CORRESPONDENCE.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 157, 12 November 1872, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents.] To the Editor of the Cromwell Argus. Sir, —I take the opportunity of addressing you upon a subject which seems tome not merely of personal interest, but of vital interest to the miners generally. On Saturday last, the 2nd inst., Mr Campbell’s overseer, Mr M‘Callurn, paid us a visit on behalf of his employer, demanding the sum of twenty shillings from those miners who depasture horses upon his run, and who, in the event of non-payment, would run the risk of having them impounded. 1 paid the money rather than abide the consequence. It appears from the loth clause of the Gold-fields Act of 18G6, that any person depasturing cattle on any Crown land held and occupied by virtue of a depasturing lease within a gold-field, without the consent of the lessee, shall upon proof thereof be adjudged to pay such lessee, by way of damages, for each offence any sum not exceeding 10s. per head. Now, Sir, it appears to mo from this clause that Mr Campbell cannot impound, but must first summon, and have all cases tried before a legal tribunal. But apparently Mr Campbell is determined to overstep the bounds of our Provincial Ordinance. And it is notorious that a miner is not permitted to keep a horse by virtue of his miner’s right without having to pay the runholder of the district in which he resides the sum of 20s. per head. Evidently it will become very expensive on miners to keep a horse to carry their provisions to outlandish places in which there are no stores or commonages ; and their only alternative is to recompense those Solons who only pay the paltry sum of 3s. (id. per head annually. It is evident that our sapient legislators are determined to throw every obstacle in the way of the miner, so as to compel him to leave the country, and they are doing their best to foster chiefly squatters. It is a good job that other gold-fields exist, for I am very doubtful that, should the miner remain here much longer, ho will be converted into a tax-paying animal, and his position rendered worse than the convicts of Siberia. New Zealand will have to be left to the Chinamen and squatters. What is the use of our political representatives when they allow our mining laws to fall into that state of insecurity which tends to burden the taxation on the miner instead of alleviating it ? I consider it very hard indeed that after my paying Mr Campbell the other day the sum of 20s. for my horse, perhaps next month 1 will be compelled to proceed to another district, and there the squatter upon whose run I locate will demand a similar amount ; and of course 1 have no alternative but to pay or allow my horse to be impounded. Awake, ye Mining Associations ! and endeavour to get this glaring injustice remedied, —for this is no time for apathy and inactivity ; and if you mean to fulfil your duty, the work of preparation must at once begin. These obnoxious I clauses, and they are legion, must be rescinded. 1 —I am, Ac., IStoTTA. Cardrona, Nov. 5, 1872.

To the. Editor oj the Cro.mwklr Argus. Sir,— On the afternoon of Saturday last, I saw a mob of about thirty horses proceeding at a rapid rate along the road from Cromwell towards Clyde. My tirst impression was that the Governor must bo coming, and that the country was being scoured for horses to form a procession to meet him. But that idea was soon dismissed, when, at a short distance behind, and proceeding at about the same rate as the mob ahead, 1 perceived a tall man, mounted on a good, strong, upstanding hack, with hunting-whip in hand, and spyglass slung to his shoulder. This, thinks I, is another of these impounding expeditions which have become so frequent of late ; though on this occasion the delinquents appear to bo horses, while formerly it was the horned tribe which had to undergo the ordeal of being driven down the one day and taken lack the next. At a short distance, again, came two other gentlemen, who were mounted upon grey steeds, and were equipped with stockwhips. Their pace seemed to be regulated by the ability to travel of the animal they were driving, which, being unfit to keep pace with its companions, they were pushing along as best they could. We have seen similar objects making their way to a tanyard or dog-kennel, but if such an animal was required to he driven to the pound, it was evident that it was upon calculation of the damage it was likely to do, not by reason of that which had already been committed by it. borne tew minutes afterwards, there came tearing along at a furious rate a rather wild-looking individual, roughly dressed, with stockwhip unfolded and raised above his head, and mounted on a tighti looking grey hack, the sides of which, by the

unsparing use of the spur, were one mass of blood from shoulder to flank. He pulled his rein for a moment by a wayside hotel to indulge in a stimulant. which, apparently, he had already had too much of; then kept on his headlong course. Shortly after, came a respected resident of Cromwell, accompanied by a lad, evidently bent on the same errand as the former rider, —that of liberating horses from the mob ; but although they pushed on briskly, they showed greater consideration for the animals they rode. A short time elapsed, when the man on the grey nag again made his appearance, this time on his backward route, driving before him three or four horses which he had got released from their captors. But though the obje.t of his pursuit had been gained, his speed was i o' slackened, nor his biutality to flic animal abated, whose sweltering sides, covered with blood and sweat, produced a picture of cruelty unparalleled by anything 1 have before seen. If the law regarding cruelty to animals tx'en- s f ids far, and were any member of the staff present «hj use out v it- is to i force this law, here were two cases »hj oil mi Jit fairly cune under the Act. The Inara cd sales of the horse would ensure con vie Hon in Hie one case ; and hj Is doubtful whether a charge would not have held in the matter of driving a starved horse to the pound. — I am, Ac., Humanity. November 11, 187:2.

Love.—A crusty old bachelor remarks : Love ! is a wretched business, consisting of a little | sighing, a little crying, a little “dying,” and a 1 deal of lying.