THE LYELL AND UPPER BULLER.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1804, 18 May 1874, Page 2

THE LYELL AND UPPER BULLER.

[from our own correspondent. J

The Licensing Committee under the new Act sat here on Friday last, and doalt with about some thirty applications. That the Act was moatunsuitableriGFT-the-gold-fields was most clearly demonstrated in more than- one instance. Two cases, particularly call for mention,- .namely, those of Mr : J&thes^Raiif aiid" MFMochF light. B.»th of these applicants occupy Government Reserves,"; which" they" have greatly improved, and ( they l were;: -alsp granted '* free licenses," on condition that they kept good accommodation for travellers. They 'have always cdmplied with the terms of this license,' which license bears the signature of the 1 Superintendent. Yes the Licensing Committee thought proper to.nmlct these gentlemen in the sum of Ll O:\and ; L5 respectively ; thus the Government through their acts have deliberately broken jfaith; with these men. Had any private individual been i guilty of i an act of the same kind it/would' 1 look very like obtaining money under-false', pretences. Men are induced to settle in out of the way places under a promise of certain assistance from Government. They spend the beat, portion. of {heir Kve3 in making a home in the in terior of the country; (in fact, properly speaking, they are. the real pioneers), and after they, have done so Government coolly steps in, breaks faith with them, aud imposes a heavy tax upon their industry. If the Government is so miserably poor that it cannot get oh without being dishonest it would be as well to give it best and make a fresh start. There is a way and a plain way to avoid all'this miserable mismanagement, , and any man not a natural born idiot would'sbon find out the propei: way. Let thejGpvernment charge a uniform rate of say L 5 for, country licenses under certain conditions; impose an extra shilling a gallon on brandy or aome other, article of general consumption, and pay a man to keep the ferries and keep them in good order and condition, and also pay men to properly do their work and look after the roads. . If the Nelson Provincial Government (if there is such a thing) were* really anxious to rush the country ahead they would lay their shoulders to the wheel and tackle these things in real earnest. As the Honorable Julius 'Ybgel / observed, if ; Uiinter bury men. . had Nelson, ' Nelson would have >beeri prosperous like Canterbury, it is a Godsend, in one sense,, that he Palmer rush has not turned out so tell as was expected, -or the Province of kelson would have been depopulated. *Ye have in the district a source of lasting veali.h,.,and yet the Government cannot itford to put a couple of men on a main r >ad to make it passable. > Our reefs^are fife and our district .is sound, yefc.by niserable mismanagement we are kept tlmost in a state of nature. . ..•'.'''mining. Little Wonder Machine. — I regret to s*y that an untoward accident happened <-.o the : machine The earth where the wheel is situated slipped and crushed in the side logging against the wheel, thereby putting a stop to all work for at least three weeks. The Maruia had crushed 230 tons of quartz, with an average of 4>>z 2dwt Bgr to the to.i, when the accident happened. The extra battery of five head of stampers is now in course of erection, so it is to be hoped that in the course of a month the whole battery of 10 stampers will te fairly under way. Many men have been thrown out of employment on the Alphn Range in consequence of the machine being stopped, as the paddocks of the various claims are full of quartz. ; : New Creek. — The reefs in thislbcality are drawing much attention, gold having been found all through the Maiden City (or prospecting claim). They are now putting in a tunnel on. a lower level to prove the value of the claim. ; . Tichborne, No. 1 North. — Payable gold having been found in this claim, a new tunnel has been started on a higher level to be able to work the claim to advantage.