PRESENT STATK OF OTAGO.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1620, 24 September 1861, Page 5

PRESENT STATK OF OTAGO.

[From the Otago Colonist, September B.]' The present state of Otago is sufficient to arouse the most apathetic Government to action. We do not say that the present Executive is the most apathetic that has ever existed, but there is certainly au amount of coolness and patient considoration previous to action that threatens to allow matters to get into a chaos of disorder before romedies are applied. We are quite prepared to make every allowance for the sudden and startling alteration which has taken place in the circumstances that surround us. Three mouths ago we never dreamt of what is to-day a reality, and to-day probably many scarcely venture to conceive what Dunedin and Otago may be in 9ix months time. Then again the demands upon our Government for improvements are far greater than the supply of money or of labor to satisfy these demands. It is quite possible, however, to obtain both of these requisites, as by procuring the first there will be little difficulty in securing the second, and a continued neglect of some absolutely necessary improvements would be a simple fulfilment of the old adage, " penny wise and pound foolish."

If ever there was a time when we required " men of thought and men of action" at the heltn of our affairs, that time v is the present. Both are imperatively demanded, and we sincerely trust that those who are now directing matters will be found to be such ; let us give them a fair trial, and not to bo too censorious if occasionally we should find that their course is not what might be considered by some the most judicious. Let them only act, let them show that they are alivo to the emergency, and ready to meet it, prepared to grapple with it, and capable of doing so in a manly, vigorous way. But we will be told there is no money, — well let us get money. Call the Council together and pass a Loan Bill for a sufficient sum. Surely the Governor could not, and would not refuse to pass such a Bill now. It must be plain to the most obtuse, that the money is required, andihe present advisers of his Excellency are uot the men to thwart any measure which is seen to be for provincial interests.

One of the most importaut matters is an efficient police. In this we aro happy to find that the Government have bestirred themselves. But is it up to the requirements of tho time ? With hundreds, we might almost say thousands of immigrants arriving weekly, some of them in all probability of very questionable character; with the possibility that many who go to the diggings will not renlize their expectations and will return disappointed ; with the s certainty of a very largely increased population and a proportionate increase of crime, we doubt if tho polico force is sufficiently increased for the emergency that has arisen. We willingly admit, however, that the addition to the force by getting over au Inspector, and several well trained policemen from Melbourne, is a step in the right direction, forming a basis for the ready formation of an effective corps.

There is another point which we humbly think requires the attention of Government without delay. That is a proper investigation of the country around the gold fields, to ascertain whether gold in paying quantities can be found. The arrival of thousands at the Tuapeka, some of them without the means of existence, if they have to go prospecting for weeks is a very serious matter, and we think that in many instances this could be avoided by the Government employing qualified persons to examine and point out the spots where gold may be found, at least in such quantities as to give a man a living by working there. No one at present seems fully to know the quality of the land even around Gabriel's Gully and Monroe's Gully. Wo hear of a rush lo the Beaumont river, but we have no authoritative information of there being gold there; we are told that some are digging at the Waipori, but is that confirmed ? Some say that there is gold all along the Molyneaux and at the Mataura, and in fact extending for miles from the preseut gold field, but we have no official declaration on the subject. Have the Government any person or persons employed to give them information regarding all the flying reports which are weekly published ? The papers do the best that can be done in the circumstances to keep the public fully informed of what is doing at the Tuapeka, and the probabilities or otherwise of gold being found in other places, but all the papers can do is to publish letters from various correspondents, and many of the writers differ much in opinion. This is to be expected; one writer lights upon a good claim, and another upon a bad one, and according to the amount of his success is he likely to judge of the profitableness of the field. When the gold was first discovered, Go« vernment sent the Chief Surveyor down to make inquiries — these enquiries were published in an official form by the Government, and this at once stamped

them with an authority and gave an evidence of authenticity to them which could not have been, so fully secured by any other means. But why only one report? why not have one Government Commissioner or more constantly examining, invosiigaling, enquiring, reporting for the benefit of new arrivals, who could then at least once a/ortnight, giving the fullest and most correct information which cau bo obtuined, There are mauy points on which the publio desire information ; all New Zealand, and Australia aj-e asking for it, and England, perhaps America, by this time also. We see our newspapers quoted in every colonial paper which comes here. Men are naturally asking what proportion of diggers are making wages, what proportion are successful, and what proportion if any are comj^etely disappointed. An official declaration on some of these points would be prized, and we trust the Government will see fit to give it regularly and frequently. We are happy in having an opportunity this week of inserting extracts from a. letter of the Gold Field Commissioner respecting the Waitahuna district, the first of the kind since the Surveyor's report already referred to. This is a partial and imperfect sample of what might be done, still it is something, and let us be thankful even for small mercies, with the hope that such reports will be increased in number and in particulars without delay, and that others will be set to work in the same way.

But in the meantime, what is being done in Dunedin ? Nothing that we have seen as yet. It is a most distracting sight to see the state of matters at our jetty just now. Chaos could not have presented such confusion. Vessels arriving daily, and tumbling their human loads with luggage and lumber on the jetty, to crowd, push, and scramble through goods, trucks, carts, horses, and men, to some goal which they may find out if they can ; lighters discharging, and having the cargo laid out on the narrow jetty to he kicked about and trampled on at the mercy of the passengers, whilst the owners of the lighters dispute among themselves, or appeal to the bewildered jetty-keeper as to which of them have a right to the truck for bringing the goods to the end of the jetty ; one solitary landing waiter, perched on the highest pinnacle of the last truck load, endeavouring with almost distracted eagerness to keep an exaot account of each package as it is hurried off in some cart; the jetty keeper and his assistant flying from one package to another, in the hope of getting their rules laid unto them for the measurement before they disappear in the general rush; carts pulling off from the confusion with a load, and others backing in to take one, getting their wheels locked in each other, to the annoy auce of the drivers, who occasionally burst into a smack of Billingsgate, but more generally try to make the best of it ; merchants or their deputies rushing into the mele in search of some stray case, and vainly looking all round for the missing article ; add to this the carts seen every now and then arriving with loads for some craft, and depositing the goods of necessity close to those being sent off; everything, in short, betokening that the business done is much too great for the accommodation and arrangements. And who is to be blamed for all | this ? Have the Government not had time to make additions to the jetty, and to add to the number of hands employed there, or to so order matters that a little of the confusion may be avoided ? That goods do finally as a general rule reach the parties for whom they are intended is a strange fact, and that they arrive I on the whole in passable condition is stranger still. But this state of matters i ou^ht not to be allowed to continue. We want an import and au export jetty. We requiro that the present jetty should be much widened, especially at the end. We need also another jetty altogether, and there seems to be uo place better fitted for it at present, than the end of Rattray-street, has pointed out in a memorial which has been well signed by the m erchants in town.

But the Government may say they have no funds — no authority to spend on such an object — in fact no appropriation. This is no time to wait for the general course of events to bring about a .chance of getting funds aud an appropriation. The Council should be called together without delay, to consider, to resolve, to act, to place at the Council Board of the Superintendent men in whom they have every confidence—a strong, uuited Executive ; and having done so, to place in their hands sufficient powers and sufficient funds to tide over, aud even to take advantage of the emergency. This is a time wheu Provincial institutions will be tried to their utmost ; we sincerely hope that the Superintendent, Executive, and Couuoil will show themselves worthy of the trust reposed in them, aud will at once, by their promptitude, energy, aud judgment, prove that they are the men for the time.