GOLDEIELDS SECRETARYSHIP.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 301, 4 December 1874, Page 3

GOLDEIELDS SECRETARYSHIP.

Me. .MacKellaii, the" G-ol'dfields Secretary, lately was 'so unfortunate as to 'Have, in the course of his public duties, to visit the Lakes district. Unfortunate only in this respect, that; - in spite of all his ability...and tact, the helpless position in which he is publicly placed was completely exposed. For the sake of throwing a sop to Cerberus, an ornamental office, which depends entirely upon its'name for its small utility, is kept up j . while the false creation furnishes an. excuse to .the real governors of the Province to altogether ignore tfie peuliar conditions under: which the Goldfields exist —or at any rate to neglect, ito . make themselves acquainted with those conditions. On the occasion of tlie visit we write of, -our contemporary, the ' Wakatip Mail,' - in reporting the proceedings at the meetings between the Executive Minister and. the various; private and public deputations, ..has (no doubt, very much to its. regret) to fill up three columns of its issue with miserable ignoran *e and twaddle. The first deputation, whose proceedings are reported, was a quartz mining one :

Mr. Roskruge stated the circumstances connected with his claim, the- Nugget andCornish Company's. Theclaim had only paid working expenses and cost of erecting ma-' chiriery. A*ll the works were preliminar3' in their nature. The company were obliged to hold two leases,, containing thirty-two acres of ground. They were working through the front lease to get access to the reef in the rear one. The rent of £2 10s. per acre pressed very heavily upon the company, and it.was a, ■ question with him whether to forego paying the men's wages,' or the rent' demanded from the company by the Government.

Mr. MacKeUar considered that the men should be paid under all circumstances. In cases of difficulty the Government had not pressed for the rent. Why had not an application been sent in through the Warden, asking for a remission of rent ? ' Mr. Roslcruge stated that that had been done; but he was told that it would not be allowed. . . . .

After a time this, was followed by an instruction :

In ,the meantime Mr. Roskruge had better: again send in a written application'for remission of rent, stating the circumstances under which the!claim for .such remission of rent was-sought for. The Government had no desire to press«hardly upon any lessee. Now, what > does this uriean ? Does M.r, MacKeUar mean to that the dele&atfe Government can override the £roldfields Act- tindcir'whicli its powers are -declared, and remit the rent i)i special cases^qnlv,.w-i tlie lease, can be duly executed and secured

without forfeiture or the risk of abandonment to the licensed dei'M ul t ing lessee? If so, the sooner it is generally known the better. \Ye are aware of an immense number of cases in which the rent of these mining leases presses most heavily on lessees, not only at Queenstown ; and, if Mr. MacKellar can shew: how in such cases so very desirable an end can bereached, we promise him we will not raise a question of equity as between miner and miner- However, with, due reverence, the whole suggestion appears to be an absurdity, and the Warden who was sneered at for not recommending against the law wan undoubtedly right. A lease can be abandoned in whole or in part; but the Act, following the' Victorian Statute, most decidedly lays down tha.t, for the part retained, the proportionate price per acre shall in no case be dispensed with. The regulation as to the amount of rentto be charged is undoubtedly framed by the Provincial Government; and the Goldfields Secretary, without any great stretch upon his energy and! abilities, might have informed the Queenstown miners what course he intended to take, in advising the Government to reduce, in every particular the exorbitant charges —-exactly double what they ought to be —levied to fatten the Provincial revenues. £1 per acre is the rent charge for leases in Victoria, and it is quite enough, too. At the Arrow Mr. Mackellar stated—" As to the hardship of having to pay £2 10a: per annum per acre for a lease, there were only a very few claims which did so, and those were in full work.'.' As a matter of fact, in 1873, in Otago,. these very few claims paid to Provincial revenues £9,218, or fully £IOOO more than is spent in the maintenance of all the Goldfields in the Province, while the* fees on withdrawala-of leases only amounted to £34 for the year. The next subject dealt with was prospecting:— •

Mr. MacKellar stated that the assistance given by the • Government to various prospecting movements had not been*j>roductive of benefit. There were no funds voted for the purpose.)- What was intended? . When did the Provincial Government give assistance "to various prospecting movements," whether productive of benefit or not ? ' Echo vainly answers : when ? A vote was passed by the Council the session before last, £SOO for prospecting deep leads, but the Government, on the advice of their geologist, refused to spend it. '?he Secretary was next sounded as to the probability of the Government subsidising a company's fund for prospecting

It had not been considered by the Government, and he was not prepared to give any expression of opinion upon the matter.

! Mr. Manders ventured to suggest -that: The GolcLfields had proved a paying interest to the Province, and deserved some recognition in return. "

Which evoked the following panegyric ' • • ' The Government -wove most anxious—no matter what they might see written, or hear stated to the contrary—to ; deal with Goldfield's interests in a liberal; spirit. This subject had-, however, come before him in so sudden a manner, that he could make no promises. He had noted-their wishes, and would lay their views before his colleagues. The snbject had not, to his knowledge, received any consideration from the Government. ' (We quite believe that.) After this tremendous amount of business,. so thorough;and exhaustive, had been got through, an adjournment todk- place for dinner. Afterwards, the same deputation attended,^and we have the following summary of what was said and done about positively.the most important subject which could be considered by any Provincial Government; collectively or individually: MIKING BOAKD. Same representatives. The establishment of a Board of this nature was mentioned, and a note made of the representation; but the subject was not, however, fully gone into. Following this. Mr. MacKellar made a note freely—a commendable practice, dating bn.ck to Captain Cuttle—upon disputed questions of Commonage, Municipal Reserves, &c., at the instigation of the Municipal deputation. Now, what -weight does Mr. MacKellar think it.is possible we can credit him with possessing in the Government if the following 'little paragraph is correct? The question was the erection of a, -gaol at Queehstown, which the meeting was informed, was being corresponded about between the two. Governments : —" The Provincial Government were quite willing to expend their share for the work. Nevertheless, lie thought if would be as toell jvr the Council to write to the-Provin-cial Secretary on th e '. matter?' The 'Municipal authorities-could have done that ; without consulting Mr. MacKellar. ; At last a definite' promise was extractedAs regarded the formation,;, of a road from Queenstown to Arthur's Point, and thence to the Arrow, he would endeavor to get Government to construct a good road right through—even though it might. be a narrow one." Other things were promised to.be enquired into j upon others, even the introduction of female immigrants, cold water was sprinkled. And this was all that could be got from a resident Goldfields Secretary, supposed to he responsible for, and to have charge of, the Goldfields of Otag-o—-that one little fledgling promise about the Arthur's Point road,' advanced in such j a,way that it can be easily retracted, and tlie offended gods appeased by the same plea as was. used by the young girl introduced to Mrs Gaxtpn as a"'.: suitable wjtnurse for' young Pisistratus —" Plea ie in urn,. * it was only a little- one " Whether' the Goldfields Secretary : . ship iy of aiiy value - or, in the'contrary, is a positive ..•injury o -the min r intcnV'i —i-s well north t'uUi.-c en•

quiry. We cannot congratulate the present Government on their arrangement of Executive influences. The only trace we have yet been able to detect of Mr. MacKellar's influence with the Provincial Secretary is in the rejection, without reason, of what the Goldfields Act encourages and concedes, upon petition (which was presented), and which has worked so advantageously in Victoria—a' Mining Board for the Province of Otago. No wonder that our contemporary, the 'Mail,' is disgusted with the farce played out in Queenstown, and writes :

To us, it seemed that the Provincial Goldfields Secretary had no power. . Either he was ■ excessively cautious,. and desired to guard himself from expressing definite opinions, or else—as he more than once said during the interviews that took place with him, that "he was not advised." Wehirdly understand this language. It savors more like that of a traveller to a commercial house not having full responsibility entrusted to him, or being badly instructed as to the wishes of his principals. If to this we add the traveller's own very apparent ignorance of the lines his house was supposed to deal in—unless, indeed, they are confined to self-complacent omniscience^—the real basework of the Pr ovincial comedy, so baneful in its results to mining in Otago, is pretty accurately depleted.