The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Saturday, Dec. 16, 1865.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 275, 16 December 1865, Page 2

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Saturday, Dec. 16, 1865.

Three goldfields that have contributed a very large amount to the revenue of Otago, and which promise to be yet of immense strength to the Province for years to come, have beOn singularly neglected and ill-treated from their first opening. We allude to the Nevis, Nokomai, and Skipper's goldfields. Mr Brodie has recently called attention to the case of the Nokomai in the Council, and Ilis Honor the Superintendent has seen for himself at Skipper's. The reason for this neglect is not wrapped up in mystery. They are each of them productive and self-sustain-iug fields, but they have the misfortune to be out of the way, and so, to some extent, are isolated from the greater centres. No eclat can attach to the faithful mismanagement of them by the Goldfields Department. Any small concession to oft-repeated, but almost ignored, requests could not easily be blazoned forth and acknowledged in public with due gratitude. There is no notoriety of a pleas, ing nature attached therefore to the management of these out-of the-way places. They are treated in some such manner as the selfsufficient connoisseur of gems often treats a rough but rich gem that falls in his way, by throwing it aside as comparatively worthless without staying to examine into its better and hidden qualities. A pang may seize the connoisseur when he finds out his mistake, and make him more wise for the future, but we have faint hopes of any such change ever taking place in the Goldfields Department, for daily experience only leads to a greater show of obtuseuess and a closer study of how not to do it.

A report that we publish in another column of a meeting held at the Nevis shows that the miners there have been goaded into asserting their claims from the public platform, Jor what has been asked for over and over again at the Nokomai, and other districts similarly situated—more effective mining laws. The language used may seem strong and highly seasoned, but it must be recollected that for more than twelvemonths they have been endeavoring to obtain an increased extent of claims. More than once their views have been urged in our columns, but all to no purpose. It is hard to say whethei any greater success will attend the present de. monstration. It would have been perhaps wiser to have sought a visit from the head of the Goldfields Department and toadied and feted him with public dinners, &cad naseum. We are, however, pleased to see that the miners have chosen a better part and boldly expressed their opinions. Ihe picture they so graphically present is one well worth studying, and they rest their claims upon very high grounds. A body of men who show a resolute front and protest against being turned into " roving vagabonds," by unjust laws, should receive the hearty support of all earnest and good men It is not a struggle with the elements in a rigorous climate that they complain of, nor is it the difficulties of wet ground that dismay them, but they want to become industrious residents, carrying out large works to permanently settle down, to live a somewhat human life, and they clearly show the laws* will not allow them the opportunity of doing so. We very correctly used in the first portion of this article the word "goaded." It best, we should think, describes the canker, care, and anxiety the population of the Nevis must endure. If such a state of affairs is permitted to last, how can we expect the goldfields of Otago to become productive or attractive, or how can the social condition of the miner be advanced ? We claim the most earnest attention to this appeal from the Nevis; it is a manly one, and to use a favorite phrase at present current in I New Zealand, a truly self-reliant one. It i*

one that may create pain, and our readers may probably be surprised to find such a state of affairs possible, but that is only a greater reason why redress should be promptly afforded.