THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 1870.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 65, 29 April 1870, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 1870.

On Tuesday, Apri] L 9, a most important decision was delivered in the Court-house by H. W. Robinson, Esq., E.M. A case had been brought by Mr. Packman, livery stable keeper, of this town, to recover nominal damage for injury done to his freehold property, in Earnstreet by tail water discharged from the tail-race of .Ge6rge Martin and Co., in Koach's Gully. The judgment of the Warden, which we printed in extenso in our last issue, is such as we from the first anticipated. That decision at once > affirms the principle that possessors of freeholds within Groldiields towns are henceforth to be protected from damage by tailings. This verdict is consistent, and in direct keeping with several judgments lately delivered in the Court of Mines, Victoria, all of which go to establish the principle that no man in the exercise of any privilege granted to him can be allowed to use that privilege to the injury of another. In one case, indeed, the judgment of the Court of Mines was in the following words : " Miners must so use their rights and " privileges as not to interfere with the " holders of private property." "We do hot imagine that Mr. Packman will make bad use of the judgment he has obtained to annoy or interfere with the workings of Martin and Company, or with those of any other of the various parties mining and sluicing in Roach's G-ully. The fact, however, has now become patent that the miners in Roach's Gully are hereafter to be held responsible for any damage which may occur through their -tailings to the owners of private property. The claims in this gully are numerous and valuable, and it has now become evident that these claims are held by the miners simply upon the sufferance and by the forbearance of the holders of town sections. A state of things such as the present cannot—must not—be allowed to continue. The Government have granted miners certain rights, and

are equally bound to protect them in the exercise of those rights as they are the freeholders in the possession of their purchased land. It will not suffice to leave matters as they are at present. A remedy must- be sought and found, and that speedily and without loss of time. We have said that we do not believe that Mr. Packman will make a bad use of the victory he has obtained, still it would be manifestly improper and unjust that the miner should be at the mercy of Mr. Packman, or any other man. Their rights must be their own—they must be clearly defined, and at the same time their posi tion must be made impregnable. Roach's Gully was a working long before there was either expectation or intention of establishing a township. These workings necessitated a vast expenditure of labor and money to con struct the head and tail races essential to carry on mining operations, and it certainly bears upon the face of it the mark of injustice that after so much labor and expense the miner should be compelled to give up his all, simply because the Government have thought fit to withdraw a certain portion of a Goldfield and declare it a township. ."We have said that a remedy must be found, and we repeat that assertion. That remedy is, in our opinion, in the hands of the miners themselves. They have suffered, and prospectively will suffer, from the late decision of the Resident Magistrate. Let them then rise as a man —not of this gully or. of that gully —of this place or of that place—but let one and all unite, call a public meeting ; state fully, fairly, and respectfully this great grievance, and call upon the Government to protect them. If the Government have sold land which has becomo liable to injury from the workings of the miners, then let them protect those to whom they have Bold, aiM whose money they have taken, but not allow the miner to be impeded or interfered with in the prosecution of his arduous, though perhaps fascinating calling. This the Government are bound to do, and this we feel sure they, will do if the matter be brought before them fairly, fully, and temperately. It. would be foreign to our purpose, on the present to express an opinion as to the best means to be adopted to obtain the end in view, viz., the redress of the existing grievance alike of miner and freeholder. Let the question be fully opened up, and when the Government admit, as they will be compelled to admit, their liability and responsibility, they will not be long in discovering a remedy. Let the watchward? of miner and freeholder be "Union," and we promise them a speedy and satisfactory solution of the present difficulty. •