The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2140, 16 March 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 1870.

There is something singular in the accounts given by different persons of the state of the labor market. On the one side it is said that labor cannot he obtained at any price : and on the other, men say they cannot get work to do. The one party advocates immigration, and the other opposes it: both imagine that the influx of a large number of people would tend to reduce wages, and if they were suddenly thrown upon the Province, with no-

thing to fall back upon but employment in the trades in which they were educated, no doubt it would be true. It is necessary that, all who migrate to the Colonies should be handy men, capable of turning their attention to various descriptions of work, so that when one class of employment is glutted they may turn to another. It is in consequence of tliis want of power to adapt themselves to circumstances, that so many prefer hanging about the town to going into the interior and devoting themselves to mining labor. New discoveries are nothing rare now, only instead of finding rich nooks and gullies whore gold may be picked up off the surface or near it, of late main attention has been given to quartz mining. All who road the reports of the goldfields Wardens and the gold fields newspapers can ascertain for themselves the rates of wages paid by the various claims, and it is not likely that any loss would be given were there three times the number of persons on the goldfields that there arc at present. In fact, from the quantity of gold obtained in proportion to tbc number of people employed in gold mining, they are able to give, and do give, higher wages than any community known, so long after the discovery of gold. We have always looked upon the goldfields as treasure beds to which a man may turn attention whenever work is slack in his peculiar calling. He needs no particular training to work at gold mining. Experience goes for much, and bands that have been used to the work are preferred ; but anyone who can skilfully handle a pick or a shovel will soon attain the necessary skill, and golddigging has the great merit of injuring no one by competition. No doubt it is much pleasanter to live in Dunedin, amidst friends and companions, than to go up to the goldfields away from them. But in Tirades where the work is not steady, and where there are move hands than can obtain permanent employment it is better to endure the discomfort of absence for a while than to remain in the City on the chance of being employed when somebody else goes away. It is somewhat unfortunate for men of this class that the diggings are so far off, ami consequently so comparatively little known. Notwithstanding the good news that keeps coming in from all sides of rich reefs, there is really not much interest taken in mining in town. It would be very undesirable to have such unhealthy excitement in Dunedin as a few months back agitated Auckland ; but it is equally to be deplored there is apparently so little. We are not prepared to endorse every account given of extraordinarily rich stone, but even if they are half true, the mineral wealth of Otago must be enormous. It was very right when first the richness of the Cromwell Reefs was reported, to pause before committing the Colony to an unfounded agitation, But there need be no fear of that now. In fact it seems as if most dwellers in the City are content with things as they are, and take no farther pains to ascertain whether the reports that reach ns are true or false, and let the scanty up-country people construct the water-races, work the rivers, the terraces, and the reefs. This would matter little were capital and labor always at ■command, but it is not so, and for want of them many promising undertakings will be for the ; present postponed. A little closer examination of the matter will lead to the impression that, by care and good management, some very profitable investments may bo made, and that there is an abundant field for the labor of those who are unemployed and willing to turn their hands to anything.