A STRIKDING PICTURE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 414, 1 March 1877, Page 3

A STRIKDING PICTURE.

The following letter was some time ago j published-in the ' Thames Evening Star.' i Residents upon the Otago Goldfields can 1 sympathise with their brethren at Thames, i SIR, —After giving the labor question 1 on this goldfield serious consideration, I beg to state my humble opinion, free from ' any other motive except a desire to see i prosperity return to the Thames district, i The only way I'can see to prevent a re- f currence of the present depression is for i the Government to decide at whatever 1 cost to open up the country between i Parawai and Ohinemuri for permanent 1 settlement, by at once starting to form < a turnpike road and bridging the creeks, : and as soon aa possible open up the land i for bona -fide settlers. My reasons for < opening up these waste tracks of land are, first, the direct means of providing em- 1 ployment to many families who are on '< the verge of starvation through being too < long put of work; so that in time it ' would break down cliquism and monopoly that are becoming rampant in this district, .'< It is well known that the supply < f labor on the Thames has been in excess of demand for some time back. The conse- ' quence is that employment for wages can only be obtained by some men through intrigue of the very worst description. This system of intrigue has grown into a wide spread cliquism, and I feel sorry to state, on fact, that it is supported and aided by even professors of religion of all ranks from ancient Catholicism down to modern brotherhoodism, and unless a man hails from one of these societies he finds a difficulty in obtaining work of any kind on wages. It is partly to remedy that favoritism that we want land and roads, we want more room for the laborer It is only by opening up the country we shall be able to break down .the present monopoly. I would refer your notice back to two advertisements printed in one paper—one was milk a distance from the township 3d per quart —another milk in the township Bd. If we take .vegetables, meat, butter, cheese, and fruit, we find we are subject to direct monopoly through not being able to deal with the producers of the above named articles of food. As a proof of the evils of such monopoly to this district, I have known flour and other articles of food which had been sent from Auckland in expectation of realising a fixed price—sent back again to Auckland rather than sell such goods on the Thames at Auckland prices. I have known large quantities of potatoes kept in store for weeks, and then carted on to the dunghill because the middleman would not retail them to consumers under a fixed price. I I haro knuwii laigt -quantities of rev milk to be given to pigs rather than sell such milk under eightpence per quart, and this at a time when many a little baby was crying for food. I ask candidly in what way can we remedy these matters while we are so confined between mountain and sea, and yet from our doorsteps we can see thousands of acres of virgin soil, but are not allowed to buy it through the effects of bad Government. We have hitherto lived and suffered under the Government of New Zealand a 9 a working population without grumbling, but suffering on the Thames has all but reached its limits; we have prayed and petitioned for some land, and all we can get is an evasive answer. So strong is the disgust against the Government that a large nu i.ber of men with families are corresponding with their friends in England and America urging them to send means to enable themselves and families to leave New Zealand. Yet if this land was opened it would keep these families together in this district. Many a man has left the Thames because he could not obtain form, a fixed homestead for his family. Sir Julius Vogel made the remark that we were only a nomadic kind of people—a migratorj people —and yet we have been patiently waiting for years on purpose to. secure a homestead for life in this district. Surely we have been well tested as to our desire to remain near this goldfield. We have

built a large town; filled it with people; and like the bees we are waiting for a swarming; we have built churches and chapels; we have our morning and evening newspapers: our institutions for secular attainments; our steamers and sailing vessels; and yet we are called by the late Premier of New Zealand a migratory people. Our desire is to migrate but a short distance from the township we have built. Our desire is to get land and roads near the place that has cost us eight years hard struggling to build up. One of our best doctors on the Thames once made this remark " That scores of our miners were walking about half dead, through the unhealthy nature of their employment, and did not know it-" It is on behalf of these pale-faced men who have helped to make fortunes for others that we ask for land, If any concession is to be made by the Government in finding land and roads for settlement, surely our miners are justly entitled to such concessions to enable them to make and enjoy a permanent homestead for their families. Many an honest miner and day laborer on the Thames Goldfield has become disheartened, owing to his hopes being blasted, through not being able to follow out that desire so faithfully pictured by Cowper :

A desire to iear an independent sbed, And give the lips -he loves unleavened bread. To skirt his home with harvest kindly sown, And'call the landscape,-all- his own, His children's heritage in prospeot long. Another argument in favor of opening the land is, to establish another branch of industry, so that agricultural pursuits may be added to mining, both as a means of labor and profit as well as providing the means against any sudden depression similar to the present. I feel confident that the future prosperity of this district chiefly depends on the permanent settlement of land between the centres of population. If this can be done, and we should .Be spared another five years, our suffrages will not require hawking in the Auckland market for a future representative to

open up the land, and instead of remaining as we are at present, a disjointed, grumbling community, we would become a strong, thriving constituency, worthy of being represented by our leading statesmen. Let our chief battle cry on the hustings be land and roads for the people. We have the name of being a people who have liberty ; as Britons, we have a glorious history to look back upon. and yet we appear to be living unconscious of it. Shall we dream ourselves away while the banner of corruption is taking the place of Britannia, and make no effort to free ourselves and children from an impending fate, which at present overhangs their destiny ? God forbid! We are already losing our liberty through faction and party feeling, through corrupt dealings in public and private societies. The flag we hoisted eight years ago is torn into threads by some of our once best and most respected citizens ; shall we be content to let it remain so ? God forbid ! Our past history to our children is already becoming a dead letter : except by names and deeds and dates of battles we are fast becoming a mere ghost—a mummy of a nation we are not worthy to own through our supineness. Shall we be content to remain in this state while our dark-skinned brother is advancing step-by-step ? God forbid! Let us be up and doing, and demand our legitimate rights—Land and Koads for the people of this district. T. Brighouse.