The Evening Star SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2678, 16 September 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1871.

Wardens’ reports, newspaper reports, reports from special correspondents, .are merely useless lumber, if their result is that they are carelessly read, put aside, and forgotten. People complain of governments doing nothing, and with reason ; but then what do the governed do to rouse them to action 1 Communities may rest assured that if they place men in office, and trust to them to initiate work not forced upon them, it will never be begun, For some eighteen months more or less, Southland has been re-united to Otago, and in Southland is a goldfield, and very likely a rich and extensive one : but who in Dunedin would have hoard of Orepuki, had not our special reporter visited the spot? From his account we gather that it is yet uuprospected, and its extent unknown : that no provision has been made for the carriage of goods, and no aid has been given in any shape to its development. On this goldfield the population is scant—very likely it is capable of sustaining in wealth and prosperity for years to come many times the number that arc now living there—yet most of our readers will perhaps have heard of it for the first time through the report in our columns. Orepuki maybe considered the outpost of unaided settlement in Otago, and forms part of an extensive unexplored area of -country on both sides of the river Waiau. We have many times pointed out that of all industries, gold mining, where there are good prospects, can be followed with the smallest outlay of capital compared with the returns. From our reporter’s notes, we gather that only some four hundred pounds have been spent by the Government on a goldfield that has produced 12,000 ounces of gold. If this be true, and the estimate is said to be moderate, the export duty alone has yielded to the Provincial . revenue something like .£ISOO. That is to say, from this scantily peopled goldfield a revenue equal to the capitation allowance on 1500 people has been received. But

very little has been given back in return. These workers seem to have been left pretty much to themselves, yet goldfields like, we have heard of no outrage. A warden has been there, content with £IOO a year for Iris services, and seems to have had pretty much of a sinecure of it. Perhaps some people may imagine that an isolated spot, in which there is no competition, must be a very paradise to Jive in. What can be more favorable to comfort and happiness than to live apart from all the political squabbles, heart-burn-ings, jealousies, and strifes, of those busy populations where Shepherds and Browns delight to magnify their own importance at the expense of their

hearers 1 But there is another side to the question which these Orepuki people tell us of: they are sometimes almost starving for want of food. Other goldfields have had money spent on them in making roads to them, so that necessaries may be obtained cheaply. Very little has been spent on Orepuki. Its revenue has been taken and laid out for the convenience of constituencies who have Browns or •Shepherds to proclaim their importance. The goldfield at Orepuki is an instance of the bad effect of the New Provinces Act, and* with all deference we say it, of free selection. Those who are so

sanguine as to the good effects of free selection, should study what has been the result in Southland. Perhaps tlieii faith in it might be a little shaken, were they honestly and impartially to examine the results as developed there. They would find large blocks of land sold at wide distances from each other, to which there are no roads, and to connect which with the principal towns it would be impossible to make roads excepting at an expense wholly disproperfcioned to the advantages derivable. The lauded proprietors having no common interest have never been able by any .combination .to gain access to their own estates, and thus .Southland lies, a

splendid agricultural district, shut up in the hands of capitalists who can afford to wait until some system of communication is devised to make the cultivation of their properties profitable. This is the result of free selection in Southland. Perhaps some persons may be inclined after considering this, to ask themselves whether those rabid advocates of the system have ever thought of the practical effect of their theory. But the evil is not confined to shutting up the land ; it shuts up the goldfields too. To what extent gold exists, in Southland we do not know. At anyrate there seems to be a wide field for employment at Orepuki, which only requires attention on the part of the Government to render it available for a large population. Our correspondent, in a private note, says that from the data in his possession, in all probability the miners in Orepuki contribute to the revenue, man for man, more than any other goldfield in the Colony. Wo think this very likely 1 ', and we do not wonder that they complain they are neglected, and that it is hard that revenue won by their enterprise and labor should be spent in giving easy access to mining townships such as the Arrow or Blue Spur. We trust that the existence of this really important goldfield will be no longer ignored. It is entitled to attention it has never yet received. It needs some little help towards water supply, for the gold is at present obtained mainly by sluicing ; and it is entitled to a share of the fund to be; devoted to that purpose by the General Government. Southland is once more part of Otago. The few years of secession have been spent in mismanagement of its affairs, and some time will be required before the damage can be repaired ; but since the task lias been undertaken, one of the first acts of the Government should be to develope the resources of Orepuki.