The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1875.

Dunstan Times, Issue 694, 6 August 1875, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1875.

Beneath the rule of men entirely just the pen is mightier than the sword.

The New Zealand Times, in a very interesting article on “ free trade in gold raining”, refers to a subject which we have long advocated —the necessity for the abolition of special legislation for the goldfields. It is quite apparent to everybody that mining for gold can be pursued with as little interference from the law as any other industrial occupation, and to preserve the present system of Wardens, with its cumber some officialism, must be considered as little else—allegorically speaking—than a “ remnant of the dark ages”. Why should not the pursuit of mining for gold be as free and untrammelled from legislative enactments as mining for tin, iron, or copper, sawing wood, or quarrying stone 1 The gold does not brutalise its finders any move than other metals, nor does its extraction from th« soil necessitate any official supervision. As to amending the Mining Regulations as is ever the delight of the Member fortheJDunstan, Mr Thomas Luther F-h-pheid—-it were hotter that he turned his attention to their simplification. They have been amended rather too often, and, consequently, are now so complicated that we can scarcely understand them. We are sick of reading about mining law and learned decisions thereon. Such a thing, as lawyers would interpretate mining law to he, should have no existence. Gold mining is only a bread and butter arrangement after all—divide the gross proceeds amongst those engaged in it, and the result is hut a poor existence for each. There are, of course, some very rich claims, where the owners of which are realising large fortunes, hut they are few and far between, and if wq deduct the years and privations spent in finding them, the proprietors are only reaping the reward they dost -ve for long periods of previous anxieties and hard fought enterprises ; and were it not that these lewards ex-

ist, we qvt«3tion very much whether , there could bo fouhd but an exceeding few persons willing' ,to undertake the labors and unbettainties attending the life ot a gold misery the hardships lie is oftentmes compelled to endure out. of the question altogether. Whenever ft case: of expeb«lvHTlitifation comes djqfqre the WardeikJ.Cdui —even if the parties to the suit are wealthy—it heara upon of, a great wrong, inflicted upon; the community, because the difficulties which are sought to bo adjusted should never hare "occurred werc-thc sysfSST of. goldfields legislation approaching anything like a state of simplicity. Whenever - man obtains >» waterright,i marks out a c’aim, Or.secures a mining lease, he should so thoroughly understand his obligations : that litigation should—unless he be wickedly inclined-; —be rendered almost , impossible, arid whenever this should become necessary,:its manner of settlement should be so simple that any ordinary common-sensed persbn should be able to conduct his own case. What we desire to see is that complications arising out : ’of nlining operations should be brought tinder the ordinaly law, the Wardens’ jurisdiction abolished, and Courts of Arbitration substituted, where -rdisputes, both parties agreeing plight be settled without the intervention of the law courts altogether. We, feel assured that cases which at present involve oftentimes a whole dav, and sometimes more in the Wardens’ Courts, with possibly an 1 Appeal to the District Judge; might be settled in the course of an hour op,the ground were the case brought before assessors or arbitrators who undei stood their business. Such a system 1 might be very easily introduced by simply having printed forms binding both parties to the dispute to abide by the decision of arbitrators to be selected in the usual way by botlr parties. Many intricate cases in: mercantile, mu-suits are thus settled more especially connected with maritime engagements, and there should be no difficulty whatever in applying the same system to gold-mining In the.event of a decision by arbitrators not being deemed satisfactory, let the dissenting party give security for costs to the others, when the ordinary law courts might be brought into requisition. Under any civcurPstahcfes, we entirely object to the payment of spe< iil pleaders iip mining leases, believing that any ip'ap of ordinary tm derstanding should be able to conduct his own ; wanting this knowledge, or choosing to enjoy the luxury of Council, the person employing such, should, as a matter of course,.be compelled to pay for"it.' There is by far too much, what is' 'designated as law upon the gold-fields, and a srievous I wrong is thus being inflicted upon : every,man who is compelled to earu a subsistence by delving into the depths of Mother Earth for a' precarious supply of daily bread. We cannot agree with our contemporary in his suggestions , that mining claims should be converted into freeholds, nor can we realise the very pleasant picture he presents of the miners’ fa-, mily cultivating the top, soil while their sire mines out that laying upon the bed rock. We know of no place, where such a pleaant picture of Arcadian gold-fields’ simplicity could be realised, such being scarcely possible even on the deep sinkings in Victoria. In a New Zealand point of view the very idea is perfect!v preposterous as to extract the gold here from the alluvial in ninety-nine cases oiit of a hun-dred,-it is necessary-,to dissolve the soil entirely, washing it completely away, and leaving; nothing, but the bare hard rock exposed to view. Freehold mining cl aims would tend too much in the direction of monopoly, ami be productive of no end of political corruption, both being objectionable circumstances, and which we have always striven to avoid. Our oontetnporary’s ideas on many of the subjects containe l in bis article are decidedly very good, but at the same time it is plainly apparent that his knowledge of gold mining is somewhat imperfect- In California we he-ir-ve such things do exist as freehold mining claims, but they are given only after a very large sum of money has been expended upon their development, and then only under very exceptional circumstances, while it must be also home in mind that the gold-fields of California extend over au enormous area o'" country, and that immense outlays of capital are expended upon mines to render them productive botore any icsult whatever is obtained. We possess scarcely anything in this respect analogous to’ the circumstances of that country, and it is highly desirable for us that the gold-fields should remain the property of the State. We believe in a large reduction, in the rent of mining leases, ten shillings per acre per annum should be amply sufficient, but the conditions of the lease “ that the ground should be worked; ” should be rigidly enforced. , At 'the same time we wish it to bo understood that we do not agree with arbitrary labor clauses—Sufficient men to carry on the, work of ordinary development should be all that is required. When a mine is payable the labor necessary to be employed will regulate itself. Every miner well understands, that the quicker he gets the gold Out of the ground the better.,

I The monthly meeting fiji \he Committee ' of Managemq&jofttty Tfiaistan ’DWtriofi, j Hospital will ftkqpiaaqo on ||iondaw|pVei|jf ing next the instarjti ,C , • i ‘ ,f - *V We have to acknowledg e of Parliamentary papers, klso, the first number of Hansard, from the General Government printer. The Dunedin Jockey. CJub have issued the|r programniosff<> rhfeir, Spring Meetii|g, also, for thofr feunimoP mefi’tiiig ; the amount of stakes for the former is L-185 ; for the Utter* A portion pf for the. fridge,f weighing between throe and fourths ar* rived on Wednesday evening last, and are now being placed in position. 'lie sluicing claims aTwortl on the West Bspik of the Molyneux, opposite Clyde, are we hear turning out exceedingly well, they . -fiiv.ing.tp the. workman about Lfr.per,wesk per man. The 41b Ibirifhas Mepft reduced in price from Is; to fid. at Cromwell. In Usk (Saturday's isatu£/of the Daily ; Times, a well merited meed of praise is accorded the Telegraph ,Department on its departmental excellence. The reference is ton lengthy telegram,amounting to twenty thousand words, being the doings in the General Assembly q£ the day previous ; parliamentary telegrams from their Own Correspondent, the Financial Statement delivered on the same evening, and the draft of,the Abolition Bill—the whole received in such order as to enable it to appear in the following morning’s issue. In another column, a Lecture in aid of the Alexandra Library Funds by Dr Allan, Resident Surgeon of the Dunstan District Hospital, is announced to take place on Wednesday thedSth instant ini the Library Hall. Ibis being the first appearance of Dr Allan as a Lecturer since his arrival in the District, we hope to See a' good attendance. Mr J. C. Chappie, President of the Institution will take the Chair at 8 p. m. sharp. On Wednesday evening last the usual meeting of the Clyde Quadrille Assembly took place in the Clyde School Room. The attendance of ladies was veiy good, but gentlemen very few. We hope at the next meeting of the Assembly to see those gentlemen present who have absented themselves of late. The Band deserve that their services should at least be acknowledged by members attending; their willingness in contributing their services, when called upon, for the amusement of the public certainly deserves this. We trust that we shall riot have to draw attention to the want of gentlemen at future meetings. Mr Slesinger’s trade mark for his celebrated rheumatic balsam was gazetted in the General Government Gazette on the Ist July under the Trade-mark Act. Mr Slesinger gives notice that anyone copying his mark will be prosecuted with the utmost rigor of the law. The Tuapeka Times says :—Challenges to : Newspaper editors are common enough in ] America, but until lately we have not enjoyed that novelty. We recently published ; a few remarks relative to a man who had j i come into a small fortune, and the foolish I way in which hj was squandering the same, j ; He thought fit to issue a challenge to our reporter, but on being informed that the writer of the paragraph was a fighting man, he quietly withdrew his horns, and suggested a game of euchre for drinks. The male passengers by the Ship Aldergrove ate spoken of in a paragraph of last Monday’s Guardian as fine stalwart fellows of a respectable class—another paragraph . recounts a free fight at the Caversham Barracks between some thirty and forty of them wh le excited by drink, one man was so injured that he had to be conveyed to the Hospital, and a number o f the rioters were taken to the lock-up. Fine stalwart fellows no doubt, and very respectable ? At the meeting of the Waste Lands Board held on Wednesday the 28th instant, Mr Francis Lee applied for a water race license, commencing at the eastern branch of SpoLtis Creek and terminating at 2. Tiger Hill, under sections 50 and 65 of the Waste Lands Act— Approved in terms of the Warden’s recommendation.—The following applications for a change of agricultural for deferred payment leases wore refused ; Joseph Brighton, 47a. 3 r 10p., run, Kyeburn district ; Thomas Coop, section 36, block 111, Benger district. The Daily Times says “ A Press Agency telegram informs us that the cost of the Hew Zealand Handbook was over L 2,000, and the total receipts from the sale about L 32. In the District Court, Reckon, recently, iuthe case of Wil'iam Ross, a a insolvent, a contractor, the Judge commented strongly upon the practice of perrons w'thout means tah’ng up large con', acts. It f .inspired that the insolvent had thrown up h>s contract and bad fq .'cited LISO or 1.200 of progress payments a l one. His Honor is stated by the Times to have expressed great astonishment, and made the following remarks : “This is truly lamentable - a really dread fnl case. Here is the care of a man without means taking a tolerably large contract, .upon the strength of which he employs men and runs into debt with tradesmen and others. The puVx has no right whatever to entrust contracts to such persons. According to his own showing, bankrupt had to rely solely upon his progress payments and Bank accommodation to carry him through. In such cases, when the contractors fail, who are the real sufferers ?—why th’c workmen and tradespeople. lam surprised that mining companies, regulated as thiy are by men of education and discrimination, should lend themselves to such a proceeding. So long as this class of tendering is recognised, men with education and knowledge are kept out of competition, and in the end the pnhlicts the sufferer. It is a terrible state of affairs, and ought to he discouraged by every means possible. Men who go into contracts should have money to meet contingencies. I consider the company ia, as much to blame in accepting his tender as the bankrupt is for [not.fulfilling,!fo"— Grey River Argus,

’• An esteemed and well > informed correspondent sends us (Dunedin Guardian) the 'following from Wellington i—The great fight is to be to remit to constituencies ; another part of the programme not decided on is the two Provinces ; and the third ia to fight the legality of the abolition in Courts of Law if the Opposition cannot .carry .the r mupuire,—Grcatj. caucus meeting? aVe being’ held at | the? Princess. Sir Georgbis t splendid Mb j’-fnaV’ thorough at statecraft and diplomacy, far excelling Jtbig Jjjjpeof old.—l have only further to "Bay thavthe Government intend to place on the tables of the House* on Thursday next, the Estimates, as also the hills for abolishing local self-government, 11 is understood tliat the official 'K-ovihcial'"sSff “ will ha carried on as at present, but ,* the interference of Superintendents -and Provincial Secretaries will from henceforth cease.