ANNEXATION TO NELSON.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 714, 16 August 1870, Page 2

ANNEXATION TO NELSON.

[TO THE EDITOR.] Sir — As the movement in favor of the Annexation of part of the County to the Province of Nelson seems likely to be successful, and as I believe that any unfounded statements might be injuriousto it, I wish to point out and contradict an assertion made by Mr Carreras at the late .meeting held in Hokitika. The member, for.. Paroa is .reported to have said that he had held several meetings in this district, which he assumes lo represent, and that he had satisfied his differeut '.audiences that .they had no reason foi\any complaints for their treatment under the County Government ; that, in fact, they had received everything they could have any claim to. He goes on to say that the miners in the Grey District did not want Annexation, and, on the contrary, were quite satisfied to remain as they are. . Now, Sir, such a statement, if true, would and ought to have some influence ; but I am in a position to contradict it in every particular. Leaving aside the evidence afforded by upwards of 500 miners in the district having signed the petition for Annexation,.! have been told by some of the leading men among the mining community that j so far from being satisfied that they had received all they could expect, they all assert that, in their opinion, the whole dis- ; trict has been most shamefully neglected, and the revenue squandered in works solely for the benefit of the Hokitika merchants • that they' had no confi- ; dence in the County Council, and believed ; that they should obtain a much fairer' distribution of the revenue Under the' Provincial Government. I know that these are the sentiments cf i a very large majority of the miners, and; thi3 feeling, will no doubt be greatly in- ! creased when the new Gold Fields Rules and Regulations become known, as they contain certain changes so ridiculous as to ' be laughable, were they riot mixed with , some others which are positively unjust. : The framerof these Rules seems to nave had one object in view, that is, to squeeze as much money for the Treasurer as he could out of the miner's. Can anything more unjust be imagined than to impose a tax of L 2 2s on every claim which a miner, Or party of miners,! may occupy, and this with the penalty of a fine of HO to L2O for noncompliance with this most arbitary rule.. Surely the framer or framers of such auabsurd regulation could hardly have devised anything better calculated to prove their utter incapacity to have such power' placed in their hands, and thty will not be surprised that the miners of the Grey District are desirous to escape from the dominion of a Government composed of such incapables. That the old Rules were ill-adapted to the wants of the dis- | trict is Undeniable; but those issued by. the present Government, while retaining all the faults of the old ones, make things worse by adding several rules which are positively injurious, and must lead to s.erious loss to the miners. Time and space prevent me fro m entering into an analysis of the all these new rules, though such would certainty prove all that I hay.c s.aid of them, and might be found of some use to the miners, whom they sq injuriously affect. .-' • I am, &c, Frank Guinness.