduced by the Government. The Council just did enough to assert its right to reduce or to suggest increase in the Estimates, but timidly j abstained from touching any item of consequence. The alterations made, were not only of the most trifling character, —merely, as will be seen,affecting the total by the small sum of £25 diminution—but they were not even founded on any principle. If it was desired to make the office of Clerk to the Provincial Council, as it should be one, worthy the acceptance of a man of ability and standing, the object was clearly not attained by fixing it at something under £5 a week; and again, if it was considered that the members of the Executive with out office, should not be remunerated for their ; services, why was not the item struck out, instead of being merely reduced from £200 to £150? It is clear that the Council acted on no principle, but that it was merely actuated by a pettish desire to show that it*.possessed a power which at the Bime time it was afraid to exercise. Of course, we speak now- of the Council as a whole, for there were riot wanting instances of individual members opposing particular items, nor was the passing of the Estimates accomplished without some interesting discussions. As might be expected, the items for roads and bridges, as being the heaviest, and moreover, as being those in which the members were either personally, or by their constituents, most- directly interested, provoked the most lively discussion, and came the nearest to bringing on a regular debate. The total amonnt set down for roads was £108,805; and for bridges £36,191; making a grosssum for these public works of £144,996. This was against an appropriation for the preceding half-year of £83,244 Is. lid. for roads; and £14,45*0 for bridges; or £97,694 Is. lid. in all ; of which there was expended only £62,260 ss. sd, for roads, and £1,020 18s. 4d. for bridges, or a total of £63,280 3s. 9d. We pass by the objections of particular members to the expenditure of money on particular roads, and the efforts of others to get additional amounts in their own neighboriiood, which are matters too common to call for special remark, and will proceed at once to notice what'was undoubtedly the chief feature of the debates on the estimates, the discussion brought on by Mr Cargill as to the whole system of road making as pursued in the Province. Mr Cargill expressed a fear "that there had been a departure from the established principle of working upon a well-de-fined system of roads; that there had been pottering over the making of bits of road*, and that there was no guarantee that much oi the money upent would not be wasted." He did not object to particular votes, but he objected to the spending of large sums of money on roads " leading to no where in particular," and to the commencing of a number of roads without fiist settling on a sure basis the important question, " what is the best line of access these interior Districts." He objected strongly to the idea of the Government." to have three " central interior trunk roads." He urged that one good road would be all that the province could hope to accomplish for some time, and that it would be better to determine careiully and surely what line tlip-t one road should take, than to scatter money in the making of portions of three, and he argued that it would be cheapest in the long run, as well as most satisfactory, to obtain the best procurable engineering talent, even at great expense, rather than go on acting upon the results of " scrambling examinations by young assistants." It cannot be.denied, that the propositions of Mr. Cargill are in theory unexceptionable. It is self-evident that if "bits of roads" are made here and there, more money must be expended, and with a less satisfactorj' ultimate result, than if a comprehensive system were laid down and rigidly adhered to. It must also be admitted that with this object the cheapest plan must be to employ the best talent. We can well con ceive how a first-class engineer, after examining the country, might be able to lay down a plan of a system of roads, which, tiking advantage of the natural features of the country, should, at a comparatively small cost, open up a communication from end to end of the Province, and which should be so arranged as to admit of portions being made as occasion might offer, or necessity compel, without in any way infringing upon the integrity of the design as a harmonious whole. But we would remind Mr Cargill tliat^ owing to the sudden demands of a large and rapidly-shifting population, it has not been possible to proceed with the scientific deliberation that he so strongly and reasonably recommends,. At the various gold-fields large populations have suddenly become located, and it is absolutely necessary that their requirements, in the way ol communication should receive immediate attention. Imder these circumstances, it could scarcely fall out otherwise than that, in some instances, roads should be planned on not the best lines, and money be expended in what, under other circumstances, would have been deservedly styled a wasteful manner; We are not constituting ourselves the champions of the Government, or of the road engineers ; all 'we say is, that it is hardly fair to blame them for what is not their fault. AYe are glad, by-tlie-bye, to observe that, among the other changes brought about by the developement of the auriferous wealth of the interior of this country, is a change in the views of Mr. Cargill himself; and that he no longer pooh poohs the mining interest, and talks about the gold being- v scraped out;" but that he recognises the fact that "the result of the discoveries in the interior must be, that instead, of the bulk of the people ; in the Province; dwelling on the seaboard, with a scattered .population in the interior, it was likely that a very large portion, if not the majority, would soon joe. settled in the interior the Province." . .

We quite. agree with Mr. Cargill and other menbers, that the question of the construction of/ roads is one of vital consequence; and that it is likely to be the, leading subject, in point of importance to the interests of,the Province, for years rto come.' Not only will it be the heaviest of'expenditure, but it will be, .the; cinef.'le'v'ei. in the hands of the Government of..'the" Province for inducing ihe settlement of the country. The Government cannot make rich gqldh'elds,1 nor fertile plainß,ripf ' fattening/pastures \, but it can make all of these ipf greater;or,,less value, according as it affords or withholds the means of Recess io them. .The funds at its' disposal for.thispurpose, although large, musi always, at least tor naany yiejats, fall' sl^ort of what is required; arid it become^.a;m^tter of the most sejrioi&^ome^ so administered as tio secure the greatest ad-, vantages atiihe Jeasinbutlay. Wevvthferefore^ without in/^y^a^/r?flecting>oti the»officer^ at present "eth^l^e^^i^s^^cbr^ato ■; the proposftiorf !i>thW tlie fc"'beW'available1 cii» jjiieering talent should be procured*

'*;; hall's jmi;./;7jr;eg (Fro*n the Sydney-JBmpvre') j? r' A* new' adaptation of mechanical ; : force,,J ma liicK to revolutionise the methods y* which all descriptions of crushing and j OY rinding operations are now carried on, is to switnessed in this city. The inventor of J^ 118,novel,method of reducing substapcesto aeir most minute atoms? is Mr Hall, *an Ame- V€ tcan gentleman, who has been for some time geJ .•sident in this country. The purpose to rhich Mr Ball advertises his invention as eing more immediately applicable is quartz- w rushing, but the machine is equally adapted r »r the accomplishment of all kinds of work low performed by pulverising and grinding t .-j nachines. The invention of this machine will >robably supeisede all the methods at present il u*e ior reducing hard substances to dust or , >owder. The mill is as simple as it is effec- tQ ive, and the results of its working are to the j r pectator as unexpected as they are gratifying, q Ihe beholder, on witnessing the working of the :( V nachines for the first time, is forcibly im- ar pressed with the idea that an immense quan- '-^ of'power has hitherto been wasted in. re sperations to which it is applicable. The j e simplicity of Hall's machine is so great that n , its construction is within the power of almost _J any iron-working mechanic. Its parts are very few-, and its derangement next to impossible. s j It consists merely of six cast-iron armsdiverg- j c ing from a centre, and revolving on an axle. w These arms are connected with each other ior y two-thirds of their length by a disc or plate, and beyond the connecting disc they expand 0 . into a wider surface, something like the flukes t) of an anchor. ■ These arms or spokes, without Q a rim or periphery, are three or four inches r broad in the widest part, and the wheel is about two feet six inches in diameter. The periphery is about three feet in diameter, and is altogether \ detached from the spoke 3or arms. It does not move, and on its inner side, is corrugated or rather notched like that'part, of a windlass into which the dog drops to prevent it running back. * The wheel is enclosed by two circular plates \ of iron, and ithe whole forms a disc or short t I drum, of about five inches thick and three i feet in diameter. It has a spindle or axle run- 1 ning through its centre, on which the arms or j spokes are fixed, and thi3 spindle carries a wheel or pully by which, with the aid of a strap driven by steam or other power, it i< made to revolve with great velocity. Attached to the upper part of the disc or drum is a small tube or chimney, opening into its interior, and carried off at an angle of about fortyfive degrees, to any place where it is desirable that the crushed powder or impalpable atoms to which everything is reduced, should be deposited. Every substance intended to be ground, is dropped in convenient sized lumps into an orifice near the axle, and quickly ascends like dust or smoke through the tube at the top. The hardest substances with which we are acquainted—such as pieces of steel files, or the blades of razors or vknives, are reduced to their primitive atoms as readily as granite, quartz, or other stone; and wheat, coffee, and othe.r grains or ■ berries, flow out in the shape of the most . minute dust almost as quickly as they are , poured in. The mode in which the machine ; acts is the most direct and .simple it is possible .to conceive. The stone, or grain, on entering . near the axle, of course drops towards the i bottom, but in dropping is struck by the rapidly revolving arms with enormous force [* and the particles into which it is broken being » dashed against the corrugated or notched . periphery with great violence, again rebounds j within the range of the revolving arms. This ' rapid revolution of the arms makes them act 3 like fans, so that a strong current of air is kept 3 up, and this current having access through t the chimney1, or tube,* carries the dust or im--3 palpable atoms of matter with it. Everyq thing which'enters the machine comes out r in a few seconds, so completely disin--1 tegrated and reduced to atoms as to o feel to the touch finer than the finest j flour, and when the machine is stopped it is ' y found to be; perfectly empty. A machine of 0 this kind is capable of grinding 30 cwt. of if quartz per hour. The dust is deposited in a J it closed box or chamber, the heavier particles i ; being divided by their gravitating qualities <r from the lighter, and the gold is thus sepao rated from the refuse particles of quartz, by a > beautiful natural law, without the slightest attention-or trouble on the part of the person } f in attendance. The natural expectation of a a scientific mind, before witnessing the actual "» operation of Hall's machine, would be that if , y driven so fast as to produce the results stated 3 g it could not fail to destroy itself by the effect i, of centrifugal force. This mistaken idea is at L once dispelled when the machine is seen at 'work. Its operation may be witnessed at Mr £ 0 Ainsworth's stores, York-street, on and after j. the 9th instant, when those Who feel an iiite1 _ rest in the matter can judge for themselves of a its capabilities, and value for the purposes