CORRESONDENCE.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 262, 6 October 1874, Page 6

CORRESONDENCE.

[We do not hold ourselves responsible for th* opinions expressed by our correspondents.]

• ‘ DISMISSALS ON THE CARRICK. To the Editor of the. Cromwell Argus. Sir, —According to our worthy Warden, miners are graduallyforsaking their independent princiand becoming mere machines. Surely he was hard, up for something to make up his report When, like the drowning man, be caught hold of a straw. It is about the unfortunate miners that I have a word to say. The most complete machine made occasionally requires rest and repairs. Professor Darwin says that man is the descendant of the ape, the monkey, the baboon, the gorilla, or, perhaps, that bird of birds, the tuba ; but Darwin does not make men out to be mere 'machines! Man is the noblest work of God, But to come to the point. It appears that one of the quartz reef managers on the Carrick has been reading what the Warden says, and has got the notion still in his head that men are mere machines, who dare not stop until the bundle is touched, or start until the spring is wound up, or the steam let on, or some other motive power be attached. It is a customary thing for miners to go and enjoy themselves at the annual races, to be in the crowd, to win or low a little money, to enjoy a horse-race, to ahake an old mate by the hand and talk of past, present, and future, to lay five to one on the favourite, to invest a few shillings on the U. and 0., or take three to one on the seven, and after all is over, patronise a bazaar got up for a good purpose—to get a knowledge of oneself—to find out in what sphere he is most likely to succeed by having his bumps read, either publicly or privately. Such privileges as these cannot be «njoyed by working men on the Garrick. Some of our hard-working men (or machines) took the liberty of going to the Cromwell races on Friday and Saturday, to enjc y a short relaxation from iheir hard and dangerous avocations. They "Were all back and ready to go to their work on Monday, hut instead of work they got, to use tte common phrase, the “sack.” One man asked leave from the manager, so he enjojed the races, and got the privilege of going to work ; hut four who forgot or did not think it necessary, were'treated as before mentioned. And aow they say, with Burns, “ Man’s inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn.” 1 am, &c., '• : ; Machini. Garrickton, October 6, 1874.