THE MINING CONFERENCE AT REEFTON.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1493, 17 May 1873, Page 2

THE MINING CONFERENCE AT REEFTON.

[to she editor.] Sib — The Conference has concluded its duties, and the Wardens have patted it on the back ; the " honorarium " is paid ; the Wardens have, in return, been feted by the Conference, which is all very just and proper, and strictly in accordance with the good old maxim about the scratching of backs when two persons or bodies want to be very agreeable to each other. As the suggestions of the Conference are not likely to be carried out, it is scarcely worth while alluding to the bungling massof contradictions published as the amended quartz mining rules and regulations. It is no wonder the Wardens did not make any alterations in the hotchpotch presented them for revision by the so-called Mining Conference. The Wardens from the first secretly disapproved of the appointment of the Conference, whatever ' they might say openly as to the great bene6ts likely to result from its deliberations. It was an infringement on the very properly recognised prerogatives of the Wardens, and an affront to themselves that the Superintendent of Nelson should (to satisfy a clamor raised and fomented by a parcel of blatent agitators, who have the impudence to arrogate to themselves the position of representative miners) appoint a body of ignorant men to supervise the work performed by the Wardens at their last Conference, concerning theregulations. The Wardens, when they last met on the subject, did everything they could do,

- ■ ■ ■ . -. * i consonant with the position they -occupy, to make the Regulations and suitable for the different descriptions of mining. The amendments and alterations they made were suggested by a varied experience of the working of the rules in tbe-several localities in which they' were in farce, and they. d.id not endeavor to make 1 the ri^es suit one spot only, as the Conference has attempted to do. But there -wewwe^r two intprovemeStnEe Wardens did not 4 suggest, and, as before , remarked, it was not their business to do so, therefore they, did not trouble theraselve's, and thereby they showed tjiejr wisdom as paid officials, and their solicitude for the conservation of the revenue at the same time. The bye-laws require amendment chiefly on two points, and these happen to be the very direction in which the Wardens, from a laudable sense of duty, never interfere. The Gold Fields Regulations require simplification and inexpensiveness of administration, but the Conference, by its clumsy series of "improvements," has made " cot r fusion worse confounded," and instead of curtailing the already extortionate and ruinous scale of fees, the delegates have actually attempted to make the scate prohibitive. It was not the policy of Wardens to simplify the rules or to reduce the fees, because their duties as interpreters of tha intentions of the framers of the regulations forbid the one course, and considerations for the augmentation of the revenue, from which the'r-v salaries are derived, interfere with the good ! intentions they are known to possess in the other direction. It was therefore -not the business of the Warden either to make the rules more easily understood, beyond a certain point, or to effect an'yi reduction of the fees ; but it wa^s the business of a Conference of so-called practical men to , effect amendments in both directions. By some of the amendments they have opened a door for endless litigation, and by imposing- a heavy and ""a~useless formula "upon the would-be* occupiers of ordinary 'claims, they have made it practically impossible for nineteenths of the ■. miners: tot interfe^f : with quartz-mining. £ 5. The first amendment made refers to'the mode of marking out claims, and its practical effect will b^ to do away with ■the frontage system upon quartz lodes. To introduce and perpetuate this system, in defining the boundaries of claims has been the object of all progressive gold fields legislation in different parts of Australia for the last ten years, and yet the Conference, in its marvelous wisdom, ordains that quartz claims shall henceforth^ marked in blocks at whose corners four pegs shall always be maintained "free from rubbish " — this- is rubbish indeed ! ! A man must not only mark his claim as thus directed, but he must pay L 5 for the privilege of doing so, for this is the meaning of the twelfth amendment. This rule directs that all quartz claims taken up under these regulations (excepting prospecting areas) must be surveyed and registered in the Warden's Court, and a deposit of L 5 to cover the costs of the survey shall be lodged with the Warden within seven days of date of application. After the survey is made and. the charges deducted, <the balance, if any, will be handed back to the applicant," and much good may it do him, for it is little balance he will get. out of the Warden^a Office. Besides this, there is a plan of the claim to be made: out, at „&■. further cost of 10s, with a tracing of as much of the general mapof the district "as will be sufficient! jto connect the said plan with at , least one' 3tatib'ri:'' '&c,,!&ci,' "a'rid all !this is to be "'done before an ordinary quartz claim can be occupied. After all this trouble is taken and this expense is incurred, suppose a man discovers he has mistaken the true -course! of, the reef, and •finds his claim marked in {the wrong direction, as is the fact in nine; cases out of ten on new : rushes, especially if there be a thick undergrowth of timber. I will only allude to one other "amendment" at presents because, with your permission, I intend to refer to this subject again. The 6th clause says that "the Warden may, if he think fit, grant a prospecting claim to the actual discoverers of a reef conjointly. ■ with . persons who have assisted them in prospecting, either by contributions or otherwise, although the said persons may ndt have been upon the ground prior to the working thereof." This clause is, without exception,, the most clumsy tinkering at legislation ever attempted outside a Victorian Mining Board. If a lawyer in want of practice had been among the delegates, and he were certain to be afterwards in cases arising out of disputes through the working of this clause, he could riot frame it better to suit his purpose. By this <f amendment,"*- if it Jbecomes" law, the butcher, the baker, the storekeeper or publican,; the shoemaker 1 or draper, or even the Chinese costermonger, who contributed his vegetables or " otherwise assisted " a man while prospecting would be entitled to a share in the fruits of his labor should- he be successfulrin firidiuga reef. What, limit can -be put nipon the intepretation of the phrase " assisting by contribution or otherwise." Would thej blacksmith who pointed a prdspecttor's i pick on "tick," or the small boy-who^ turned the handle' of the grindstone while he sharpened his axe riot be "assis'tirig." Again- this" daiise'wOuld work the other, way, and could be made the. vehicle. by J which any amount, of. abuse and monopoly might be perpetrated. A man, if, he discovered a reef, could mark out ground to the utmost limit the rules allowed, and hold it by bogus " assistants" whose conr tributions enabled him to continue" work^, till he made his discovery. It is indeed! no wonder the Wardens did not attempt further amendments on these fearfully and wonderfully improved regulations, but they knew better. They had a quiet revenge for the snubbing the Superintendent thought he was going to give them in letting the amendments alone, and they did so severely. At a future time I will go through others of these newly suggested rules, but I have pointed out at present sufficient to show the inconceivable stupidityfand. ignorance of the persons who have been guilty of the unparalleled presumption of imagining they were competent to make laws to suit the progress of our gold fields. , ; I am, &c, Old Red Sandstone. Reefton, March 14.