“OLLA PODRIDA.”

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 161, 10 December 1872, Page 5

“OLLA PODRIDA.”

T notice that the Government offer to send Mr 0. E. Haughton to the coming Mining Conference, if thought requisite. It may be assumed from this fact, that in connection with his recent appointment, he is likely ; to have the chief direction of the minin'* I affairs of the Colony, and the question of the I appointment of a Minister of Mines is thus I practically shelved. It is to be hoped that j when the Conference meets, the matter will be brought on the board, and the establishment of a Department of Mines urged upon the Government. Mining is the only interest in the Colony, of anything like the same importance. without a responsible head, and never until placed on an equal footing with other interests in this matter, will it obtain the consideration its growing importance demands. On looking over the report of the Gold-fields Commission of New South Wales, I find they complain of a similar want, and strongly recommend the establishment of a separate and distinct Department of Mines, under a responsible Minister, with officers possessing practical qualifications; and this brings me back to Mr Haughton, of whom, with due deference, grave doubts may be entertained as to his ability to deal with the subject of mining legislation. If a short period occupied in vending pills and potions to confiding diggers on one gold-field is calculated to have imbued him with the practical and technical knowledge of mining affairs necessary for such work, then 1 say he is eminently qualified. If the various delegates appointed are all up to the mark, they will seize the opportunity at the conference to put the great C. E. H. on his trial, in the view of his possible appointment to the department spoken of, which sooner or later must be created ; and, quoting from the New South Wales Commissioners’ report, “ firmly venture to deprecate, in the interests of the Colony generally and the mining community especially, the application in the appointments of that ruling principle of official patronage, which regards lather the amount of parliamentary support such and such an appointment will secure, than the merits of candidates or their qualifications for the office.” The “ Vogelites” are proverbially prone to this sort of thing. Knowing this, our delegates will need firmness and determination in an eminent degree to escape being hoodwinked by their astute envoy, who up to date, is the be-all and the end-all of mining representation in New Zealand. 1 look upon his presence at the Conference as a mere “sop to Cerberus” from a time-serving Government, and if our delegates will take the same view, I fancy they will be saved a deal of unnecessary humbug. They can afford to act independently, as anything emanating from them calculated to foster and increase the mining industry, will be backed tip by the entire community of the Colony, who are all more or less affected by its fluctuations.

On looking over tlic list of places in the district at which our delegate purposes consulting his constituents, I find he has left poor Bendigo out in the cold. I did not dream that our insignificance was so marked as this omission shows, hut I may inform that gentleman th it die Bannockburn does not comprise the entire Cromwell district, and that if, as it probably will, the question of Water Supply be mooted, we must come in for some share of the attention of the august assemuly of which he is to bo a member, as no water scheme, however plausible, can be perfect or permanent, unless the main supply is drawn from this neighbourhood.. If the dry, hot summer predicted eventuates, T fan-'’ our legis’ators will he brought in contact with the “ inexorable logic of facts," and

the necessity for a permanent and plentiful supply of water to gold-fields will be forced on their attention more convincingly than even last year. People may look upon me as one of Job’s comforters, but I write in the hope that in the end “ out of much evil, good may come” ; but this will only happen when our rulers alter the motto they seem to have adopted with regard the mining interest, viz : Festina letde.

I am glad to see that the (Jromwell people have not been at all bashful in tue matter of the demand fur commonage. Should they succeed in obtaining the slice of Ardgour station applied for, an immense boon will be conferred on the entire district. Evidently 1 ‘ Pig Jock ”isto be treated on the scriptural principle of “ to whom much is given, of him much shall be required” ; but T fancy I hear him muttering, “ Don’t you wish you may get it.” However, it is worth the trial ;in such cases it is, —as the “ old hand” remarked when about to appropriate some mutton, — “ as well to be in for a sheep as a lamb.” The entire area applied fur is auriferous, and for this reason alone ought to have been long ago alienated from the squatter.

1 read that Mr Colclough spoke rather feelingly at the election of a delegate the other day, and hoped the elect of the “Bannockbites” would prove of more service than the last representative from among that community. And this leads me to inquire if any one knows where our Provincial representative is at the present time, and what he purposes doing on our behalf at the coming ses sion. I saw in a paper a short time ago, that a gold-fields member had accepted the highly useful position of cook at an hotel ; but this cannot be Mr Hickey, surely. A friend of mine, given to poetry and that sort of thing, discovered the other day that our member’s name rhymed to “ stickey”; strange coincidence, isn’t it ! Bendigo, Dec. S, 1572. VIATOR.