MACETOWN. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Otago Witness, Issue 1709, 23 August 1884, Page 12

MACETOWN. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

August 18,

Ouit Roads.— The present position of the Arrow-Ma-etown dray >oad will mclybo a matter of some imporfcanc.: to patties h)la>n« a«rip in the Macatown retfa, and i' ia well known that a great cteal tf scrip is ho d by frentlfimeii resident; in Diuiedin. The two sections already completed have been described by tho Lnko County correspondent iv the columna of tlic Witness, and nt'ed no >epstit,ion ; but the unfinished portions nro so very peculiar y calculated to aca an a ha« oVa > to mhir.g development h-ra, that it becomes our eorre-pojideiis's du*y to enligh'en bhoßO of your readers who -.ire nut acquainted with the fact* as to how martiro really a*aod in lejurd t-o thia so-called road, ior ihero h^a been so much talk and writing abuut the r^ad bi ,ng op n for traffic that readers and hearers ratuially think there is a continuous road between Anow and Slacetown, and "Your Own" wishes to show ttat tho fact ia very diffo.ent, there baing about a mile left unfinhhed from tho Arrow Township to tho commencement of the now road, and about the tame distance from the loot of the Macotown terraces to tho ond of tho upper section, at a place known as Ji'Comb's Corner, near Eight mile Creek. In the upper unfinished portion the drays have to travel along the river bed, crossing the river just 12 times in a distance of not more, certainly ,,than 100 chains, to Bealy Hill, which is the name given to a piece of road rising Irom the riverbed on to the terraceß, the riso being of a grade of one in five. It has a aouthern aspect, ai-d has been a glacier all winter ; and yet carting has to be done on it, nd mutter what state it ia in, for Mr R. M'Dowell, who has the contract for the supply of tho timber t3 the Tipperary mine, travels daily.. Of couree there is other traffic besides— sometimes as many aa four draya, and two or more light trapa. Haulage has to be provided in ev.'ry case* in accordance with the requirements of such existing pieces of road aa f.he <>no mentioned above, with a grade of one in five, and «a t-mooth and hard as glass, in consequence ef the intense frost which has prevailed here for a long time past. There is no excuse for the road being lets unformed aloftg thiß 80 or 100 chains, for it would not take more than £1000 to make a road along it which would not cross the Arrow River at all, and which would not have a grade iH its whole course sharper than one in 30, unless in crossing a watertable; and why it waa not .finished when tenders were were called for the other work, ia " one of those things which no fellah can understand." Will some of the gentlemen interested in mining at Macetown who have influence at headquarters please make a note of this state o« things, and try to get it altered, for it simply weans an extra charge on every, thing up hero, timber included ; and the shareholder resident elsewhere pa\a juat as much for tho want of the road as the shaieholdor living at Slacetown. There haa been a veto of a sum of money placed upon tho Kstimates every year for a lenjj lime pnst for making roads in ouSlyir,^ places on goldfieldß, but Macetown haa never got a farthiner of it, What have the legal nianss;.rrt of claims been thinking aboat when their cous-tHuenta had this money at their service, and yet ilAwa3 not asked for! Some claimholders who were fairly entitled to assistance cut tracks at their own expense. The Government cannot say that Mace<ownhaahad her shore, nor can they expect people to believe that they wish to encourage the mining Industry, so long as they raise a revenue of £1000 per annum, direct taxation on tho Macetown goldfields, and leave the only approach thereto in such a state as above described. Tho Arrow River is a m derate stream to ford in fine weather, but it is often converted into a roaring mountain torrent which it would be dangerous, owing to ita velocity, to Bwim .a horse accoßH. Yet there aro no less than 24 crossings 'of ihia unbndg.^d river necessary in making the trip to Macotown from Arrowtown acd vice vena. No reward waa ever paid to anyone, so far aa ia known, for the discovery or. prospecting of tho Macetown gold fields, either alluvial or matrix ; and since <sua»tz m\< ii D g started here there haa been over £100 Oi 0 spent in probpeuting by private parties without one penuy of tubsidy ; and not only so, but' the encouraging (?) Government e«taally impos d the full force of special taxation on those engaeed in the work « bile they wore doing it, and when forced by party considerations to make a road into the place they make its construction extend over years so as poomtngly io do tbe least possible amount of good.

There would be about as much sonse in renting a hnusu without a door in it aa thero ia in paying £1 jor acre prr annum ront for lan I without a road to it, and with seven yearn' experience to prove that it cannot piy without one If absent phareholdera expect any profit to ae-ruo to '.horn from their investment? in the Macetowu mines it >s nb-olutely necessary that they shoulil looic into the nnnairement of their estate. If the p/opr;eto;s of the Macstown miues lived oi_the ground like working ruinvrd such a ttato of things would not be allowed to exist long ; but thny do not live on' the ground. The great majority live eleewhere, and know bud little about their interest here, and truly a lamentable state of things is the result. A road board for Macetown has been spoken of here, and as the machinery already exists it needs but adoption by mining companies to take tlje spending of their own money from the antagonistic county authorities for the district to be provided with • good roads ; but so long as it county councillor wants a roadpast his farm, or a read blocked up which accommodates only his neighbour and its course shifted so as to accommodate himself, so long will the formation, maintenance, and improving of roads at Mace Sown be neglected.