AUCKLAND.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 59, 17 February 1868, Page 44

AUCKLAND.

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]: 11 * : - 10th February, 1868.' • Our Provincial Council, which met.on the 28th November last, is still in session. The principal business they have bad;to-c6nsi-der is the financial state of theiproyince. On that question al! others have'budg, and the solution has not appeared. .An attempt at .retrenchment has been made, , but ft, has been uncertain and arbitrary. Considerable reductions have been made, but the task of reducing expenditure within, income appears almost hopeless in the face'of our falling revenue. - Many of the former officials have been.set free, to seekfor,pastures new ; but yet dignities have to be maintained. A Law Officer’s salary, and "'a Speaker’s ,salary ought not to appear on the estimates of the Province, and if ever there was reason to omit them, now is the time. Surely a gentleman, could be found-pos-sessing sufficient public spirit to be Speaker without salary. The Council and Executive have differed several times, each charging t-lie other with hindering the business - Possibly, both are partly in fault. At first'the Executive did not lay before the Council a clear statement of the position, and it appears probable that the reason for the omission i 9 comprised in one word—ignorance. But what an unsatisfactory state of affairs when those who undertake public duties are unable to understand the accounts which pass thropgh their hands! A committee of the Council, after enquiry, reported'a state- of affairs differing considerably from that given by the Govern inent. So doctors differ.

Probably some of our ex-officials will petition for compensation, &c. ; but seeing that officialism has eaten up, not only the present revenue, but a large sum out of the future—or, t o use a homely term, “ bled the Province to the point of death,”—they ought to be satiated, and never more taste the spoil.

Two of our coal Golds are being grad ually, though slowly, developed ; these are the Wangarei and Kawakawa fields.

The Hauraki gold-mines are sending up from 3,000 to 4,oooounces monthly, which ought ere long to relieve the pressure so long felt. I believe that over 4 000 miner’s rights have 1 been issued, so that the yield bears a very small proportion to the number engaged seeking it. The glowing accounts published here are most unreliable data—the being the aeooun’s of the arrival of so many ounces from Huni*B, Barry’s, Tookey’s, or other of the rich claims. I would venture a guess—that four-fifths of the gold exported has been got from ten claims, if not even from a lower number. Suppose 3,000 miners are working (and the “own ■correspoii' dents ” of the Auckland press would state a higher number), the yield has not yet reached one ounce, and a half per month for each, which, at £2 15s the ouncemore than the average yield—would only give a trifle over the month. 1 believe the average return, if the prpoer data were available, would prove a less sum than the above. Plenty of men are to be mer seeking employment, and some hundreds have worked various terms, from two to five months, whose returns are nil. So much for the past and present. To the future .we look hopefully forward. YV hen inachi ery is more plentiful, and the rates-for crushing reasonable, hundreds of tons of comparatively poor stuff may pay, for. the labour, which, “ at present rates.” would be a positive loss to those who ventured .to pay for carting and crushing, as has been the case in more than one instahee already Probably twenty machines might find Lull employment on the Earaka block. tJp to the sth inst., three only had operated, and one of them, a mere daudle, unable to crush a ton" daily 1 Three more are building, two of them about completed; and two or thfee more are talked about, so,may be commenced some day. As a sample’of the of the “ own correspondents;” about October last it was stated and printed that a tramway was in course of construction to Hunt’s claim, &c..whereas the said proposed tramway was actually com menced on the 25th of Janunry 1868, and ttll d I- believe as since been -stopped through a dispute with the holders; of the claim between Hunt’s and the beach. There is a great-deal of litigation in the VYarden s Lopi't. We . are 1 proverbially given to lawsuits, and certainly our miners are not likely- to improve our character on this head. The Warden has no sinecure; but hitherto he has scarcely displayed that capacity for grasping the-isspes raised that is so desirable in, his, positiop. In several instances the public interest haß been sacrificed to that-of individuals, ; especially oh questions of Tight of road. Although the land is private property (maori), yet the Government have, or ought to have, Dower “Jtd authority to reserve the most'available lines of roadway with consent of.‘the authorities,'fenced even built on, the only practically . available - route ; ; ~in’either case the public may eventually be. obliged to pay for damages when' recalling’privileges that ought never to have been granted.