The Evening Star MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2102, 31 January 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 1870.

At the late session of the Provincial 'Council, amid the conflict of opinions on Hundreds and Railways the goldfields were not forgotten. Mr Ashcroft, who has latterly devoted his attention to gold-mining matters, moved for arrangements to be made for the appointment of a competent mining surveyor, “ to make a tour through the goldfields of this Province, and re- “ port on its resources, with suggestions as to their development, espe- “ cially as regards quartz mining, “ water supply, and disposal of tail- “ ings.” It is certainly a rare mixture of duties that would fall to his lot, and the man who is found equal to them must be somewhat of a rara avis, an admirable Crichton in his way, a thorough geologist, a civil engineer, a practical miner, and a first-rate social economist. Pie is to report, on the resources of the Province, This is a wide subject, and embraces much move than perhaps the mover of the resolution intended. The resources of the Province are not only its goldfields, but its mineral products of various kinds, its coal, iron, stone, lime, agricultural, and pastoral capabilities. Now most of those are pretty well ascertained, at any rate ■within the limits to which they can be profitably worked. Even our quartz reefs are known to be sufficiently extensive to support a very large mining population, although no one would so much as venture to guess the extent of them. The problem to be solved, is not what is our wealth lying perdu, but how to get at it. The Province is suffering through want of labor and want of ready access to the interior. Through some fatality Otago does not

seem a favorite place for emigrants to wend their way to. There is not a district in New Zealand that does not appear to draw better than it. The West Coast drew thousands away from it, and although some few found their road back again, the bulk of the runaways stayed away. Yet it does not appear that Westland or Nelson is better, if so well off as Otago. There is perhaps more go-aheadness. They seem to be more pushing in the prosecution of public works. They form tramways and other cheaj) and ready modes of communication with the interior that have never entered into the minds of the people of Otago, who after years ot inconvenience have at last mustered up spirit to make the Port Chalmers Pailway. The. consequence of our supineness has been that the interests of Dunedin have suffered severely. The City rapidly extended through the demand caused by the large population in the interior that mustered when the rich surface diggings were first developed. That it has not declined more through the exodus that took place some four years ago, says much for the general well-being of the population that remain, but we should be glad to see some means adopted by which a large addition could be made to our numbers. The accounts from the interior show how necessary this is. It was expected, in the early part of the season, that shearing and harvesting would be got rapidly through in consequence of the abundant supply of labor. But this has proved to be a miscalculation. Instead of labor being abundant, it has proved very scarce. Many runholders have not yet completed their clipping, and harvesting operations are retarded through the difficulty of finding men. There is not population enough to attend to every industrial pursuit at the same time, so that the harvest and the sheep clipping draw labor from the gold workings, and one industry stands still while another is being prosecuted. A mining surveyor’s report, however talented, would aid very little in remedying this state of affairs, and it must not bo forgotten that instead of lessening, the difficulty is likely to become greater in proportion to the natural and healthy development of each branch of employment. The fact is we are bad advertisers. No scheme has yet been hit upon to create a feeling in favor of emigration to Otago. Major Richardson, Mr Fyke, and _ others have tried their hands at praising up the Province, but it does not appear that their literary labors have been productive of any benefit. Notwithstanding their glowing descriptions and spirited pictorial illustrations, it seems very probable that even the Auckland diggers know as much about this Province as of Utopia. It seems very evident that Auckland is over-populated, and it is one of the drawbacks to the Colony that there is no means of cheap locomotion by which men who find work scarce in one part of the Colony can readily, and without exhausting their slender resources, transport themselves to another. Many have speculated on the reasons why America is preferred to the Southern Colonies by' emigrants from Europe. Amongst other reasons, it costs money' to reach Australasia, and money to find a restingplace when it is reached. In America, a man may travel hundreds, or even thousands, of miles for less money than is required,to go by coach to the Dunstan. It would not be a bad idea, if it were possible, to direct some of the Auckland surplus diggers to the goldfields of Otago. Three thousand men met, and resolved to extend their operations vi et armis into the Maori district on the bare assumption that the forbidden land is auriferous. If those men wore employed and earning wages they would have no such cutthroat notions in their heads, The inevitable inference is that there are vast numbers there who are waiting and wasting money instead of earning and saving it; and if they arc men so determined to work as to fight rather than be debarred from it, they are just the class we want in Otago—brave fellows, not to be daunted by difficulty or danger. Now the General Government has paid the passage of a number of Maoris, and sent them to Otago, prisoners, for safe keeping. Would it not be a cheap way of tiding over a looming difficulty to help those free diggers over to this Province, where, without danger to themselves or to the Colony, they could aid in the development of the quartz reefs, and in Iho construction of the railways and other works that their construction will render necessary than to let them idle away their time, or employ themselves at the risk of initiating a war of extermination with the Natives 1 Why be at the expence of sending an emigration agent to England when wo have men at our very doors wanting work, and ready to plunge the Colony into an cxpencc of perhaps millions rather than not have it ? If such a crisis loomed in Victoria, placards would be issued stating

that passages would be provided at trifling cost, or even free, and means of conveyance to the different diggings secured. Communication with different districts would be organised to ascertain the number of men that could be employed in each, and every one willing to take advantage of the offer would be guaranteed work by the Government at such wages as to secure him against absolute want. The General Government ought immediately to be communicated with, and they ought to bear the expence or a large portion of it, as for a common good. It is possible that we may overestimate the danger, but forewarned is forearmed. Otago helped the General Government out of the Maori prisoner difficulty. A much more important service can now be rendered to the benefit of the Province and the Colony. But our Government must act at once or it may be too late.