OUR GOLDFIELDS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 101, 20 January 1871, Page 1 (Supplement)

OUR GOLDFIELDS.

Our Goldfields are now assuming a permanency and importance which renders it absolutely necessary that they should be placed under the control of a responsible member of the ExecutiveThis portion of the work of administra tion is, to say the best of it, at present "jobbed." Mr. Mouat, who no doubt thoroughly understands the subject, is constantly absent from Dunedin except during the session of the Council, and as a non-official member of the Government has his functions limited to his voice in the Provincial Cabinet. With all due deference to their general ability and undoubted business habits, Messrs. Eeid and Duncan are incapable of directing, or even of comprehending, the course of the multifarious and complicated subjects which are implicated in the management of our Gold fields ; question of policy, of ministerial agency, question involving matters of detail in. administration are constantly arising, and demand prompt and intelligent treatment. The very temper of the mining population is an item of consideration, and it may bo without hesitation asserted that to govern the Goldfields aright a man must know them and their inhabitants, and have an intimate personal knowledge of their resources and requirements. The present system has but one result—we have seen it now for years—the work of what should and must be a separate department is shunted off upon the shoulders of the Under-Secretary, who is overburdened with other work, and who quite naturally gives his first attention to what is nearest at hand, and ft oldfields matters come off second best. Every now and then there is a temporary vitality exhibited about the time of the session of the Council, or when infuriated deputations, headed by long- | vulTeriim; M.P.C.'s, arrive in town, and j t.-K-kle the Superintendent as to their j grievance. It is, we are given to unj derstand, a common complaint amongst i the mining community that the i resent i KuH'utive dlspl;iy the very is> ! ii.imiu-u of the Goldfields. joined, in I one or two of its members, with an j amount of conceit which prevents the acquirement of knowledge or the receiving of competent advire. Mr. Gillies made a tour last \ car through the mining districts, and certainly displayed in the Council during the following session the truth of the old adage about " going to Rome " and remaining' much the same as if he\i staid at home. When the new Council meets we have reason to believe that the action lately and now in the course of being taken respecting opening up land for settlement upon the Culdficlds, will display an amount of perverse obstinacy in resisting the evidence of facts, and of carelessness in making use of information in their power, that will at once clench the fate of the Heid Government, if there did uot exist graver charges of neglect and mal-ad-ministration. "Secretary for Land and Works " is a facetious title for the gentleman who gives official weight to the vagaries of Mr. J. T. Thomson, who would seem to be allowed to manipulate the votes of the Council at hits own sweet pleasure, consequently the roads and tracks on the Gttdfields, and especially on the upper "portion of them, are shamefully neglected—in many cases absolutely dangerous for traffic—without hardly a single exception, killing to horses. Of this an account will surely be demanded at the elections, and the real facts made known. Members of Council will not bear the blame which is not theirs ; for they have, year after year, fought hard to get the necessary sums voted, only to find, year after year, that they have not been expended, but that " the old man of the sea" has perched himself upon the Secretary's shoulder, and guided him in the direction of his pet harbor dredging scheme, or other equally useless expenditure in the neighborhood of Dunedin. In thus calling special attention to this subject, we would advert to the very gratifying fact of the steady increase of the escorts, and the rapid advance of agricultural settlement within the Goldfields, it being found impossible to set aside and survey land fast enough to meet the requirements of the applicants. The revenue must consequently be in the course of appreciable augmentation ; and it is high time that proper consideration be shown to the interest of those who add soi

much to the prosperity of the Province. The Goldfields Department under Mr. Pyke had, no doubt, its faults; but it was infinitely better than the present stop system, and should never have been interfered witfi, except so far as the substitution of a responsible for an official head. It must come to this, and the sooner the better; and wo trust that Mr. Macandrew, who must wen know the necessity, will make part of his electoral programme the appointment of a responsible Minister for the G-oldfields.-—' Evening Star.'