VIEW HILL NOTES. '

Oxford Observer, Issue V, 2 June 1894, Page 3

VIEW HILL NOTES. '

X Byi)EMOS. f

At the quartely meeting of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce held' on the 25th inst, the Chairman is. reported to have said, when alluding to the unemployed trouble. " How to relieve immediate distress without doing injustice and without pauperising the recipients of relief is brie 'of ihe pressing problems of' the day." He then very justly says, "the only

common-sense course is to find work to do which is worth doing" and propeily remarks that "it is no use putting men to wheel bricks from one spot to another and back again, to make roads where no one wants to travel, to spend their strength to no useful purpose, and it is worse than useless to^ncourage the idle and dissolute, by providing them with food and shelter which they have done and will do . nothing to earn." He tben goes on to enumerate ,yarious works on which he thinks, men could be employed, which would be profitable to the Colony ; foremost amongst them being the " equiping of fossicking and prospecting parties to explore and develop our auriferous country." He further suggests that " the time is opportune for improving the approaches'" to various places of resort of " Colonial and foreign visitors" remarking that "it is certainly better to spend money m that way than to donate it m charitable aid to idle men." There can be no two opinions about it being better as Mr Booth points out to spend the money m that way than m giving the means of living to idle men for nothing, but why he should have confined his recommendations to doing road work m the interests of " Colonial aud foreign visitors" it is difficult to understand, especially m the capassity of Chairman of a Chamber of Commerce. If he had urged on the Government the necessity, m the interests of commerce, of hurrying on with roadmaking so that settlers could get produce to market one could understand it, he would then have been advocating what is infinctly more necessary than what he recommends. While it may be advantagious to encourage tourists as much as possible, it certainly does not seem fair to spend the money of the community, — money derived by the grevious taxation of the working classes — m making roads for a favoured lew, whilst they themselves are m many cases wading through mud and slime to their humble homes. Why — it may well be asked — should the labouring classes and bush settlers, be called upon to make roads to places which they may never expect to be able to visit, when the, so called, roads they themselves have to put Tip with are, m many instances, almost impossible and positivly dangerous to both man and beast. We all know that if men are to take their families into the backwoods it is imperitive on the colony to give tliem access by means of roads to their holdings, it is impossible for the Colony to progress as it should do, without proper roads for the people who are plucky enough to tackle the rough work of the bush. Men who are denying themselves the many advantages of more settled distrists aridare not afraid of the hard work : of subduring the wilderness deserve every encouragement. The colony cannot afford and must not ignore the superior claims of its industrious, hardy settlers, for the sake of the pleasure of a favoured few. - 1 Hundreds of our toilors are today contributing to the interest on bur borrowed millions, which has been spent' on railways and roads, ' for improving the value of property m which they have no share, their only pri - vilage is m being allowed to walk . on the roads, why then, they may well ask, should they be expected to ibe ■ further taxed by having to provide funds for making roads to places only . visited by the wealthy, in' their leasure time whilst they have to carry tlieir very tucker for miles m inany 'cases, , on their backs. If the interest on the colonial debt was paid wholy out of. taxation deriyod from property, there might be some excuse for using- the revenue of the country m the interests of the property 'class,' but seeing it "is derived so' largely from custom duties, the first consideration m allocating it must be the interests ofthe masses* m other words the making life as indurable as possible

to our hardy " sons of toil " who go j out from civilization into the backcountry and leave mere pleasure seekers to their own devises until the roads necessary for opening up for settling the country lands are made at least passable. So far as fossicking for minerals is concerned it may be proper to do something of the sort when we can afford it, but as it is only a sort of speculation with a large element of chance, a sort of gambling m fact, public money should not be risked m that way while i necessary road worka are starved for | want of funds to carry on with.