UP-RIVER DIGGINGS,

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 682, 2 June 1870, Page 4

UP-RIVER DIGGINGS,

(prom, wr own .correspondent.:)

AHAURA,

May 30. The coming election has been the principal topic of conversation during <he past week. None of our local " Barkis ; s " appear "willin" to do themselves the honor of representing us," and the seat is going a-begging. Mr Jones, the representative of the mining interest, is in the field ; but there are doubts as to his .eligibility, on account of his name not being on the electoral roll. Messrs Pinkerton, M'Kenna, Alcorn, Mathews, and "H. Moore, at the Ahaura, and Mr G-. Muir at Camptown, have been requested •to allow themselves to be nominated ; but they have all refused for different reasons. -Some of these gentlemen say they are not qualified, others that they don't wish to bother themselves, and others don't care " twopence if the whole place went to blazes," as one of them patriotically expressed himself ; so thatj eventually, we will have toxe-elect Mr Franklyn. It is a -bitter pill to swallow ; but "'when allfruit fails, welcome haws." There are gentle.men living among ourselves; who are in every respect qualified to represent us, and if this election result in a walk-over "for Mr Franklyn, they will have themselves to blame. It is all very well to -criticise Mr Franklyn's political conduct, and to characterise it as anything but .what it should be, but "talk is cheap, and it requires money to buy whiskey." I am of opinion that men who have lived among us for years, and who have acquired wealth and standing . through the -toil and exertions^ of the -miner, should come forward when the occasion arises, and take the ; part of the digging community. The police at Napoleon are trying to effect a moral reformation. Sergeant Jeffries summoned several vagrants (and very good-looking vagrants some of them were) to give an account of themselves to the Resident Magistrate, at the last Court day. They were let off with a nominal punishment and a caution not to make a second appearance. The police did not press the charges against those persons, but at the same time the' -police deserve, and will receive, the moral support and assistance of every; right-thinking man in the community for the action they have taken. A police officer is placed in an awkward position in cases of this sort, especially in a small place like Napoleon ; "he is living among the persons whom his duty compels him to prosecute ; he is exposed to the personal abuse of these people and their friends, and these "friends" are sometimes the very first to complain to a stranger visiting the place of the neglect of the police in not performing their duty in suppressing these nuisances. A rush has taken place to the spur between the Mosquito and Napoleon leads, and below the cemetery, and it is likely to turn .out well. , ; There was quite a stampede among the foreigners from Napoleon •on Sunday morning to a new rush somewhere in the vicinity of the Saddle. I could not learn the cause of the rush— some said it was on account of the discovery of a new quartz reef ; others, that a. layer of auriferous "pot metal" cement, several miles in extent and ever so many feet in thickness, had been found out ; but I will be "able to give you reliable information in r my next letter. My attention has been drawn to certain remarks made in the Provincial Council at Nelson by one "of the members for the Buller District, reflecting on our late Warden (Mr LoweJ and our present Warden. These remarks I consider to be unfair and uncalled-for,- especially in the case of Mr Lowe, who is absent. Mr Whitefoord is amOngst us, : and is quite .able to take his own part should he desire to reply. If I did riot know the member of the Provincial Council to whom I allude so well, I would think that, he had been influenced by other motives than those which he considered to be his duty to his constituents, in making that attack upon a man who is not in a position to defend himself. Whatever diversity of opinion may have existed as to Mr Lowe's ability as a Magistrate or Warden, uobody could say that he did not try his best to do his duty. As a Warden, Mr Lowe gave universal satisfaction, and the knowledge and experience he gained while following his profession as a civiL engineer, or "playing with a theodolite, "as the hon. member expressed it, was valuable to the public 'and himself in arriving at a just conclusion, and in deciding several very important mining cases which came before him. The decision which was given by Mr Lowe.in. the case Neilson v. Cosgrove satisfactorily settled a point which was a perpetual cause of litigation from the first discovery of the ' Napoleon lead to .thfi Jiraa. jthe, decision was given. The clear and equitable judgment given in that caSef could '"never have been arrived at by a '';' feather-bed fWarden," and every man ■in the Napoleon District will bear me out in the statement. ; - ; ; ; , ' The Mosquito lead is still going ahead i Fagan :and Kirby's amalgamated party have their tunnel finished, so that a horse can work-in it. The washdirt this party have struck is Baid to be very rich. 1 have not seen any of the party during my last visit to Napoleon; but I am informed, on good authority, that the prospects average Jdwt to the dish, with 3ft of

washdirt. In the tunnels which were driven in from the Orwell Creek side of this range to find this lead, the work is kept going night and day.