THE OTAGO WITNESS.

Otago Witness, Issue 286, 23 May 1857, Page 4

THE OTAGO WITNESS.

Dunedin, Saturday, May 23, 1857. It almost seems as if the nine years' experience which we have had in -this Province in ' the matters of road making or

repairing were thrown away upon us. We all knowJt. " Every man you meet affirms that it is useless to attempt to mend clay roads in the winter time, and yet, just as the winter is coming on and the" wet weather has set in, we have set to work vigorously to mend the roads. The General Road Board, the Town Board, and the local Road Boards, are all in the same box ; there does not appear to be a pin to choose between them. No doubt each and all of these bodies have excellent excuses for not having taken advantage of the remarkably dry summer we- have had to commence their- operations. In some • instances the money was not forthcoming, in others the roads were not surveyed, reports of what was wanted to be done were waited for, and when every other difficulty was got over, it has been found in the majority of cases, that contractors could not be obtained, and labour of the requisite skill was not to be procured. At any rate the responsibility is so divided that it is not possible to fix the blame entirely upon any one, but the result is, that for the present winter we shall"have to wade through the mud as usual. There is one public body to whom blame cannot in any degree be imputed. The Provincial Council voted a liberal sum, £6000 — placed a large salary (£250) on the estimates for a Road Surveyor, and .£4OO for contingencies, which ought to have provided a competent officer and an efficient staff. We must say that the Executive Government seem to have made little or no effort to set the other bodies in motion or to place at their disposal the sums voted. No doubt they will plead with the others the want of hands, which, to some extent, is a sound excuse. As therefore the want of labour has been found to be one main cause for our not proceeding with the repair of the roads, it becomes a question requiring due consideration — what is to be done in future ? Now we have no hesitation in giving it as our opinion that unless a sufficient supply of labour can be procured to make roads in the proper season, we shall have to resort to the old and exploded plan of statute labour. The Provincial Solicitor will, we presume, strongly oppose this return to barbarism, and quote General Wade against us ; but, with all due deference to the Solicitor's opinions, we believe that our ancestors were not so absurd in their notions as we moderns are too apt to suppose. In a very primitive state of society, where there are no persons who make a business of contracting for road making, we can imagine no better plan of getting the work done than by making the inhabitants of the various districts turn out to do it. We are quite certain that in some parts of this Province (in the Taieri and Tokomairiro Districts for instance) such a course would answer, and small repairs would be effected with a facility which no plan we are acquainted with would accomplish. At any rate the subject is worthy of the consideration of the public. The work could not be more unsatisfactorily performed than it is at present. One of the Committees of the Town Board are at great expense and trouble making clay pudding at the Southern outlet of the Town, and the repairs in the Taieri, near the Native Village, are of that " perfunctory " class, which is worse than useless. The bridges are made upon the old method of covering poles with clay and sods, which invariably fall to pieces with the shaking of wheeled carriages, and become perfect horse traps. The sooner this style of bridging is positively forbidden,. the better; it is extravagant and useless. In many places where a bridge of six feet span has been constructed, an 18-inch culvert would have answered the purpose much better ; and even where it may not be possible to build such culverts with stone, strong boxes made of 3-inch plank could be put down at but little greater cost than the horse traps. We further observe that in the Taeri road repairs, the drainage, by far the most important part of road making, has not received much attention, or has been slurred over for the sake of saving a little expense. But we presume the Road Engineer will, as soon as. his attention is drawn 1 to the subject, look into this matter, in which no time is to be lost, j

The Otago Property Investment Company has published its fourth Annual Report, from which it appears that no less a sum than £6030 has been advanced to. its members, and consequently that sum has been subscribed by the accumulated savings of the shareholders. This, taken in connection with the fact that most of the shareholders are working men, speaks highly for the prudent and industrious habits of |

the people 6i* Otago. £6000, although •not a great sum in itself, is, when compared with other figures, by no means a despicable item of increasing wealth. It amounts to about £2 per head for every man, woman, and child in the Province ; is equal to' one year's' customs revenue ; and we have no doubt, were the society based upon a plan by which new members could join it without incurring the very heavy outlay to working men in the purchase of shares, which now amount in value to about £35, that the number of shareholders would be very materially increased ; especially when we take into consideration that the amount of immigration within the four years since the commencement of the society has not been inconsiderable. We observe that many of the societies upon the model of which the Otago Property Investment Company was formed, have altered their plan, and have become perpetual societies instead of lasting for a definite period. There are many advantages attending this new system, amongst which the facilities offered for members joining it at any time, and for those who desire to withdraw doing so without losing their share of the profits, are not the least. But perhaps the consideration which deserves the most attention is, that in all these mutual benefit societies which exist for a definite time, towards the close of the period there is a difficulty in disposing of the money to be advanced at a profit. We throw out these hints for the consideration of the members, as we observe that there is to be a meeting of the shareholders on Tuesday first, for the purpose of making some very necessary alterations in the Rules ; and we hope that the meeting will he fully attended, so that the necessity of hunting for a quorum, which is too often the case, may he avoided. It is certainly not desirable for the present society to effect changes hurriedly and without mature consideration. The Company has worked so satisfactorily that we should be sorry to see its prosperity endangered ; but it is a matter of social importance that the facilities for investing small savings should be within the reach of every one. Whilst, however, the present company is in existence, we do not see that it would be possible to start a new one with reasonable hopes of success, as it is only after men have been accustomed to the working of such companies that they can he satisfactorily managed; and further, the advantages o*f such mutual benefit associations are not appreciated until some practical experience of their benefits has been acquired. We are sure that we shall be borne out in our statement when we affirm that the Otago Property Investment Company has been of immense advantage in enabling men with small means to acquire property, for in no other form would it have been possible for numbers of working men to have borrowed small sums which have been a great assistance to them in starting in the Province. And although many paid high premiums for the advance, they have now the satisfaction of looking around them and observing, from the rapid increase of the value of property, that where the money so borrowed was invested in land, it is of three or four times greater value than it was at the time of their purchases. The value of these societies in a new country can hardly be over-estimated ; they are of great assistance to men on their first arrival in the country, when a loan of a few pounds is of incalculable value to them.

Some facts in connection with the management of the Property Investment Company speak volumes in favour of the characters of the shareholders. The expenses of management are a mere trifle ; there have been no law charges incurred during the four years ; there have been but few of the borrowers in arrears, and we believe we are perfectly correct in stating that in no case has there been a positive loss.

Our contemporary affects to be surprised at our referring to the subject of Mr. Adam's appointment. If he would reflect for a moment that that appointment will probably cost the province £15000r£2000, his surprise that we have not digested the pill would surely not be of long duration, especially as that pill has been followed by a draft of £1800 bagged by a part of the Executive out of the same unlucky funds. What the exact nature of Mr. Adam's appointment is we cannot possibly say ; but from the whole line of argument adopted by our contemporary, it would appear that Mr. Adam went home rather to serve the interests of a certain firm than to forward the interests of the public; but if the Immigration Agent is to be exhibited in the public places suggested by the " Colonist," certainly the Zoological Gar-

dens will be a more appropriate place than the Crystal Palace.

The " Colonist" affects ignorance upon the subject of the result of the sale of the first debentures. Where is the correspondence with the Home Agents, which ought to have been on the table of the Council? and where are the statements of the Immigration accounts which ought equally to be made public, as is invariably done in the other Provinces. That, is the proper way to contradict our statements. It is clear that the.." Colonist" cannot, on behalf of the Government, give a positive denial to our statements, it therefore evades the question.

Then as to the splendid offer to take the Government debentures at par. Yes, that offer came through the " firm ;" but our contemporary has forgotten to tell us the rate of interest which was bargained for. We believe it was 10 per cent. ; whereas in the case referred to, the interest was only 6 per cent.. And if the Government can sell the debentures at that rate^they need not stop public works for want of money but should at once accept the offer. Our contemporary is certainly clever at giving a colour to facts. To sell debentures at par looks well ; but if the rate of interest be unstated, and in one case it is 6 per cent., while in another it is 10 per cent., there is a vast difference between the transactions, as we in Otago know from the premiums given at the Property Investment Company, whose rate of interest is 5 per cent. Very honest, Mr. " Colonist" — very ! The statements with regard to Mr. Mantell are much of the same class. The Executive j desired to do that which they had no legal power to do. They applied to the Council to sanction their proceedings. The Council declined to interfere, but expressed no approval of Mr. Mantell's proceedings. The Executive were afraid to carry out their own plans," and sought to divide the responsibility with the Council. Mr. Mantell was an officer of the General Government, and the land department was one of the matters expressly reserved for the consideration of the General Government. It would therefore have been madness to have proceeded in the way which the Executive proposed. We are aware of the fact that the gentlemen who is assumed to be the editor of the " Colonist," has a great objection to the restraints of law, calling them " legal bug-bears ;" but if he had, in his capacity as a member of the' House of Representatives, adhered to the course recommended by his colleague of refusing Mr. Mantell leave of absence until the charges against him had been enquired into, there would have been no abstraction of documents ; but so anxious was the gentleman to get the command over the Land Office, that he was glad to get rid of Mr. Mantell at any sacrifice, and he consented to leave of absence being given, when the slightest reflection must have shewn him that after the accused person was allowed to leave the colony, any enquiry was hopeless. Upon that gentleman, therefore, rests the whole responsibility of having allowed Mr. Mantell to walk off with the records of his office.