OKARITO AS IT IS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1555, 30 July 1873, Page 2

OKARITO AS IT IS.

[TO THE EDITOB;] : ' / - Sir— As your paper Has 'this widest'circulation in this. district,. l trust you will allow tne a space in it to substantiate the statements I made in my first letter. ."Pqcaaional,", under the. non^de plume of B: Brown, would' fain throw dust in the eyes of the : public by Endeavoring to .make it appear that" "Brown "had~taken lip 'the cudgel iritis Jdefehce, but' '""Occasional '• ..will.firid'l l^m^otJßb'. : .ea«ly"c|one "Brown" as" he, imagines; ' cura-Occasional "r accuses .me, , of i'iolding private .enmity Tagainst hiriu i Whia>l em* phatically deny. My sole .object-ids' to .show the public that the reports of " Occa-ji.9sal."-are not backed- up-rby-=personal' experience,; and are sm'erely hearsay reports, consequently, in many cases, -totally incorrect. How is it possible forainan to report correctly of, places that have never. had the imprint -of, his , .boot? " Brown -curri- Occasional " instances a pedlar having thrown aside his wares on account of .the good prospects: in the district. This is positively incorrect ; it was shear necessity that compelled this pedlar to give up peddling ; and, as far as his prospects in mining at present appear, the sum total is "bare tucker;" This I give with the authority of the pedlar; If mining in the Okarito district is such a lucrative .employment as "Occasional" would make folks believe, I cannot p'bssibly see how "Occasional" has had the fortitude'to resist so ".inviting aVmprsel,'' and that he did -not follow the example " of 'th§ ■" good peelar," and at pnce^ttirQ writhe humble .position .of wpp^-ahd^w^r^^y to 'what he chooses to designate 'astEe Benevolent Institution of' the district. In "Brown-cum-Occasionil's' r letter I find the following ; lines :— ," The leading men. have tried their utmost to prevent anyone coming to the.. district for fear of bringing competition in trade." Thuis really ;/ , uiigratefu} of y -'^Occasional" |to speak'thus of.his employers. As (< QcQa-= sional "challenges me' to ahow.wherejhig 'reports are incorrect,; l nowtake the opportunity of so doing.) "Occasional" re- " ports,:— "From the Waiho ; and Oamuru diggings the accounts are very satisfactory. Everyone, seemsito be making gbbd' wages, but the field is very limited owing to the .small, supply! of - water. V— Fide v Weekly 'Leader, ! 29th May. vjL Now, sir, there is but one party (three men) upthe Waiho,.and>this party have about averaged small wages since they commenced operations. On the • Oainaru there, are four parlies (sixteen, all -told), bringing in, small races, and none. pf\thesp parties apeslqicing to date; Wow, in the iiamerof truth, can . everyone seems to be making, good wages?"' i- ••- ■•'■• rri9 -'."-- . Sere is another sample of ' "'6cpasional's" hear-say reports :— " There are rumors afloat here that Robert Artljuer and parly have got good, gold in the vicinity^ of Creek, a^dttat, in. stead of their being prospeoting' for a quartz 1 reef, as they alleged they were, they have been quietly working away, not I wishing anyone to molest them;"— Fide Weekly Leader, sth June. ' : ; This report alone, I maintain, is enough to cause a rush, and if a rush did take place in the state the district is the misery caused through it may be better imagined than described.^ Now,' 'this party he speaks of are broken up ; three have left the; district, the others are cutting a track for the Road Board ; and after nearly eight months' toil and ; 'hard living, they have given up.prospecting in disgust Here follows " Occasional^" exposition -r-^^Mining operations navel* been n suspended for over a mpnth, owing tp We Race; Company hot befog able to

complete the necessary repairs to their flumes for want of sawn timber— a want which will not be supplied until the. steamer "arrives from Hokitika, bringing a circular saw for the saw-mill." — Vide Weekly Leader, July 3rd ; the report is dated June 25. Fancy nearly forty miners being kept idle now about seven weeks for the want of a circular saw from Hokitika, a want that could have been supplied by a packhorse for about LlO (packing). " Occasional^ " employers ought certainly to reward him with a leather medal for having thus far exposed their un-business-like transactions. The miners on the Five-Mile are of a more even temperament than are usually found on goldfields, or "Occasional" and his employers might have been left to console themselves at their own expense, perhaps over a fire made of the debris of their so-called Benevolent Institution. " Occasipnal's " motives in misreporting the district maybe summed up as follows : — Ist. To get a population, at all hazards, to support the Benevolent Institution. 2nd. Should he fail in getting a Euroropean population, Chinese to be introduced. 3rd. If the climate was not found to agree with Celestial constitutions, friendly Maoris will be tried, providing they leave their tomahawks in the North Island. 4th. As soon as the population shall be considered sufficient, the "truck system" shall be introduced, under most liberal rules \ in fact, so liberal that the use of money shall be entirely dispensed with, and under this happy consummation the Five-Mile will be considered an elysium. lam, &c, VIDETTE. Okarito, July 23, 1873.