THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1173, 2 May 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1872.

We publish elsewhere an extract from the Nelson Provincial Government Gazette of the 24th April, containing schedules of gold-mining leases applied for in the Inangahua district, with a list of the applications refused. Any information having reference to the Murray Creek quartz reefs ia of necessity, highly important to the inhabitants of this part of the country, so many being interested in the success or failure of the reefing districts. It is therefore not to be wondered at that some of the announcements in the Gazette in question should excite warm discussion. The action taken by the Superintendent in reducing the limits of some of the areas applied for, and refusing others, is not likely to have an entirely good effect on the future of the quartz localities. We drew attention in a recent issue to the prejudicial result, the unconscionable length of time consumed by the Nelson authorities, in considering the advisability «,f granting or refusing these applications, had upon the present development of the reefs. Now the general complaint is that His Honor has rushed into the other extreme and acted too hastily in refusing so many applications unexpectedly, and apparently without reason. We make this observation, because, if we are correctly informed, one, if not two, of the applications refused was recommended by the Warden at Reefton, after that officer had carefully considered the cases when they came before him. As we remarked on a former occasion, if the Wardens, after hearing evidence during the preliminary investigations into these matters, and acting as they do with a knowledge of the surrounding circumstances and an acquaintance with the locality of the ground applied for, see fit to recommend these grants, the interference of the Provincial Executive is uncalled for. The members of the Executive Council cannot have any knowledge of the meritsjof such cases, except what is conveyed by communications, reaching them through the Warden's Office, and yet they undertake to veto the recommendations of these Courts in an absurdly cavalier and overbearing manner. The great and primary cause of all the contentions which have arisen in connection with mining leases in the quartz districts, both at Moonlight and the Inangahua, is the length of time elapsing between the first application, and the final decision, and for this delay neither the gold leasing regulations nor the administration of them in Wardens' Courts are to blame. If the applications were disposed of promptly and impartially, the heartburnings existing between the miners and those who invest their money in quartz mining, or try to do so, wotild cease, because the occasion for their arising would not offer itself. The regulations, as they are administered, are unjust both to leasers and anti-leasers, and the decisions of the Superintendent, as we publish them today, prove this. Many of those whose applications are refused, or granted, but so mutilated that they are rendered valueless, have expended large sums of money in the endeavor to obtain leave to invest their capital more extensively in developing our mineral resources,by the erection of machinery, without which the reefs are utterly and totally valueless to the working miner. All this money is now thrown away, and as a consequence those parties will wash their hands clean of such ventures for the future, disgusted with a state of things which could not exist in any other part of the world. The result of these indiscriminate refusals will be a forced repetition of the very state of affairs, of which those known as anti-leasers are now clamoring so loudly about the injustice. The ground will be occupied by parties who cannot possibly procure expensive machinery to work it with. The capitalist will then be called in again, and if he can be induced to come at all, it will be only on his own terms. Any violent disruption of the natural relations existing between capital and labor everywhere, as well as at Murray Creek, always leads to a similar result. The other side of the question has also something to be said in its favor. The individual working miner, on his arrival at Murray Creek, finds large quantities of the so-considered valuable ground occupied by very few people. He considers this a monopoly, and becomes dissatisfied accordingly. But the cause of this so-called monopoly is the fact that the few persons in possession of the ground, are waiting wearily for the decision of those in authority elsewhere, and that weeks, months, nay years, as in the case of the Moonlight reefs, may elapse before he knows hia fate. Anymore Cm-

portant subject for the consideration of the Provincial Council at Nelson duripg the ensuing cession, could not be undertaken by its members, than the providing a speedy remedy for the present unsatisfactory state of the laws relating to leasing auriferous land. The regulations are workable, if differently administered, but they require such alterations and amendments as will render them more suitable to existing circumstances. Those wishing to occupy claims on quartz lodes should be allowed to do so by virtue of miners rights, to the extent of the ground in occupation, but with a modification of jthe present system. If a lease was then desired, in order to remove the property from the control of the ordinary Gold Fields Regulations, and to give an indefeasible title free from the possibility of vexatious interference, as long as the conditions of the grant were observed, in a bonafide manner, the obtaining it should not be clogged, with delays and difficulties such as prevail at present. The Wardens are the proper officers to see that the conditions are conformed to,as they are the proper persons to impose these conditions, and to grant the lease. It should be as easy to obtain a lease as it is at the present time to procure amalgamation of ordinary claims, because the principle of each operation is alike, namely, the necessity of co-operation to overcome difficulties of working, out of the usual course. The regulations relating to occupation, and representation should not be prohibitous, but they should be stringently carried out. It is the lax manner in which this clause in the present regulations is observed, that renders the system now in force so unpopular with the majority of the miners. Working auriferous ground by means of leases is preferable and more suitable than all others, provided the clauses directing proper representation be strictly enforced. When this is the case, employment for those who are not in a position to occupy claims on their own account will be plentiful on the gold fields, and the unseemly antagonism so often witnessed between labor and capital will disappear from our midst, to the mutual advantage of all parties.