THE FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1875.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 318, 2 April 1875, Page 2

THE FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1875.

In our article in last week's issue we remarked that it was to : be regretted that so few of Mr/ Wilson Gray's judgments in the District Court had been at all fully reported. This is a striking thought when "the work done in that Court during the past ten years is contemplated. Beyond the present immediate good of sound judgment between party and party, the talent and unrelaxirig energy displayed during the past ten years -promises to be literally wasted. The reports that lie scattered here and there in. the Goldfields papers of isolated judgments are valuable, but not nearly so much; so as if the ; arguments upon which these judgments were based had also "been published. Many indeed of these published reports are in so complete a setting that the arguments of weight adduced on either side become apparent on the face, of the judgment. However, it is only during the last few years that these few notes • can be said- to;have been permanently preserved.

If the District Court, over which Mr. Gray haspresided,had been merely a subordinate attachment to the Su-preme-Court, this want of. record" would be a small matter, for the judgments would be necessarily little more . than,' a. reflection of "thosef al-: ready decided. in the, Mr. &rayhadj.however,-;to, ( deal with a ; riew J< class ■' of cases in : ' : field, evolving a largely 1 increased amount of new judiciallaw. Clumsily framed "statutes' were hastily passed through.the Legislature dealing .specif ally with a new industry—- which threatened to interfere.with old established proprietary rights. • statutes had to be-welded to the common law, and the statutory law already in force in the Colony. Perhaps it would be truer, toisay judgments had to be arrived atwbich following thß[_establishedlaw laid down by precedent and statute, yet should breathe the spirit of the special legislation crudely introduced. "It is,: therefore, very evident how valuable, a record of I the judgments inust be out "ofmining disputes during the first "ten 1 of this : experimental legislative, graft. As a guideto the Grown law-" yers in:future statutes,. of those already- existing/:showing where the present-Acts 'are 'defective in power, An "spme" casp7 they are' ultra 'vires 1 , "a considerable; effort would^berenaicL,. But ( the chief value of such a complete digest of the ;New Zealand .mining law,would be the prevention" of repeated"litigation. A jnumber. _decisions jhave been arrived at —in many instances where there~MerQ.jtio_.efllci.ent icounsel engagnd on ' either" side," who jmi'ght be-expected ; depositaries ; or-storeh oußes-fwwtlttabla been arrived at Without a'considerable expenditure of time randr-iexpense in protracted enquiriesHßefoEe.two Courts, land, if publicly known, would stop litigiirit* ru :hi n % into expensive suits to defend (-1- ostack ri_, r !its that have been already He;u-]y I ii't dovrnas indefensible or imprpgr..ib!e.' , Whether if would bp possible to-ob-

tain now a record of Mr. Gray's judgments we do not know ; we-■' believe- it would be. If it not be objectionable to Mr. would easily be induced, upon proper representation, to have:aHi*9:bcitnients that are still obtainable revised and indexed, under such competent superintendence as be Himself might suggest. The benefit of such' a ! work 'would be so great that the' slight expense it would entail in the Government Printing -Office ought not to be considered;: We see the Government press teeming with monstrosities, purporting to be references, in themselves beyond all codification or analysis. Nothing would be so pleasant as to see among, and conspicuous above, these mountains of rubbish, a properly codified analysis of New Zealand Mining Law, as depicted in the judgments delivered from 1861 to 1874 by Mr. Wilson Gray.

Ist another column we reprint a memo" randuni of conditions, drawn up in the G-oldfields Office, and forwarded to the Arrow Municipal Council Upon these conditions the G-overnment offer to subsidise similar sums found by those desirous to prospect for .quartz reefs. The propriety-of G-overnment subsidising private prospecting has been:' much urged of late in the Lakes district—the ' Wakatip JMail' haying taken a prominent part in. urging some such scheme-as that r now devised by Mr. MacKellai*. to mining feft forts, by way of subsidy, is not -a new matter in New Zealand. Certainly it is new Proyihcially, but it will be remembered that a precedent has been established by the Colonial Grovernment which set on foot a scheme :to subsidise the construction of water race's. -This can be hardly reckoned as' a precedent, so satisfactory in its results as to be extended. Where it has failed the difficulties have arisen almost entirely • through the heavy expenses incurred in complying with the conditions considered necessary for the .protection of the Government. In remote districts the. expenses rendered necessary as -payment for inspection—before, progress payments could be authorised —• were alone sufficient to greatly" limit the advantages of the/ system. Parties who applied for Government aid, having naturally ..no cash, were driven to pay, repeatedly heavy suidb for.-inspection, or, if they could happily arrange it, had, as an alternative, to pay high per centages to the banks for temporary accommodation pending the arrival of duly authorised Government vouchers..;..;,

Looked at Provincially -goldmihing subsidies can ; be nothing else but a j payment pf conscience money. A big bully takes the last sixpence from the new boy, and peturns„aa a matter of grace, at the expiration of many days, a solitary farthings Conscience money is a convenient mocte by which defaulters obtain a. discount of 50 per cent, or more on their payments due. A B forwards £lO, due l for Income Tax, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to be in the ,• 'Times' columns as received, "when probably £SO is due. Such a system, adopted by the Province, is absurdr The best subsidy that can begiven-by the Goldfiel'ds Office to " Goldfields Prospecting: is a removal of all special taxation. A sixpence pf the duty would> in one year, be morethanwe venture to say the Province will ever.give, in subsidies to prospectors, s.li is .the veriest farce'ever; played to collect some £30,000. a-year in special Goldfields taxation, anid rebate a few huh-' dreds, under adamant/conditions, ostensibly to develop the very thing the taxation is crushing put: ■ That, ho w. is the position, and we, : 'thankful for small mercies, must, as in duty bound, throw our hats np, and cheer to the echo'the sudden liberality of Otagqf Provincialism. More prosaically still, turn to and see : whether, dufr of this concession,' a benefit is to be got—if only a,little one. : The Government' have afrmitte'd : a principle in ' 'favor of subsidy jin,publishing these concliijipns,, which"cannot"stopi"afc prpspe'ctiHg for' quarfcz.reefs.; C6riditions'that,will : . apply to reefsjwill equally apply"to. deep, leadsi; and; should be a/pplicable to as-. sist in the development of other ores—-■ copper, and the .like. The' Govern-' ment reserve,; unto themselves; ample control over works initiated pn subsidy; Outofthe four,managers two are'appointed by Government;-and-the Warden has power to'attend meetings ; at any time, and use, the| casti ; ng"ybte.' So that, under, clause 8, the claim, can., always'be sold-when the Government see fit'; '* Tis true that if theclaimwhensojd' has, not cbinmanded'' r pub]ic r favor j;; the party, jubsidised, would Tie able'to; buy it and the works , at price, but-this would not enable them —even if cohfi'dent' of success—fto-per-* severe.,.. Just wheia a little pluck' and; awkward in the extreme to' be jeyeti.ifit were done by the free will of the majority." "" ! This condition is so curiously onesided?, asjtoljsuggest a ".suspicion- that the Government themselves are thS miners availing^themselves ,of the local knowledge of practical men, and the money of the speculative. If it were not for. the tail of clause 8, which is, on the face of it,<liberal, this'idea might !be"p~u.shed~a little~further,-aa it~is-per-~ ■fectly clear the party-receiving a subsidy could not wind up or sell if the ! Government said iT'or A more serijoua. blot pn. the conditionsis that practical'reefers are" barred by- clause 4. The persons forming '• which presumably, would have, to be 'registered, must not touch the claim, nor must they derive auv saUry on account of the working: of the ground. (Would Chat previ'Ut t.'ioro. of a salary'on account of the v.'orkvncr offche.. company ?) Such a condition-

means that capitalist speculators—possibly successful reefers—who ;caip well afford to prospect, and,have the inducement of success—are to!' be assistedj while such men,as those; whose steady pluck developed Cromwell" and the Thames, are to driven to endless subterfuges, or worse still, into the arms of dummy agents. There is no reason to suppose that these conditions, although carefully compiled are to be taken as infallible. rH ther Government- will nest influence of the Groldfields Secretary to bear practical fruit, these conditions,can;.be modified and altered soas to be a benefit. As they are they seem to be'merely an appearance- of good will to the miners fated never to get beyond an ideal gift horse, under cover of which the Jpernicipus special taxation may be more pertinaciously retained.

v Kemembering, as we do, the bold avowal of the present head of the Government that the Groldfields received too much attention, and the like, if itwere not for the good faith and earnestness Mr. MacKellar has. so far shovvn in. his difficulfc and vague position, we should unhesitatingly condemn these conditions as being nothing more than a sample of claptraps and charlatanism which are so commonly ; attributed as the peculiar speciality, of. Goldfields agitators. As it is Ave take them as:an honest.effort to; better .an i industry the outcome of which is well worth close attention/ - ri ; - • .^

. Practically it will He a small rebates ment of special taxation, which "will increase proportionally to the advantage, taken of the Government offer. ■■ If, however, the conditions are maintained in the present cast-iron.'mould;' the system cannot become generally beneficial, and the few hundreds spent .will be flourished in our face partly as an old wife flourishes a kettle and tongs tp : charm a swarm of bees, and partly as an ample excuse for the retention of the present special taxation, amount: ing to £5 per head for each miner, in the Province.