The Evening Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3650, 3 November 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1874.

Some alarm has been expressed lately respecting the probability of a falling off m the yield of gold in Otago, and a weekly contemporary is evidently afraid of the consequences. We coincide with his views to the extent of regretting the decay of gold-minin", for gold has always a ready market: there is no difficulty of disposing of it, and now that the Melbourne and Sydney mints are so near, miners can always obtain the full value of what they have to dispose of. This is r wgreat advantage of gold-mining, an I another is that if gold is procurable without heavy outlay in machinery, there is greater and quicker return fur capital invested than in any other industrial pursuit. But gold is like every other class of commodities : it is profitable to a country if the labor expended in obtaining it cannot be more advantageously employed. If it can, then it is better to attend to that which pays ! the best, and to leave the goldfield :n- ! worked until the pressure for liber is i past. Otago is now passing through ' the experience of all gold-producing countries. The goldfields did thenwork in attracting population of the

right sort. They brought to our shores uu enterprising, hard-working set of men. Some of the more restless of them forsook us for the West Coast; many of the more stable ones have *'ttlod among us, and have turned their attention to other pursuits which hold out prospects of more certain and larger returns ; and the goldfields, forsaken by this class, may possibly be un worked for years to come. We have frequently pointed to the necessity for training a mining population, for nothing is more certain than that there are times when the goldfields will be needed as a reserve to fall back upon ; and just because they are so far worked out as to render skill and trained labor necessary to profitable employment upon them, the probability is that those who may, in time to come, without experience, attempt to get a living by gold-mining will fail. The Provincial Government would not move in placing men on a gold claim when urged to do so, although by exerting a little energy the work might have been accomplished. At present the attempt would be useless. When lit is suggested to the Government I that something should he done . to prevent the goldfields being forsaken, the question naturally offers nself, what can they do \ One ; oeison, perhaps, would answer immediately, abolish the gold export ; duty. Although we never could see i ■he justice of such a step, as we cou- ; . ider the export duty merely a tribute or the privilege of destroying large areas of very valuable land in the

• : ountry, we should not oppose it were ;t likely to advance the interests of the Colony. But we do not think it would stimulate gold-mining ia the slightest degree. Precisely the same demand was made in Victoria, and it was acceeded to—but with no beneficial result. Ballarat, the outgrowth of the goldfields, is in a most depressed condition j all the goldfields townships in the neighborhood are suffering also, and :>t is only here' and there that goldmining is profitable. The mines are worked out, and no industry has grown out of mining to give employment to those who once throve upon its results. It never seems to be considered that there is a debtor as well as a creditor side to gold finding. The escorts bring down so many ounces —how much does that average for every man actually employed 1 A few years back the calculatiou wasfrequeutly made that in Victoria the average earnings of miners were from twenty to twenty four shillings a week—at the outside about four shillings a day. The journals of Otago, in comparing this amount with that of their own miners, arrived at the conclusion that they obtained gold that, divided in equal shares among them, would have given two pounds weekly to each. This would have given six shillings and eightpence a day each. But as this division was not equal, as some received L 3 to L 3 10s per week wages and others had very handsome incomes from dividends in p.ying claims, it is plain that a large number of our diggers were earning very precarious livings, not by any means equivalent to the privations endured and the labor expended. It is only necessary, therefore, to consider the present price of labor to find a good and sufficient reason why the goldfields are, for the time being, neglected. The truth is other pursuits pay better, and so long as this is the case, the goldfields will not be in favor. Wc j are quite prepared to acknowledge ( that this is a loss, for we should be glad ! to see all the work now in progress completed, and concurrently the goldfields fully worked. But this will not be unless it pays better to get gold than to earn fixed and certain wages at settled trades. To subsidise the mining interest by sacrificing the gold duty, or even by spending money on waterraces, would be utterly useless. It would be a development of the protective system, the advocates of wnioh never ask whether labor is well or ill expended. It is enough for them that the country finds men work—as to profit or loss from their labor, that seems beneath their consideration. When they have succeeded in laying a tax upon the many for the benefifc°of the few, and find, contrary to their expectation, the country does not become rich, they wonder how it is, and blame something else. Political economists must be accountants—able to strike a balance between two sides of a ledger, or they are ever in danger of adopting plans that result in national loss. If abolition of the gold duty will revive gold-digging, by all means let it bo tiiodj for if through its incidence mining is discouraged, it will be like many other imposts a tax upon nothing—no gold, no duty.

Tn the South Australian Parliament recently, a Hill was introduced to prohibit the use of all matches or vestas except those known as safety matches. It was only rejec'.e 1 by a majority of one.

t he following is a list of persons who received ou ( . door re ief from the Otago Benevolent Institution during the month en lino I 'otober 31, 1874:—'8 families, number.ng 323 souls, 2 male adults, 15 fern do aduls, 7 children, at a cost of L 23 per week. The inmates of the institution are—3 • ma'e adults, 4 fema.e adults, 27 boys, 24 girls ; total, 85 J > hj , At the Resident Magistrate’s Court, Port Chalmers, this morning, before \lr T Mandoid, R. M., John Basting, Charles M'JNulty, and Christopher Lafliu were each fined 10s, or iu default twenty-four hours’ imprisonment lor being drunk and disorderly. t’harles Hansen was sentenced to seven days’ hard labor f.-r disobedience of iawlul commands ou board the ship Jessie ueadman.

On Friday evening, at Stonoy Creek, a man named Brown, in the employ of Air Kinder, was badly gored by a bullock Brown had been driving bullocks, anil left one behind on the road, broken down, as it app ared. 8o soon us he bad got those which could travel home, he went back for tired one ; but it rushed at him, throwing him from h;s horse, and inflicting severe injuries about his head aud ribs.

Oa the 2Sth alt., William Glendinning, carpenter, Waitahuua, was found dead in lied by a neighbor. An inquest was held on the following day, when, according to the medical te-tiuiony of Dr Hewart, of Lawrence, it appeared that death resulted from pneumonia, accelerated by excessive drinking. The deceased, who was ab ■ut sixty years of age. was wed known in the GluHia district, where he went by the name of “Glen."

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Mmrningtou Total A bstin-uce Society and Hand f'f Hope was held in the .schoolroom hast a veiling j the president ( dr Morns) m the chair. The audience, although small, was ai ten-ivo and appreciatin' ’The programme e nsi ted of readings recitations, and short uidrea-es, the leuling features being two very amusing recitations delivered by a brother lately arrived from Melbourne, widish elicited hearty applause. While on duty this morning Assistant Bailiff Gibb found a parcel which contained a child, apparent y newly bom. When on duly near tae Guttle Yards, fin.ting it n cessa y to go into the bush there to obtain shelter from the rain, ho observed a paper parcel lying on the ground Gn partly open .ng it he found it contained a young child, and he immediately reported the nutter lo the po ice, by whom it was removed to tlnHospital. Tt was then dead. The police are endeavouring to fiudtiaces of the mother of the child.

An accident occurred at the Chain Hills tunnel last evening -a waggon striking a miner named William Condon, who was working inside the tunnel. After strikin ' him, the waggon rebounded from the wall and knocked the man down. When London was picked up the wheel wa.s o ■ his head He was removed to the hospital by the ■■ruin from Green island it was then ascer-

fttined that he was severely cut about the be-d, while his chest was severely injure 1. When picked up he was gasping Ijeayily and could not speak. The Combination Troupe, now under A rec’s management and consisting of him se : f, Mr St. V’in ent, Mad one .Viontel'.elio, Vertedli, end Mr Turner, intend giving eur.ertaiumpi)t3 in the principal :ovvns of the Province, after which they pu-pose re-vi-it-ni; ! Ueedm. Aircc apw.v ir 3 eoes to Melbourne, where he writ be j n d by an entirely new company, selected at Hour ■specially to suit the Colonies, Mr V<>se will ,e;rfoim in the Lunatic Asylum Hall to morfow (Wednesday) evening, lie having considerately placed bis services at (ho disTposal of Mr'Hume for the amusement of the inmates of that institution.

The monthly meeting of the Fire P. I.was held at the st.-t ■ n last evening, Wain in the chair. Letters were road from the secretary £■ > the Friendly -ocietios Fer.e, and *he secretary of the Battalion Baud. Captain Wain informed thp members that ‘-he oecessary arrangements were complet'd for holding a social gath ring ; <t the Masonic Hall, on Monday next, the 9th i- 9 ant It was also arranged that the Brigade .should join the Friendly Societies* procession 011 Moudav next. Messrs Dernier and Btissel ivere elected honorary members and Mr Jev\i t was re-elected one for the ensuing twelve months.

Things are lonising queer at the West ! oiSt The ‘Wo trior- Times’ says that •‘nearly a famine prevails in toe lam}, a plentiful sc roicy i f every king eatable. Ihe butchers’ shops are bare, eggs and butter at a premium, and salt an i preserved provi ions running out. At Charleston worse times prevail ; scarcity his been succeeded by a' s-)iute dearth, and the principal viands now in consumption are jams, Ui pered hei ring , and tom ito sauce Bacon is cojj to b ; obtained there and the butchers days ago shut up their shops tor au indefinite period. It is anticipated that the next cm-i-ignment of cattle u« vVeatport will realise unprecedented prices.”

There appears to be some good gold get-* ting at tbo Arrow, where, according t« “Tuapeka Times,’ Mess 3 Mider, Squires and Austin have netted a pound wei-ht of gold f or week for some time past. The re salt of one day’s work, that of the }Bbh fost., was Sr.’zi. The Buie Bnttama Party are blocking out dirt that that will pay them L2O per week per mau. Bracken’s Cully also shows signs of the aurifer us deposits oi the Arrow not being exhausted. Messrs Plato .v and (Jo are averaging about LI each per clay, sluicing easily-wrought ground without any outlay. I he Whiteehap-.d Co suffered c msiderably by the Etc (100 8 but they have uow got to work again, a;jd are dividing handsome dividends. The local correspondent of a Northern paper says :—“The people of Napierdo not appear to be an enterprising or an energetic class. This is quite evident, from the fact hat the General Government Agent in Napier h.:s called for tenders (published in all the locM papers) for draying 7 >,(JbO railway sleepers from Danwiek to Takapau. to be used in the const'uction of the line from Paid Paid to J-Vaipukuran, and the call has met with no response whatever from persons resi .eut iu Hawke’s Bay, save and except one from a Maori, whil.-t from other places, ally Wanganui, numerous tenders have comoforward m answe •. Uponthissubjectthc ‘ Hawke’s Bay Herald ’ has an article, complaining in forcible teims of the want of local enterprise which characterises tne people of this district. It is a pitable state cf things no doubt, but neverthele-s a true one, from what 1 have already observed my self. The picture stands out in bold relief m the fact that a stranger coming here with a family cannot get a home for love or money, and what they intend to do with the six or seven hundred immigrants uow on their way here when they do arrive is a prob cm I do not undertake to solve, except by remarking "hat perhaps they mean to send them to dwell in tents to perish like the last io, Irom exposure to the bitter and cutting south-westerly winds which- know how to blow in Aaui.-r, and winch scattered the tents to all points of the compass. 1 here is an apology for an immigration depOt here in ttye shape of a few miserable looking shanties.

which, atfthe ntm st, would not accommodate more I.b in fo ty persons, or about families. Of coma;, their stay in this <101,0*; is of a limited dmation and where they no to afterwards is a quest! n, for th ire is no house accommodati >n in -Napier, even for persons already there."

A numerous deputation of seitiers from the East Taieri waited upon his Honor the Superiuten lent this morning with reference to the proposed branch railway, from Outr m to the -Southern Trunk railway, joining the latt;r at Greytow i. Mr Shaud, M. P.C., stated that the deputation were under the mpression that a portion of the LGO 000 to b:- receiveii by the rovinc; from the Heneral Government would bo available for this work. His Honor p anted out that this was a mistake as the L 6 1,000 referred to would be quite insufficient to meat liabilities already incurred by the Provincial Government. He regretted very much dial, owing to the action of the General Assembly, in refusing to allow the Province a loan of LGOJ.OOO. the Provincial Government were unable to carry out this necessary work ; but he saw no niffieulty in the way of getting the railway mads under thejprovis’ons of the Tramways Act, 1872. The district Hoad Hoards would only have to guarani-, e interest on the money borrowed, which they could easily do y giving the security of their rates. He would have a syuopsia of the Act ptep re 1 for the benefit of the set le;-s in the ffistr ct and if they desired it he would communicate with a 1 rgn railway cont actor who had m formed him (the Superin end or.) that he was anxious to construct this railway to < )utr uu. the deputation than ted his Hoior, and stated that they would King the mat er be fore the settler of the district.

Taranaki is a singularly constituted <’ro vince. We (N.Z. .Jerald. ’) ha-e ;r queiir occasion to refer to it, and always with Coraomnd ition It Jus a Pr <vmc ai Oounct . hich has passed more Ordin.-nces than ail the rest of Sew Zeal in ip it togeih r We have praised its petch:-s, end it has a descriptive writer who will “do" a line day with any repor er in ibis horn sphere. And now aranaki h.is tom a sergeant -if polio the like oi who u \v;>s never sen before and wid never bo seen again .n tip's or ny other subiuuaiy terrestri i ity. i 1 is name is, or rather, was John !>vuiu, fo>- he is now among tiie Ida ged. an I tide is what the ‘ i arauaki Mowssays of the d.c aacd : “ He joined ihe police f >-co ha e in October 1851, an was made s'l-g-vint of it ilmrr-ly after the Provincial Government w 3 e tibli bed, rt ud Aerceant-at- A rrn ■ of the Pr > inoial < ’ouiicih On more than one occasion he declined any increase of hi* w'ary b cau<e the Province co ed not a, fn'd, it lie had rare path nee endurance, and fir. ones'-, and was e-seiTia la a peace officer iu a rouse that is sellom tn inifest. (I, as he of- en produced peace be tween different parlies who had cal.-d him in wi hj a very different object ” Th ■ ita ics are onr own. It is the very least we can do out of re-pect for such a man’s memory. ■ lad we had the writ ng of his obituary it w,mid nave appear din large capitals ; for i man— is;r.ea it of police -who w uid -Ic'd ne a i mar. aa« of his salary da S'uae'-h.ng A) be borne in mind ami never forgotten. It wdi he ’ observed that Dunn did not decline ui me ei-e on the spur ot the moment, or under any temporary de'angemeut of the nerve.-!, or am ti ing ot th»c sort ; he eclined "on more than one occasion." -he statement will find believers, the world being so ere ul us, but we claim exemption It has be - too much for us. We hive tried, an a f >d ,d iu ihc attempt to believe it.

The usual monthly maetin" of the William Johnston L.O.L. will be held ip the Argyle Hall, Maclaggau street, on Wednesday evening, at 7. JO.

A meeting of the Standard Property Investment Society will be held to-morrow evening, in the Society’s temporary offices, over Mr Banks’s shop, Princes street. The general committee of the Dunedin Working Men’s Club will meet in the Athenaeum Hall, 011 Friday evening, at 7.30. The delegates from the> various Friendly and other Societies are requested to meet at S o’clock.