MINING NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1347, 22 November 1872, Page 2

MI N ING NEWS.

GREY VALLEY DIGGINGS,

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

RACES AND CHRISTMAS SPOUTS,

There is now a certainty that the racemeeting at Ahaura this season will be as great, a success financially as ever it has been. At a meeting of the stewards held at Gilmer's Hotel, on Tuesday evening, it was decided the race days should be Thursday and Friday, 20th and 21st of February, 1873. It was suggested the Christmas holidays should be chosen as the most _ suitable time 1 * in a monetary point of view to hold the meeting." The suggestion was very properly overruled. There are other objects to be aimed at in the getting up of a race meeting, besides the gathering of a crowd together to drink whiskey, and yet according to some company pen-formed at No Town at the beginning of the week to good houses. Tho company met with ari enthusiastic reception, which is not surprising, seeing that it is tho first opportunity the upcountry residents have had of enjoying such a treat-. Miss Stephenson gives entertainments at Half-Qunce on Wednesday and Thursday, and at Ahaiira on Friday and Saturday, Tho mavis, from

pooplo that would seem to bo the only result worth achieving. There is some- . thing unutterably selfish and vulgar implied in the use of such arguments in connoction with the probable success or fuiluro of a race meeting. The probabilities of inducing the owners of good horses to onter thorn for competition at our local vcaes are never taken into consideration by these bar-parlor sporting men. It is nothing to this clas3 of sportsmen if a cloud of old cracks, afflicted with every infirmity which horse-flesh is heir to, and furbished up for the occasion, should scramble for the prize-money, to the exclusion of that most beautiful work of naturo and art, a well-bred and properly trained racehorao. These home paddock Nirarods will tell you with tho most . consummate cheek thoy do not want "furreign" horseflesh competing on their convincing ground ; not they ; they want the owners of local horses to win local money, and "spend it in the district," or iv other words, " let every rooster do battle on his own dunghill." Heaven preserve us from the disgrace of being in any manner answerable for bringing about a repetition of such a spectacle as that witnessed upon our racecourse last season. It was pitiful to see really good prizes,relatively speaking, taken without an effort or the exhibition of a single racing quality by the scrubbers which were dignißed for the time with the name of race-horses, and there was much truth in the remark made by a former resident, and a fine old > sport, when he turned away in disgust after the conclusion of the race for the " big money," and ejaculated " Tear and ages, boys, there isn't a liorse left in the district since Ned Fayne's mule died." Fortunately the majority of the stewards have ta'sen other than strictly local considerations into account, and the date of holding tho meeting has been fixed to suit the arrangements of older and more influential race committees, thereby paying some deference to ' the convenience of the owners and trainers of admittedly good horses, and giving them an opportunity of entering into fair competition for what after all is the public money. Your correspondent " Bannathlath" gave you an acconnt a few weeks ago of tbe condition of the local racing stables, and of tho eognoccntis, but as you will no doubt hear from him again when there is anything of interest to communicate it is needless referring to the subject further at present. In the several mining townships committees aro being formed for the regulation and management of the Christmas andgNew Year's sports. The arrangements of these local committees are not likely to be interfered with by the counter attraction of the Ahaura races this season as was the case last year. Christmas being the busiest time of the year with the country tradespeople their presence was required at home, and they were consequently unable to visit the race-course at Ahaura, while the miners who were on for a holiday went to Greymouth, and these were other reasons why the last race meeting here was a failure, ■ SALE OF LAND IN GOLD FIELDS TOWNS.

From an official notice in another column it will be seen that the Nelson Government at length see fit to recognise the claims of Charleston and Ahaura. This concession, such as it is, should have been made long ago, and even now it is doubtful if any benefit worth accepting will be conferred. By the terms of that marvellous specimen of Provincial legislation, wonderful even amongst a most unique collection of similar curiosities, " The Nelson Waste Lands Amendment Act, 1872," persons who have been two years in uninterrupted lawful occupation of town sections can avail themselves of the inestimable privilege of purchasing them at a price, no matter how exorbitant, to. be lixed by the Waste Lands Board. An exception, dispensing with the occupation term, is made in favor of those who have erected a building of the value of a least LSO. The Board may sell sections held- under these conditions to the occupiers without the intervention of the land- auctioneer, and tho price is fixed at not less than at the ratp of L4O per acre ; "Provided, however, that not more than forty perches shall be sold under the provisions to any one person within the same town or vil? lage." He was a far-seeing legislator "who inserted the word village, and he evidently had an eye to the fitness of things, as well as the proprieties of phraseology. The latter clause absolutely necessitates an evasion or breach of the law by those who would otherwise have no wish or intention of doing so. Any occupier resident for any length of time in a gold fields town, and carrying on even a moderately extensive business, will occupy in a strictly bona fide manner more than forty perches of land, and a greater quantity is so occupied in nine cases out of ten. Consequently the holder of premises of a larger area than the regulation, forty perches, will be compelled in self-defence to resort to the aid and assistance of '• dummies " to enable him to acquire a freehold to the land to which his occupancy has given a marketable value. He must either thus evade the law, or wait his turn to run the gauntlet of the auctioneer's hammer, with the consequent risk of being turned out of house and home, for there is no provision made to give equitable compensation for improvements. The fixing the price at L4O per acre as the lowest limit for bush land on the outskirts of civilisation is directly prohibitory of settlement or improvement, and forms a suitable excuse for indefinite delay and postponement in enabling licensees to become freeholders, The land in this town was all but absolutely valueless when first occupied. It was a swamp, thickly covered with bush and useless timber, and any value it may have since acquired is entirely derived from the outlay made upon it by the sectionholders. Ten times the original value, putting it at the highest estimate, has been paid for it in direct taxation in the shape of license fees, and now the holders are asked to pay at the rate of L 4.0 per acre for the land which would be of no yajue at all ( ! but for the improvements made by them. The occupants of town sections are in justice and good conscience entitled to their holdings at the lowest price lixed by the Act, and if an increased upset price be put upon it by the Waste Lands Board, such action may have the effect of compelling the majority of the inhabitants to take up land outside the town boundaries, where they will be entitled to occupy equally Valuable holdings, which can soon 'be made as valuable at about one r twentieth part, of the figure fixed for the town lots. .' ,

AMUSEMENTS. T}}e Stephenson-Burford theatrical

the south, Willio Steel, enlivened the hearts of the Ahaurdites at that usually dismally suggestive edifice, the Hospital building, last week. Poor Willie was getting on well, when he was disturbed by a swarm of larrikins, who would insist in joining in an impromptu " wheelbarrow " chorus, a performance not quite up to the mark in any respect but that of noise to the celebrated anvil chorus. These larrikins and their prototypes, the "funnymen," are becoming a nuisance to the place. The latter are positively becoming social pests, for no one, no matter how harmless or inoffensive, can escape the infliction of their practical jokes.