SETTLEMENT AND MINING.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 417, 5 April 1877, Page 3

SETTLEMENT AND MINING.

(To the Editor .of the ' Arrow Observer.')' Sia, —the two leading industries which bear the most direct influence on the prosperity of the Lake County have of late been again prominently before the public and the Government, without leadiug to any more satisfactory result than has been the case on former occasions. In spite of the many difficulties - cropping up every time these industries come in contact a remedy can easily be suggested, which if applied would lead to an amicable and satisfactory solution. At present many acres of auriferous ground are being locked, perhaps for ever, to the miner, which might have been reserved if proper steps were taken by the Government in time. Under the present mode of proceeding the whole onus of proving any land auriferous, with a view to its reservation, rests with the miners, and it does not matter how many times the same piece of ground has proved auriferous at the sole expense of the miner, he has to go to the same trouble and loss of time, upon every occasion anybody thinks fit to apply for land already refused on account of its auriferous character. Next let us look at the evidence and the manner in which it is produced before the adjudicating Warden. Miners objecting' furnish evidence gathered from a knowledge of many years of practical expsrience on the one side; a mining surveyor on the other side inaHs an offhand s:atement, that there is'no mining going or on the land and that there is never liicey to be any. Upon such like evidence, applications ot "200 acres, are either refused or granted. Having frequently appeared as an uhpecier

to applications for agricultural ieaßes, I havfe generally preferred, when not successful, to consider myself hooted, than ttx re r fleet in any way on the bolaness "with .which applications;" wfere"granted;" ). The position of the miners i 3 -yet rendered more odious by 'th'e action of the Government. .Li the first' place the Go.yeljinumt forces the miners into the position of objectors, on whom all the odium inherent to such-characters natually falls, engendering animosity and ~ ill-feeling between the miners and agriculturists, and then, when the miners appeal to the Government for assistance or redress, they are either, totally ignored or worried by a course of cireumlocutior, and red-tape?sm, beyond the endurance of ordinary mortals. • '' " - :

The remedy to remove all annoyances is a very simple one, the first.step to which is now in course of progress on the Crown Terrace. It is the siiWeyirag and setting apart all auriferous, and likely auriferous, land, and bring these, blocks under the conditions drawn up by the' _local Miners* Association, which you Mr. Editor, published a few issues ago.' For the sake of clearness I give in epitome the spirit of -these conditions. / It.is as : follows-That free i entry be reserved to the miner to prospect; that if any ground is wanted for mining purposes the miner entering to pay compensation for damages done to crops and fences, that the miner have the right to cut water-races through such' land" without compensation. Under such conditions all the land on the goldfields may be occupied and cultivated, and. yet the miner need not be debarred from mining. It would also be advisable, that land on auriferous blocks be not allowed to be sold, but let on ari easy rental, say, sixpence per acre per annum. .Such.a planhas been in existence in California since the early days of the diggings, and worked vyell, and there is no reason why it should ik>t also answer here. There is so much more to- be said on this subject, that I beg leave to avail myself again of your kind indulgence upon a future occasion.—l am &c., Sagitta.