THE INANGAHUA DISTRICT MEMORIAL.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1181, 11 May 1872, Page 3

THE INANGAHUA DISTRICT MEMORIAL.

In speaking of the discontent existing at Reefton, and of the meeting that was held there on Saturday night last, we. stated that a memorial to his Excellency the Governor had been prepared for signature. We hear that it is being signed numerously, and must command attention. It is a somewhat voluminous docu* ment, but it is not larger than the circumstances warrant, and than is necessary to explain all in connection with it. It commences with, as we may call it, a lengthy preamble, stating the grounds of dissatisfaction on the part of the miners with the Nelson Provincial administration of the South- West Gold Fields, and giving details of the causes of complaint. This portion, and, indeed, all of it, is well drawn op, and puts the case very fairly before the Governor in Council. We subjoin it in full : — To His Excellency Sir G. F. Bowen, Knt., G.C.S.G. and S.M., Governor-in-Chief of the Colony of New Zealand. The hnmble memorial of the undersigned inhabitants of the Inangahua district, in the Province of Nelson, in New Zealand, sheweth. That the district in which your memorialists reside comprises a vast tract of good available agricultural land, and has long been known to possess in various part* a considerable extent of auriferous alluvial country, sufficient, under favorable conditions in tho way of roads and tracks to support a large population. In addition to which during the last two yean there have been discovered quartz reefs of almost unprecedented extent, ard of undoubted richness. These resources have attracted to the district a population of over three thou-

sand souls, and have also attracted the attention of capitalists in all parts of the Colony, and even to some extent, whioh was fast increasing, in the neighboring Colonies. The confidence of all these in the permanency and value of the district is evidenced by the vast amount of work done, and the very large sums expended in the purchase and fixing, in almost inaccessible country, of powerful crushing machinery, while further extensive orders for machinery have been or were about to be forwarded to Melbourne and elsewhere. Notwithstanding all these great natural advantages, and the opportunities afforded for fostering and encouraging the early development of such a valuable part of . the Province, the Nelson Provincial Government has systematically, and it would appear has studiously ignured its responsibility towards this district. Whilst drawing monthly an almost incredibly large revenue from the miners, they have abstained from making any provision for supplying the many vitally pressing wants of the community, which wants, had it not been for the prompt and vigorous action of your Excellency's Government, might have resulted in the most deplorable consequences. Your memorialists, in common with Ihe whole of the Nelson Gold Fields population, havo for years been conscious of the incapacity of the Nelson Provincial Executive to administer efficiently the affairs of those fields ; but the experience of the last year's maladministration has so completely demonstrated that incapacity, that the future woll-being of this important district will be unneceosarily retarded, if not altogether frustrated, unless your iii'xcallency and your Government interpose to save us from the hands of the Nelson Provincial Executive Detailed instances might be multiplied in proof our general statement; but we, your memorialists, will rest satisfied- by placing before your Excellency a few, to justify their assertions, and they indulge in the hope that the wrongs Buffered may soon be remedied. The neglect of the Nelson Government to make provision for roads of any kind, although the necessity has been repeatedly pressed upon them, both through the public press and by their own officers, strongly proves their want of sympathy with this district, and their determination to follow a do-nothing, instead of such a progressive policy as alone is suitable to a vigorous young settlement like this. Again, the large tracts of country in this district, instead of being long since surveyed, and sold to the numberless persons who would have gladly availed themselves of the opportunity, and bo have contributed to the great desideratum of the day — settlement of the country — have been allowed to lie waste, and totally unproductive. It is true some comparatively small quantity has recently been surveyed for agricultural leases. But it is respectfully submitted that such a course is inconsistent with a sound and wise policy, and is altogether inadequate to supply what we. all desire, the permanent settlement and improvement of the country. This policy the Nelson Executive seem to regud as a chimera, and hence your memorialists have no faith in them. But these instances of shortsightedness and incapacity sink into insianibcance beside the last instance of entire want of capacity with which the Nelson Executive have, your memorialists sincerely hope, closed the history of their inaptitude to adminidterthe affairs of a district like this. Without referring to any other of the countless errors of omission and commission which exist, this one is alone sufficient to vindicate your Excellency's memorialists, and it has been received with indignation and alarm, not alone in our own midst, but also in Greymouth and Hokitika, with which places our interests are more or less intimately interwoven. Your memorialists allude now to recent Provincial Gazette notices (April 22nd and 28th, 1872), in reference to certain applications for gold-mining leases in this j district Your memorialists may premise, what your Excellency doubtless will know, that quartz reefs situate so far from the seaboard must necessarily require a large expenditure before they can be made productive to the country at large. The individual miner, or indeed a company of miners, cannot hope to command sufficient capital to erect the machinery necessary to utilise the reef a already discovered, or those which it is hoped will be developed. Hence they are driven to depend upon the outside capitalist, who naturally looks for some security for his investment by obtaining a greater fixity of tenure than is afforded by miners' rights. For this purpose a large number of applications for leases from time to time have been made. The conditions imposed by the Gold Fields Regulations have been complied with. The proper investigations have been made by the Warden, and, in many cases by successive Wardens. The leaseshave been, recommended by those officers. Companies have been formed consequent upon such recommendations, and mining operations proceeded on the faith of them. Interests have changed hands upon tho trust, hitherto fulfilled in other places, that the leases would issue. But, to the amazement and consternation of the whole coninanity, the Superintendent, arbitrarily, 1 unreasonably, and totally regardless of the obviously ruinous consequences to the district— has, out of twenty applications, curtailed the areas of fifteen leaser applied for ; and, in ihe cases of eighteen others, in the teeth of the Warden's recommendation, has refused the leases altogether; and this, too, after the Superintendent himself had furnished the Warden with certain fixed conditions as to the number of men to be employed— which conditions, although considered extreme ones, were assented to by the applicants upon the hearing of their respective applications before the Warden. In many of tho cases the areas chimed were, and for long periods have Been, unr'er miners' rights, and large and expensive preparatory works have been performed and undertaken. The effect of this erratic and unjustifiable action of the Superintendent, if tolerated, would be most illegally to deprive the men of ground they would be entitled to hold under their miners' rights. V •:? Excellency will readily conceive how disastrous to the district must be the administration of its affairs in such a manner as this. All certainty— a most essential element in such a district -is utterly destroyed. Confidence in the Provincial Government ■J is entirely sapped. The flow of capital, so essentially required, is at once and most.

effectually stopped. Orders for machinery are. countermanded ; and men recognise in the present sfate of thiugs nothing but inevitable stagnation and impending ruin, unless the maladministration of which they complain is at once and for ever checked." :,, / : •'For ;_aU these Sevils your memorialists see 'only one remedy, and that is, the separation, at the earliest moment, of the Nelson South- West Gold Fields from the settled districts. Your memorialists are aware that that consummation will require the intervention of the General Assembly. But, in tho meantime, relief would be afforded if your Excellency should think fit to exercise, the powers conferred upon yonr Excellency by " The Gold Fields Act, 1866," and at once withdraw all those powers which your 'Excellencyfhas delegated to the Superintendent of Nelson, and which he, and his Executive (the latter altogether ultta vw'cs, and with characteristic presumption) have wielded with so little benefit, and so much, and to some extent, with such irreparable injury to this important part of the Colony under your Excellency's command. Your memorialists, therefore, humbly pray :— That your Excellency, will interpose, and prevent the longer infliction of the wrongs of which they complain : — That your Excellency will bo pleased to withdraw from the Superintendent of Nelson those powers which your Excellency has delegated to that official under 'The Gold Fields Act, I860;" your 'memorialists entertaining every confidence in the Sympathy of the General Govern? meht, and in its desire and ability to administer our affairs judiciously and satisfactorily until permanent arrangements can be matured :; And that your Excellency would be pleased, at an early date, to causo the Secretary for the Gold Fields, in conjunction with the Warden of the district;; to inquire into the premises, and to report thereon, in order that the facts may be verified, and a scheme prepared, having for its effect the early consolidation of the Nelson South- West Gold Fields under such a form of government as will be calculated to secure a careful and efficient administration, and, at the same time, present some guarantee that the interests of the community will be studied and for,-, warded, and not, as at present, retarded, if not deliberately sacrificed. And your memorialists will ever pray.