TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 205, 31 January 1873, Page 6

TOPICS OF TALK.

Ofe paragraph in the report of the late Miners' Conference deserves much consideration, if alterations are to be made in the Goldfields Act and the Rules and Regulations:—" The Con- " ference are of opinion that all case s " arising under the heads of forfeit ure

" and protection can be better dealt " with by the Regulations than by " being embodied in the Act; but they " would desire tc record (their opin- " ion ?) that forfeiture, unless under "aggravated circumstances of non " compliance with the Act, should not "be resorted to." There can be no doubt that, by the Regulations, and probably by the Act, a right of forfeiture does attach in certain cases, though it may be a matter of doubt whether that right can be used by the Warden. However, practically so far this power of, cancellation has been assumed to be legal, and they Conference has very fairly represented mining opinion in condemning it/. As a * rule,. the parties guilty of a lapsus are the originators of a costly scheme ; and the law, as interpreted, gives the watchful speculator an opportunity to step in aud obtain'a right that has been made valuable by the expenditure of capital other than his own. It is far from improbable that an unscrupulous lawyer, of clear head and ability, might advise his equally unscrupulous client to take action—under the law—to impede, hamper, and entirely destroy nearly every important right held under the Warden's authority. Probably, as has been in- ' dicated from the Bench of the District Court, the old Act aad Regulations amended would have been better than attempts to frame new x\cts complete and entire. Take a case under the Regulations: Section 2, Regulation sii., says that the " cuttiug and for- " mation of a water race must becom- " menced within one calender month " from the issue of the license, and the " holder shall continue to cut the " same until completed." ■ By that it appears that an applicant, getting a grant for a line of race—say. twentyone miles—cutting one yard per day—■ could take a hundred years constructing his race, and preserve his rights inviolate. Suppose, again, a mor,e energetic man obtaining a similar application, and constructing the twentyone mile race in two years, at'ail expenditure of £15,000! If be, in the third year, by an error, allowed a month's enforced idleness to go by without using the race or applying for protection, lie—under section 11, Regulation xii.—-could have his rights declared forfeited. So that, as the law is shown under these two sections, the man who holds a valuable right and practically does riot use it is unattackable, while the energetic employer of labor and capital, by a simple error, stands to lose, at a week or two's notice, his whole capital. This is importing into a steady industry a gambling element that should at once be eradicated. Strict laws are necessary in regard to all matters of right. There is nothing whatever to show that these laws could not be respected if nheir breach was met by fine, and fine only. There is no reason in giving to parties • -—who, in most cases, have received no injury by the enjoyment of others of the right proposed to be forfeited—a valuable right, or parcel of rights that they had no idea they would ever obtain. Perhaps it might not be impracticable for the miners, through the machinery the Central Associati}ii offers, to retain an able Javvyer to watch their interests in the framing of the nr-w Goldfields Act of 1873. " We have not overlooked section 5 of Rule xxvi., but the protection it affords is very vague. Two-thirds of estimated value for compensation is a matter of opinion only.

Masteh HrMniRET wrote some letters to the ' Daily Times,' dealing with subjects that very few of his readers had any opportunity of accurately testing. Since then he has thrown his ideas into the form of a pamphlet, and last week we ventured to suggest that the republication of these papers would be the best plan for destroying the evanescent influence they had obtained. On receiving our usual exchange files, we were astonished

to see acknowledgments on allsides —in the laudatory style usually accorded to annual publications, &s.~ recommending the public to at once secure-copies of this very valuable contribution to Colin ial literature ; and all this was written about a work that, in out* opinion, is a most pernicious attempt on the part of a morbidly diseased brain to destroy the credit of a young, country, that is adjudged by all the rest of the world to be prosperous in the extreme. If Master Humphrey's statements were honest ones, they could very well be allowed to pass without notice ; but when find, as we do, page 10 entirely devoted to a statement as to a quarterly payment for £52,033 (which had already been paid the previous year by anticipation), which he chooses to hold the Colonv again, liable for, and in his revised balance-sheet expressly enters ih. we set a very fair gage by which to test the financial honesty of this modern Hercules. A paragraph on the next page is equally dishonest, for our author says—" Among the receipts we have £1,709 as proceeds of confiscated land, and on the other side, to set against thi*, we have £6,122 put down paid for 'management ;tnd survey of confiscated lands,' or rather more than three times what the lands realised." How charmingly plausible and how entirely unwarranted and untrue. We should be glad to know where the information came from that this -sum of £1,709 represented the whole proceeds of these lands. »The Colonial Treasurer, iii his Financial Statemeni for 1872, expected what was still lefV of these lands to-realise £13,053 ; and Mr. Gillies, the following month, while not so hopeful, at„anv rate expected that a sum of over £9,003 would be realised, to pnv off the claims of the Special Fund, and that a, balance sufficient to pay all expenses of* management, and all other claims, would accrue. So much for Master Humphrey.-' Several similar inaccuracies and false deductions we had scored in our copy that we have not space to go into. The undoubtedly best criterioivof our : position as a solvent-Colony is to be found in the London money market. The S!or;k Exchange is not so easily led by extraordinary delusions as to advance millions of money to a country on the verge of insolvency. One thing is certain, that the keen rivalry of parties in the House of Representatives will always prevent any great financial difficulty cropping:.up "-unknown- to the public, without the aid of anonymous writers.

Everybody has read something of the great falling off there was in the Colony oil the score of revenue received during 1871. The statistics of the Custom House are no bud criterion of a Colony's position, for Avhere trade is uniformly depressed it is obvious that orders must lie small. We find, then, that the reduction in this department amounted -to £31,017. However, by looking a little closer, we observe that in two sin gle items the reduction has been £33.03-3, and these two sources of revenue are spirits and beer. Here is a fact for our teetotal friends that they may fairly congratulate the country upon. The revenue "on tea increased £4,355, and the other principal sources of revenue that have not increased/have decreased, or remained stationary, solely because ot the increasing productiveness of the Colony itself, which, at any rate, is not a fact to be moaned over.

We insert fin advertisement in another column that really we are ashamed to do. It is from that energetic body the Central Miners' Association, and calls all miners' attention,to the Waste Lands Act, 1872. Moant Ida is content to let the miners in other districts fightvher battles at a considerable expenditure of labor and money, and she will not turn to help—no, not in the least degree. There is something peculiarly offensive in meanness of any description, and this negligent action on the part of the miners in this district is "mean'in the extreme. It would be so easy to forma District Associa-. tion, and the subscription of membership would be such a small one, that no hardship would be felt, and a cord of union would be attached to other

districts that would lead-to the general good. Assuming for a minute (what is most false), tnafc the resident miners of this district are so peculiarly constituted as to be incapable of working old story, that used to be said of the tradesmen till the Trade Association gave tiio statement the lie —that is 110 reason why pecuniary aid should be withheld from those who have nobly fought and still fight lor what are equally our interests. If the reason of this delay in uniting is caused by a shrinking felt by all individuals to be the first to take an initiative, why should iiot a round robin be circulated, eal.in.-; a meeting at oiiee, to form an Association if possible, but, it" not,, at least t6 express sympathy with the central bod v.