NEWS FROM THE NORTH.

Dunstan Times, Issue 387, 17 September 1869, Page 3

NEWS FROM THE NORTH.

(Condensed from the Daily Times.) Wellington, September 7. A report, which, however, requires authentication, is current among the West Coast Natives, to the effect that an engagement had taken place between Te Kooti and the Colonial forces, in which the latter were worsted. Napier, Sept. 8. Colonel M'Donnel arrived here on tho 6th, and left next, day for Patca to take charge of the Native force there. About the 28tb ult., thirty of Poihipi’s people went towards Rutoaira in the Taupo district, and have not since interned. Some anxiety is felt regarding them. The force nt Paten, as we 1 as that at Runanga, under the command of Honare Tokomoana, met at Taupo to-day. Wanganui, September 9. Via Wei ington, September 13. Intelligence was received here to-day, from up the river, stating (hat, Te Root; Las returned to Roto,aria, in the Taupo country, and that either from fear of treachery, or from vitn.ietiveness, he killed four of his own men, who had been left as scouts upon the iricndlies under Wirehana, He is further said to bo estranging nil the King natives from him. Wellington, September 11, Mr. St. John Branigan has Leon gazetted Commissioner of Constabulary. Napier, September 10. To Kooti Las burned all tho Native cottlcmen(s to the cast of Lake Taupo. Rewi is still with him.

THE SETTLEMENT OF POPULATION UPON THE GOLDFIELDS. (TO THE EDITOR OF THE DUNSTAN TIMES,) Sir, —Having strung the following ideas together some time ago, with the view of competing for one of the Prize Essays on the Settlement ot the Goldfields, 1 fancy they may prove of interest to yonr readers, and with this view I forward them for publication. 1 am, &c., HENRY JOHN COPE. It has always occurred to mo that the permanent settlement of the population upon the Goldfields is more a question of domestic and social' life, than otherwise. People coming directly from'; Europe make very bad gold-miners, for reasons : they are bad •bands at making a shift, they require everything ready to their hands, and win u they do try the diggings, are generally disheartened at the very first rebuff. To succeed upon the Goldfields requires some preparatory colonial experience, or a dlspo. sition determined to succeed, come what will. Watching human nature closely, wo find that the number of men able to strike out a course for themselves, or who can depen i upon the strength of their right arm for support, are really very few. To commence life upon the Goldfields requires all those attributes, and they must be possessed naturally or acquired by experience. That the position of affairs upon the Gobble! s may be more clearly understood, I have divided the population under four heads viz., the Mining, Agricultural, Mercantile, and Laboring classes, am) by showing how they are employed we may the more easily arrive at some practical scheme to enhance their prosperity. The mining population, in nineteen casoj, out of twenty, consists of men experienced in the'.r work, they have not, as a rule, been brought up to labor, numbers of them have received very liberal educations, and have, adopted mining as a profession because it is an independantjWay of making a livlihood besides, there is the consciousness tha f , with industry, coupled with ordinary good fortune, a competence, or something sufficient to start in a more congenial employment may bo acquired. Generally very few people are satisfied with their walk in life, and gold-mining being a monotonous occupation, becomes irksome by time; it excites no emulation like most other employments, nor can it lead to distinction. ite . aim and on 1 being solely confined to the getting of gold. The minor, whi'e engaged in bis ©occupation, is generally far removed from society, bis comp miens are few. an I unless be possesses a wife to love and care for him, his condition is comparatively little • bettor than were he undergoing a system of banishment. Supposing him to he married, his wife has few or no companions, and he sees his children growing no imperfectly, or perhaps, not e locate I at all. ami what to j do with them or bring them up to is an in - , solvable mystery; therefore, nnlcr such I circumstances, he can only look upon mining as the means to an end. In tine, I have no doubt but that gold-mining wiU be entered into with as much zest as any other declination, but there mast be a vast alteration in the present state of things before such can lie accomplished. Many present undertakings will require to be amalgamated so that labor may bn economise i, not that less might be employed, but that, by a systematic combination of labor, worts of much greater magnitude than at present exist may bo undertaken with profit. 1 do not mean to say that we sbnuhl rush into any wild schemes or mad enterprises, or induce people 10 invest in nrnuig speculations by means of a joint stock company mania, because I fully believe that it will be best for the interests of our Goldfields that they should devolope themselves slowly, which they undoubtedly will do as the business of gold-mining becomes better understood, and I am certain that when once it is shown that mining speculations can be entered into with a reasonable certainty of success, there will be no want of capital to prosecute undertakings with. Investors must, however, bear in min I this fact, and make quite different calculations than were they about to invest in quartz-mining, or in alluvial companies for working deep leads, such as exist in Victoria. Hydraulic mining or what is understood as “grouud-sluioing’’ is the almost universal “modus operand.’> It is attended with very little risk, in fact, when properly managed, its remuneration is certain, hut the returns are not large yet, where a dividend of twenty or twenty-five per centum is paid by a “ground-sluiciug” company, it is quite equal to fifty or one hundred, for these reasons,—that the ground cannot practically ever become exhausted where the company own a supply of water. Having exhausted one place, they can always load their hydraulic power to another, so extensive is the area of auriferous ground at the disposal of the miner. A water-race is a valuable property in itself, which, as i.abnr becomes cheaper and population increases, will improve in value. This of course vonkl not apply to the many expensive and ill-constructed water-races formed in the earlier days of the gold discovtrie-, when people knew little about them, but to undertakings of the present day. Tim eal culation made by the Victorian 'lining Journal that a miring company should pay sixty per coat, dividends to keep sharer, np to par is therefore not applicable in our case. With ns there can exist no such a thing as total failure, the water-race itself of a well regulated company being worth the whole amount, or nearly so, of the capital iuvestol. I am not an advocate for the Government sending ont prospecting partiesithey have seldom or n. vor succeeded. 1 only remember one instance of success, an i that was in Gipp's Land, Victoria. I may say that, f.s a rule, Government prospectors .arc the wrong men to exert them--1 selves. Should parties of bona-fide minors

desire to go out and prospect new country they might with advantage ho supplied with tools and provisions, and, when practicable, they might ho provided with a passage to a given place, or a pack-horse bo lent them, then, should they make any valuable discovery, they might with justice receive a money reward, AH discoveries of auriferous ground should, however, at all times bo rewarded by giving the discoverers extended claims or areas. I do not agree with the scheme that the Government should construct water-races or reservoirs, or that it should guarantee a stated interest on money so invested. The principle would lead to no end of jobbery, and in the present financial position of New Zealand, there i no money to waste. Both of these can he accomnlisho 1 by legitimate means—that of private enterprise. So much waiting for Government assistance is a very bad principle to inculcate, people are importuning the Government to assist them, when they should he assisting themselves, and depend upon it, it is a bad speculation that will not keep itself agoing. To encourage people to construct water-races and reservoir.! is quite a diTerent affair, and such might bo done with advantage, to do which, I would recommend that, -.he relative leve’s of our in! nul lakes, also the sources of orr lire rivers and the different centres where mining operations are now being carried on. be ascertained and made public, such would be reliable data for making calculations, as instance, supposing a party of miners were desirous of constructing a water-race from the Link's river to the Dnnstan or Manuherikia flats, they would require to know at what altitude they could bring their race in at so as to make the water available for working as much ground as possible. The relative levels having been taken, they world In >w at once whether their scheme was practicable or not. There is very little doubt but that gigantic water schemes "ill be entered into ere long, it is merely a question of cheaper labor and material, and one which the construction of good roads will materially tend to solve, hut more of ran ’s presently. The agricultural class consists of holders of agricultural leases and persons who keep dairy cattle. This class, though numerically small, form an important section of the mining oommunitv, and they have considerable influence.as in numerous instances they are connected in some shane or another with gold-min in<». Some few miners own cattle and cultivate gardens : but the Arcadian simplicity, ag preached by the stump legislator, of the miner growing b-'s own corn and tobaapn. sitting beneath h‘s ‘own vine and fla.'-a," and listening to tbp la-inrr pf pis pattlp pans t]ie Surround, in" bills, is tbp vavlpat nf “bunkum,” It reanirps at-tp—tion to -mak- minin'" ramn-ip-a-tlva. "-ad. IP-p aiP- pt-bap business, it must, lap "av s ov”rad t-a at. aH and n f !■!.„ Taalpb'r- n-ar] farm-U" aa-p (llstdnP*- 'a-ainlna-’aae’a'-" apd Jfo pil'-Sllpd ,"S ca. "b mi,. nf fan Afiaap, pwvi-' lnvnlj.. rt-i f1»r» ci To nf flirt _ Ivopnaaeo ll rt lion on *lrt«i fli «>f frt’nfl f”llrt «>V!rtfrt rt liin-l'-rtl nr , f, tdcvf a* ~i rvrtl —anl/J lrtn,l *-*rt/V*Ort +r» 1 /IrtCm'rt f.Tjrt ■ST-lArtlof!A ,, rt prtrt, nf flirt vung ]art fr« n mon J --rt?n rl'— n A J n rt 1 rt** * r>F lldT rt»»"*A - f'n-^ra-. iioat <-Irtc*i*rt c*odv»rt rt c A firt fl/vM T>l* (“Mlfl 1 . I li* Ivif rt-i f.iif. nud Vo-T- frtxrr A^lrt Irt.irl n,rn Lr * J i T»9 cj-rtiat-jy flirt “ I'rtTJrt fl/lrt ’ flirty o«v)A«iof* f.’rtvr, ? /v«-» ivOiljrto-n ru* i-l-rt ,aa"i-„„,„ "t _ti>a miners to forward thenown especial ends. (to be continue l in our next.)