DEATH OF THE GOLD MINING BILL.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 239, 3 October 1873, Page 6

DEATH OF THE GOLD MINING BILL.

In the House, Major Atkinson moved that the order of the day for the further consideration, "in Committee, of the Gold •Mmin- r Bill, be discharged. - f ' '• . ° Mr. Pyke seconded the motion.' •

! Mr. T. L. Shepherd was glad that an op- ' portunity was at last afforded him to express 'his views upon the Bill, and he trusted he would receive a patient hearing. A. amount of abuse and misrepresentation had been heaped upon his shoulders in the lobbies, because he supported the (fovemmsnt in this measure; but he hoped to .be able to show that the abuse undeserved. The opponents of the Bill affirmed that it was not i a goorl measure, and at the same time stated that the present law was not perfect. The Bill was prepared by one of the most eminent barristers in Otago, Mr. Haggitt, with the assistance of Mr. John M on at—a gentle--1 man who had had twenty years' experience of \ gold mining,, and was a practising "barrister on the tioldiields of Otago—and himself. He wa'j aware that the honorable member for Auckland City West had an utter contempt for all lawyers but hiimslf, an:} was of opinion that no person could frame a Bill as I well aa himself. He (Mr. Shepherd) did nob fsel such disrespect for the Bill because it. i had been prepared by the gentlemen he had napied; on the contrary, he considered ifc to j be a measure that would advance the minin;-' interests, and therefore well worthy the attention of the House. • It had received the general approval'of the miners in OfcagO, and ha-.l been reported upon in the moat favorable manner by six or seven Mining Associations, who had also* made many valuable suggestions, several of which had-been incorporated in the BIH. None of those Associations had raised an objection to the principle of the rtioastusa. in fact,- one ot-them, ia th& part ■of the Province from which the honorable for - Wakatipu came,' siipported' the principle of jfchs Bp], and yet the "honorable - He J d>eli^M' ; th9' honorably member waa endeavoring to qualify :

liimself- for the. position. of - Minister of Mines'; but if the honorable, member- had, served 'an apprenticeship in the House for three years he might claim' that position, bi.it ; certainly not after seven days' probation. The fact of the Bill-having- passed through the Goldiields Committee—consisting of si -;te=n members, three of whom were Siiperintendents—■with very few amsndments, should be a good proof -to tbe H 01133 that. the Kill had * been carefully framed. All previous 'Bills had been thrown out by that Committee afber two or three days' ejnsi deration. He had a list, prepared by the clerk of. the Goldiields Committee, of the number of amendments moved in the present: Bdl by the various members of the' Committee, with-the exception of himself, which he would read:--Mr.. . Meryyn-. 4; Mr. O'Conor, 9; Mr, Curtis, 7;. Mr. .-White* 3; Mr. ißradsha.w, 2;-: Mr.-Stew-ard, 1; Mr-. Gillies,:. 3; - Mr. Sheehan, -2; -Mr Tribe, 1. Most of theam-uidmentswere negatived; and yet the f-iolddelds members wera ..'lobbying and - against the Bill after it had b3en considered for three weeks, in Committee,, the'.sittings' CDnmsn-jiug ezih da/ at ten o'clock.. .What would the paople on the Uoldliblds say.of-tliis ? •They would say the sooner they got rid. of soiD.3 of theip representatives 'the better. It was (piite clear that they were hot competent to deal with a Golddelds Bill when it' was remitted to them. ■ After having -found scarcely any objection to tho Biirvvheh before; the Select Committee, they now -cami' down and said, Don't let ns' this Bill this* session; let-ns have it circulated, and corisidersd next session." It was not his own Bill; it was a Government measure; but, as' was his duty to do, seeing that r he wasa representative of a mining'constituency, h'e'had given his attention to the 'Bill,' feeling thkt it was one of very great importance,; and much required, since it consolidated ten statutes, scattered over seven or eight-Blue Books,besides two others dealing with the admiuistrai tion of the Wardens' Courts. . He had veiHv i few more remarks to make. It was said tha 1 i the' Opposition had no head, but it might also Ibe said that it had no iai 1; and he was ' "sure •jit had no conscience.: ' r; . ... - :

• Mr. ypsaker said that had nothing to" do, with, the question of •discharging-.the -Bill. : Mr. T. L. Shepherd .-found it very difficult to say all he wished, on the present motion, .and.trusted the Speaker- would give him as inueh latitude as possible. This Kill,. which was such a monster ol; iniquity,: according, to, the new brpona, had met with the approval of sd experienced a judge of mining legislation, and so old a member of -that House, as the, honorable-lnernber for 'Nelson City. . £Ts •jiiight icrnarL. that the drafters of the Bill, illmaking. use of the Victorian : Act of ISSS, ; - were .mdueneed b v the recoaunen lations of aMining Commission, elected in Ofcago, evidently thinking they could not do better than' to accept the clauses prepared ■in a Colony where the inhabitants had had so mach experience in mining matters, and whose Min* ing. Bill had stood a crucial-legal test forirfony years; for it must be remembered: that there was a bar in Melbourne far superior to the bar which existed in A uekland. M r." Speaker said the honorable member wo aid see that the bar at 'Melbourne had nothing, to do with the discharge of this Bill. .

Mr. T. L Shepherd: "Welly tKis ; Bill contained clauses taken froth" a "Bill which -'was. prepared by tlie Yietorian; ba,r. Herepeated that this Bill had Joeen carefully prepared. It had met with the generalsivgporb of the miners throughout Otago, and" had passed through a Committee of all the ttiinihg intelligence- which the House could manage to send to ib. He would 110b say what was-the amount of that intelligence", because that would req-airs tiniß to explain;- but the result was this Bill, which honorable members now wis bed sb ould not be : considered tli is session. In conclusion, he would point oat that no ono had directed attention to a single provision in the Bill that was bad. or faulty-, and not in the interests of the Goldfields. Mr. Pyke thought the House and the Government Av:ould only be taking a proper course -by saying at once that they would drop this Bill, and bring in another next scission, after the people affected had had time to consider it

Mr. Vogel said the Government-took the course which they thought most; likely to in r | sure the framin gof a good- Bill. . They ob-; tained the assistance of three gentlemen who; were supposed to have the largest possible' ; experience in ihs matter, and- the Bill, was prepared by them. When he said the largest possible experience, he certainly ornitted~the honorable gentleman who had last spoken.; His services were nob enlisted; perhaps it ' would have hean better for the fate of the Bill if they had been, and the' honorable member might have taken nior.?- interest in it. As far as ha (Mr. Vogel) was aware, the Bill m3t with approval in. Otago, and would be aoosptable to the mining. population of that Province. At the same; time,' hj;; did not'meau to say that it was not capable of improvement He believed ib had been very carefully thought-out, a,nd that it wag entirely ot a consolidating nature. But it might probably be found bhat it could be recast and put into a form more intelligible to the miners, aud yet embrace its present leading featuresHe hoped next year the Goldfields Committee would not consist entirely of Goldfields members, and also" that it' wbald bo considered by the House that it was, corn petent for members whoYlid nob comg' from Goldfields to and take an'interest in Goldiields matters. If 'that were the case,-; they might probably escape those differences of opinion which now scented to stand in the way of Goldnelds; legislation; He'thought it desirahlethat the ordef of the day should ba discharged for tho present session. '■

| Mr. .White thought he had a right to ask

whether the honorable member for Dunstai ..had-.given--, all his time during the recess to the framing of the;Bill for the benefit ot'the - c PPAbry tt and-had received no pay for it.' *He had .actually found that the honorable member ha 1 received large sum 3 from'-ths Provincial .treasury of Otago for -certain services rendered, which perhaps explained- 'to 'some extent his enthusiasm- ,in the-cause of the mmere. With regard ,to the present Bill, ..ha uuiertook to say. thai not a single memLer of the House desired to see it . passed into .law this session, except; the honorable member .for the Dunstan. Why so much time had been taken up with., it, • and ,why .such extraordi-nary-courses :had-been resorted to. to keep ifc ; on the.Order Paper, he was at a loss to conceive. Although; ithe. honorable ge.ntleman clid not, in his, opinion, exercise the slightest .upon-,-.an v. other member of the Hpase,; he nevertheless appear-ecl to""-'have a; powerful, influence. - over the ~ Minister.- of Justice. , J. L. ..Gillies.said,it,was ; h is intention to support the discharge of "the Bill, and he had only a, few remarks .to make with regard to what had fallen from the honorable member for th| Dunstan, and the honorable member for Wakatipu. Contrary opiuiors had , been expressed by those two honorable gentlemen as.to.the'manner in which this Bill !.would be received by the . miners' of Otago. Now he .thought there could be very little difficulty in arriving at a co?iclusion on that .question, for ; the Bill was submitted to the Provincial Council'of Otago at a late session, and considered by a Select Committee,- consisting 'of the Goldfields members of that Council. _ They receive;! a very large number of communications with reference to the' Bill from various Golddelds, all tending to this i one. point, namely,- to recommend the As-sembly-.to postpone the passing ofrfchis measure till another session, so thai? they mi*ht . .aave further consideration, being generally of j .opinion th it the ,Bi IL was mucli too complicated, and some-of its provision's of a r.very obnoxious- character.: .When the Council received the .report of the Goldfields Committee, .they -passed a resolution,.. which, was : tox'warded to the-Assembly, to the effect.that it .should be postponed. ; -Xhe honorable'member. for Jhinstan made a remark, the application.of which to the Bill he*failetj to see. He said the Opposition had no head, and that he did not think it had a tail. He would pay the Government this compliment;-it certainly had a at-had been very evident to himself - during the session, and "he did not doubt-it bad been so to-all honorable members; and. after the speech for -the honorable member for the Dunstan, he had a3 •little-' doubt 'that: the Government;had the other extremity. : . ■-•Mr.-Mervyn wished to state that, during the whole time the Bill was under consideration by the Goldfields Committee,-; not a single suggestion was received from any miliar or body of miners in the; Colony,- and it ;was; only when the Bill had passed the Committee that they received from the honorable member for the Dun3tan .suggestion - wh.-ich he said received from some mining associations.. He.quite agreed with the honor- | able member, for Wakatipu, that the Bill wag not, likelv, in its .present shape, to.meet with j.support from or the approbation of miners. He had received a number of private let't<er3 asking him to try an 1 prevent the' Bill be'commg law this session,; so that miners-could more fully- consider.; it, and it was--for: that reason he had acted as he had with respect to the Bill. - :.

. Mr. Macandrew would state, in answer, to the insiaiT.afciqns that had been tlirowu out against the honorable member for.' Ounstan with reference; to the aetioh he took ih frdmihg -the' -Bill, th dt' the h onor able • member had not bedn;paid by; the Goansil of Otag6 v and- it -wasinot in bended'to i-pay-ihim. The Bill was prepared, by the honorable membsr, and two gentlemen in- Otago, and.tlie latter would be paid. - very nifjch? regretted; the measure had come to such an .untimely end; and he thought it; sai l very little for the Hoaseithatforjfi.ve been attempting to legislate foivthe .QoldSeld?, .and- all attemots-had proved; 'bas. mountains in labor. If honorable; members expected to get a Bill that wo aid be satisfactory to every miner, in the Colony," they woilld nevei* get a Bill at all, and they, would meet n3X ! ; session with no letter them than .thai; -under.■consideration.. -He desire,cl to;put. the House right, ,with .respect to the allegation that-the honorable member for received any pecuniary consideration for preparing the Bill, for the honorable member had given his -time to it purely on public grounds. With some of those who male insinaabioa3 ? he thought it might possibly be a ! cass' of sour grinds.

:: Mr. Vogel thonght it fair to the honorable member for;Dunstan to say h. 3 had. nob. ;racsive:! any remuneration from the* General Government for his servioss.

. Motion agreed to, an A order of the day discharged.