The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, AUGUST 19, 1863.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 32, 19 August 1863, Page 4

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, AUGUST 19, 1863.

When we undertook the task of advocating the Liberal interest in this Province, we little thought of the many enemies of the social problem we should have to encounter. We find, however, our path beset by hirelings of the non-progressive interest. -No sooner is one abuse exposed, and the public voice silenced and satisfied by its partial removal, than the enemy shows himself in another character, and is found to be more treacherous and dangerous in his new garb. Any one perusing our columns from our advent, and unacquainted with the many grievances the goldfields communities are constantly subjected to, would certainly designate the authors of the various articles which have appeared from time to time, a set of insipid growlers. But a careful analysis of our complainings from the beginning, will show our readers that our rulers have been doing their best to lead us to the sunken rock, on which we shall, if not carefully piloted, surely strike. We have endeavored, by every legitimate means in our power, to drag some of our legislators out of the mud in which they are so fond of travelling; but the moment after we extricate them, and place them on the straight road of progress, they deviate from it to the crooked and dirty path of retrogression, and revel in it till public opinion, in some distant locality, proclaims that they have made their appearance amongst them, and have besmeared them with some of their mire. Some of our first protests were, that the Police should have nothing to do with matters of finance, nor the construction of roads and bridges; and we pointed out the abhorrence of the British public to the Magisterial Bench being filled by men directly from the police force. How well the first two have progressed, under police supervision, for the public benefit, we point to the road from the Arrow to the Dunstan—constructed without culverts and drainage—and the public demonstrations which have arisen out of the famous Hill's toll monopoly. And, as to the latter, time will show the aim and end of the late appointment from the Police Department to the Judge's Bench. No branch of the public service should be watched with more care and jealousy than that of the Judicial Bench. Gentlemen of experience, local influence, and education should be a necessary, if not a "special qualification." Political spies, or police spies upon gentlemen's private transactions and their conversations at a dinnertable, should not be the qualification for a seat on the Magisterial Bench. Shantykeeping should not be a recommendation; neither should a dishonored acceptance of a head of department, held by an inferior, be the stepping-stone to an advance of salary of £2OO per annum. And yet we know, and have proof, of transactions which have lately taken place, that will not admit of an enquiry upon this matter without injuring some one. With regard to the recent appointment of Mr. Habocastlb from the Police Depart-

ment to that of Warden and Resident Magistrate at the Arrow, we have received several very able letters upon the matter, both for and against the appointment We have already stated our opinion as to the qualification necessary. Mr. Hardcastle having been some time a policeman in Victoria, and recently a packer at the Arrow, does not disqualify him in any way to the office of Judge, Warden, and Resident Magistrate in the Province o/Otago, New Zealand ! It has been said that Mr. Hardcastle received great injustice from the late Superintendent, which caused him to resign his appointment—that there was no step left but that of resignation ; and, we say, all honor to those who do not allow the weak to be bowed down by the strong, and can appreciate services rendered while in office and out of office, and reward them accordingly! Assuming that the Superintendent of the Province has a right to hand over the patronage of Government appointments—the construction of roads, and all matters of finance—the levying of tolls, &c, on the goldfields—to one or two of his chosen advisers, still the public interests generally should be consulted, and not trampled down by incapables, or coerced by unjust taxation, for the benefit of a few individuals to the loss of the many. And, for argument sake, admit that the Government itself has a right to impose tolls: it nevertheless behoves it to see that the impost is for the general good, Th« " Hill monopoly" of the tolls levied upon hard-working, poor diggers, and their bundles of firewood, show coercive measures and protective principles which shackle free-trade and liberty. What benefit does the community derive from the heavy tax imposed on it by the monopoly bestowed on Mr. Hill ? Public opiniou answers—None, in comparison to the tax levied. And public opinion, casting aside the promoters of self-interest, appearing in the form of sympathy, demands that this obstruction be speedily removed by its influence. It is essential to the permanent prosperity of a new country, and especially a gold-pro-ducing one, that its rulers be men possessed of progressive and practical ideas—not those paid to propagate errors, and then again paid for their partial removal, when it has been forced upon their egotistical ideas by pressure, or by a gradual order of circumstances, that the rules they have enforced, and put forth as complete, have rendered labor unproductive, and trade, as a consequence, hampered and trammelled. To make laws which have forced the laboring and producing element to a stand-still, and levy taxes upon that population for the simple purpose of revenue, is nothing more or less than the excrescence of a vicious policy; and it appears to us that some of our political schemers would rather " reign in Hell than serve in Heaven."