A REFUTATION.

Cromwell Argus, Volume VI, Issue 278, 9 March 1875, Page 6

A REFUTATION.

To tht Editor of the Cromwell Argus.

Sir,—ln your issue of the 16th. inst., I observe in your Cardrona " Own Correspondent's" letter some statements which indicate either ignorance, or wilful misrepresentation of the facts of the case. " Your Own," by inferring a covert sympathy with the inhabitants of Cromwell on the loss of a part of their Commonage, •and seeking to beguile them into a commiseration for his own tale of woe, relates in a pitiful •strain that "sheepists" (see Johnson's dictionary) ■"have applied for sections extending from one •end nearly to the other" of the Cardrona Commonage. This is far from the truth, as I can easily prove -, in all, there have been only nine hundred and sixty acres applied for out of a •commonage extending some twelve miles in length, and from four to six miles in width, on both sides of the Cardrona creek, which, I think, •should and would satisfy any well-regulated 'community -, but as some of our inhabitants, although professedly ODly " diggers," own forty, fifty, seventy, and one over a hundred head of cattle, they are, of course, -virtuously indignant at the prospect of losing a modicum of ground. "Your Own" proceeds to say, that " It is not supposed the applicants contemplate fencing or -other improvements required by the Act,"—endeavouring by a negative supposition to make a charge without any means to substantiate it. Had " Your Own" made enquiries, he would have found that the applicants for the larger sections had already made arrangements for felling timber for fencing, but naturally were not Inclined to be at that expense before the ground was secured. " Your Own," concludes with an •account of a meeting called by the committee of the Miners' Association, at which it was unanimously agreed "that the land being auriferous, the meeting should fully endorse the action taken by the Committee," &c, &c. It is astonishing how very unanimous people can be at times. Said public meeting consisted principally of the committee and those much-oppressed cattleowners before mentioned, so there was a fine opportunity for a display of unanimity. Had you been present, you would have wondered how otherwise sensible men could preserve their •gravity of countenance while acting such a farce. One local Demosthenes "viewed with alarm those applications, as an infringement of a possibly payable goldfield." I wonder does he view with alarm an application from a neighbouring squatter (already the lessee of thousands of acres) for a square mile of country, prospected and known to be more auriferous than the land about which they have raised such a tempest in a teapot. Our committee are wise in their generation, and content themselves with small game. " Little things please little minds."—l am, Sir, yours -&c, Butcher.

dardrona, "February 26, 1875. P.S. Please note the significant fact that at the close of the meeting the begging hat was not forgotten. " Grand Institution."