LEASING THE FERRIES.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 31, 15 August 1863, Page 6

LEASING THE FERRIES.

(From the Witness.) Perhaps there has been no single subject in connection with the goldfields which has given rise to more discussion than the question of communication. The peculiar geographical character of the Province, the scattered position of the goldfields, and the numerous rapid torrents and streams which intersect the country, render the question of communication the most important of all. And yet no single subject has been so neglected, and treated in such a stupid manner. If the roads to the various goldfields had been of a better description, the escorts would not have fallen so much during the winter. But at present we have to refer to the latest and most glaring act of the "goose-killing" character which the Government have perpetrated. The have inflicted on the miners of the Molyneux and other rivers a grievance of the very grossest character. The late leasing to one contractor of the ferries on the Moly-

neux and Kawarau rivers, and the circumstances connected with that monopoly, remind one of the iniquitous system of " farming" the revenue which produced so much evil in England and France in olden time. For the consideration of a paltry £2OOO, the Government have granted a monopoly which at their own fixed scale of rates must yield the lucky contractor a profit of ten times that amount. Thus, it amounts to one of two things, either the Province is robbed of several thousands a year of revenue, or the diggers are unjustly deprived of the sum. Supposing the charges fixed by the Government to be fair and equitable, the Government ought to have either retained the management of the ferries in their own hands, and thus secured to the Province the revenue that might accrue, or have given facilities for a greater amount of competition amongst contractors, and thus obtained the highest market rate for the rental of the ferries. But the prices fixed are so utterly disproportionate to the service rendered, and so manifestly excessive as compared with the rates formerly charged by private ferrymen —that the miners have very properly taken up the subject and protested in a constitutional manner against so great and palpable an act of injustice. Instead of charging an exhorbitant rate for the use of dangerous punts, the Government ought to have constructed bridges—or at least have fixed the charge for crossing the ferries on the Dunstan and Kawarau at the same rate as the other ferries in the" Province. But, forsooth, because it is gold diggers who have to use them, they must be charged four times the scale adopted on the ferries on the other lines of road! The tax now attempted to be imposed will, if persisted in, drive hundreds of diggers away from the District, and thus for the paltry bonus given by a speculator the prosperity of the district and the development of its resources would be sacrificed If the Government are not afflicted with thorough blindness to the interests of the Province, they will not lose a moment's time in cancelling the objectionable contract; and will either bring down the rates to the same standard as adopted in other parts of the Province, or make them altogether free. It cannot be expected that a large community of resolute men will calmly submit to an unjust and excessive tax, for the benefit of a lucky contractor; and we are tolerably sure that, unless the Government take immediate steps to redress the grievance, they will be compelled to it by proceedings which timely attention may avert.