The Evening Star FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2041, 19 November 1869, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1869.

Are the Executive and Waste Land Board mad or worse? The question may well be asked, when their proceedings are taken into consideration. In either case they may do immense damage before a stop can be put to their proceedings. On Wednesday we drew attention to their action in reference to the sale of the Island Block at the Horse Shoe Bend of the Molyneux River. Yesterday we published an extract from a letter from Hyde, that bears evidence of equal perversity of judgment. In both oases there is an evident determination to sacrifice the best interests of the Province on the Goldfields, to some false theory, or on grounds that are open to grave suspicion. When the present Executive assumed office, we were not sanguine as to their power to do good, but we did think them innocent for evil. We had no idea that they would ever prove progressive—a c’odocracy never is. Content if their land yields its crops and their bullocks feed on its fatness, they would dream thenlives away in an Arcadia of their own ; and if not impelled by pressure of circumstances, they would not advance beyond the good old jog trot of their forefathers. But even this primeval innocence bears mischief in its bosom towards a mixed community. Their siumnum botium is agricultural settlement, and to this they would sacrifice every other interest. On what other ground can the conduct of the Waste Land Board and Executive be defended? But we warm them that when the truth is told—and from the gold-fields that truth is fast being brought to light—there will be such indignant remonstrance, as would cause even the most obstinate of their animals to pause and turn. The Island Block to wit. One of the Executive declared it to be his conviction that it was for the interest of the country that it should be sold, A manifesto published in the Daily Times this morning tells us avliv. We merely mention this journal to show that the Government through it have thrown down the gauntlet and have labored by literary legerdemain to justify the course they have adopted. We will only deal with one statement, for it opens up the whole question that every man, woman, and child in the Province is deeply and vitally interested in—the sale of land on goldfields. It was urged by Mr Ireland that that land ought not to be sold, as it was not ascertained whether it contained gold or not. In reply to this we are gravely told “ After being within the limits ol an exten- “ sively prospected goldfield for six “ years or more, it is in a high degree “ improbable that any important dis- “ coveries of gold will be made on this “ block during the three years within “ which the leases could be determined, “ and their holders prevented exercis- “ ing their pre-emptive rights under “ them at the upset price of £1 per “ acre,” We will not trouble ourselves with the fallacy here implied, that the laud must either be sold or leased. It is too apparent to need notice; but with regard to the improbability of gold being discovered, we have made enquiries respecting the character of the ground, and have been informed by those who know the country, that the Island Block covers a part of the old bed of the Molyneux River —that it has been formed by deposits from the surrounding district, and that in all probability, if properly prospected, some of the richest gold, and in the largest quantities yet found in the Province, will be obtained there. Everyone is aware that there is scarcely any portion of the Molyneux that has not yielded vast quantities of gold wherever it has been worked ; and most will remember that just before the exodus to the West Coast, so confident were many of the immense riches to be gathered from its bed, that it was proposed to divert its waters from their course. Every member of the Executive knows this, and yet, for the paltry sum of a few pounds an acre, they not only break faith with the applicants for agricultural leases, but they virtually propose to hand over to individuals the power to close the land against all prospectors. Nor is the flippant reply to the objection that the land will be bought by speculators, a sufficient one. When Messrs Mervyn and Ireland put that before the Executive, they were told there was as much likelihood of speculation in agricultural leases, as in the purchase of land. Had it not been for the respect due to the position of the men in power it might very fairly have been retorted, that one had just as much right to speculate as another; and that at any rate the speculation of the one might be remediable, but of the other it would be irreversible. The thirtieth clause of the Goldfields Act provides, “ That if at any time after “ the granting of any such lease, the

“ land thereby demised, or any part j thereof shall, in the judgment of the i “ Governor, be proved to be auriferous, j “ or to contain any metal or mineral, “ the Governor or any person appointed “ by him may give notice in writing,” of his intention “to determine such “ lease.” But no such power can be exercised if once the land is alienated from the Crown. If there is one point on which the inhabitants of the Province should insist more than another, it is that the public estate should not be sacrificed to private interest or Executive imbecility ; and that no land likely to prove auriferous shall be sold, until fairly and fully tested and proved to the contrary.