THE GOLD RETURNS. [From the "Sydney Morning Herald," November 27.)

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 597, 3 January 1852, Page 3

THE GOLD RETURNS. [From the "Sydney Morning Herald," November 27.)

Oi" tlie fiist day of the assembling of tlie Legislative Council, Mi. Martin gave a notice of motion for a return in connexion with the discoveiy of gold, and when the motion was made, 9ome amendments woie added by Mr. Ilolroyd, foi the purpose of obtaining infoimation more in detail than Mr. IMai tin's motion inquired. The Colonial Seciotary, in anticipation of the motion, had provided himself with some data which he then furnished to the House, and raised no objection to laying before the Council all the information asked for in the motion and amendments. Thp son i cos horn whence I the information was procurable were various ; and the Government having collected it, the return was cornplated, laid upon the table on the 12th instant, and ordered to bo piinted. This document, affording as it does so mch valuable and interesting information, we shall discuss set uitim. The address .iskodfoi a return, first, of •' thenumberof licenses to dig for gold issued m each month since the discovery of gold in tins colony at Summerhill, in May last, specifying the places respectively where such licenses have been issued, and the numbei of licenses issued at each of Mich places." Now fhe return to this bungs the issue of licenses down to theSlbt of October, and we must confess wo me suipiised and disappointed with the result, — expecting that the return would have shown a much larger number. The total licenses aie 12,18G, of which thero were issued at — Oplnr „ 2,091 Tui on 8,637 Meroo River and Louisa Creek 1,009 Abercrombie River 41 Aialuen - 405 12,186 The return does not embrace any estimate of the supposed population at any of the mining distncts, but from the numbers who were attracted to the Turon on the first discovery of gold there in June or July, increasing as they did in the course of a couple of mouths to a population estimated at from 10,000 to 12,000 persons, we should natuially have expected that a much larger number of licences would have been issued at the Turon. Even talcing the population at the lower estimate, increasing as it did from the success at those mines, and decreasing- somewhat till the end of October, from the miners leaving to go sheaung, to attend to their cropa, or to emigrate to other diggings, wo cannot help arriving at the conclusion that tho present system of collecting licence fees admits of fraud being practised on the Government, and operates unjustly to the honest digger. If the estimate of the population be correct, it is .self-evident that n much larger number of licenses should have been issued, and either that the present system is bud, or that flagrant negligence exists in not exacling^licence fees in all cases, and so putting all diggeis on the same footing. Secondly, we have furnished '' the number of Commissioners tor tho gold distnctt. appointed since such discovery — their names, the dates of their appointments, and the salaries paid to each, and where stationed respectively." The annual cobt of the present btaff, consisting of the Commissioner, the Assistant Commissioners, the Clerics to tho Assistant Corami&sioneis (for each Assistant Comruisfciioiier h;>& his Clerk), the two Cominissionors of (Jiown Lands, Mr. Hargiaves and the Rev. W. B. Claike, the Serjeants and troopers, (for each Assistant Commissioner has a guard of honour of one seijeant and fen troopeia), and ceitain allowances, is £Vj6o 6s. 3d. And with such a staff of thiifj-one peisons (excluding Mr. Ilaigiavcs and the Rev. W. 13. Clarke, the prospectors,) there is a sufficient body of men at present for all practicable pm poses to provpnt fraud being practised on tho Government. There is one circumstance, however, which we must notice here. Several of the Assistant Commissioners are young, vc-iy young men, and appear to have been selected by the ) Government without considering how hltlo contiol emancipists fiom boyhood have over diggers of matuie age, and if a want of confidence exists between tbe miners and tho Assistant ComvnissioneiP, and wo have been given to understand that it does, it can only be attributable to the Goreinment having given some of the appointments to beardless youths who wot e unable to e.\etcise proper control. But, if we are rightly mfoimed, the Government have acted in one instance in direct violation of their own orders. A pioclaniation was issued some time ago, that any Government. officer rcbignmg should be disqualified from re-employment. We would ask, Did not Mr. William Johnson, formerly Clerk of the Bench at Binnlong, send in his resignation fur the purpose of following the occupation of a miner'! We would ask if, when the Government detei mined to appoint additional Assistant Commissioners, Mr. Johnson did not receive a hint that if he applied to withdraw his lesignation, his application would be gi anted, and he would be appointed an As- | sistant Commissioner' A\id lastly, we would ask if I Mr. Johnson did not withdraw his resignation, and un- < mediately aftei leceive his appointment? It we are conect in what we aie stating, we can only lemarkthat ' the Government acted in violation of itb own regula J turns, though they may have appointed a gentleman m this instance qualified for the duties, i Thiidly, wehavea return of the number ofadditional i pchce employed since buch discovery in the gold dis- | tacts, including those employed in escoiting gold to

specifying also llie daily piy paid to the mounted and foot the metiopolis, and the cost of lLoir mamteumce, • police respectively," which shows fi charge on account ; of this item to Ihe 30th of September nf £ i,l )b l^s. 9d, j Fourthly, we come to a irtura much moie gratifvmg , viz , " The revenue derived hy the Government from j the gold fields since their discovery, specifying the i revenue from each gold district, and the amount paid by the Government m relation to such gold fields, specifying the several items of expenditure;" and whilst the lot.il revenue for l.conses and conveyance of gold credited by the Colonial Treasurer from the 21th July to 31st Octobpt, is £1 9,563 Ba. Bd, the total expenditure, [including £2boo j emitted to the Colonial Agent Geneial to purchase Arm 1 ! and epiupinents, and £ r )0 for the purchase of troy weights during the same period] is £9361 12s. ml.r nl. ; n revenue iaijjc, consirJert ing the time within which it was collected, but which 1 might have been augmented if greater vigilance had been exercised by the local authorities. Undm the fifth head " the quantity of gold the produce of this colony exported since such discovery," we hive 67,151 ozs. 18 dwts. 16 gis., valued at £214,8i56 exported to the Jl&t of October, a quantity winch has been increased to the Oth of the piesent month to £3129,7073 l 29,7o7 l(>s, 3d., including the gold expoitod by the l'hoßiiician and other vebbels, since the return und^r this head was completed. Under the sixth head, tbo pl,ine3 wheie aokl lm been discovered ate enumerated, whilst under die seventh, we have " the regulations made b\ the Government since the discovpry respecting the gold fields and the instructions to the Cold Commissioners." Thu former have already been published, pnd aiefamilnr to our rea.lers, the latter foim the basis ior the proceedings of the Commissioner and his assistants. It will j be remembered that the license fee was fixed by the Government on the '23icl of May, at thirty shillings a month ; subsequently, on the 7th of Ootobdi, ihe Government issued additional regulations, in which, amongst other things, il was provided that " per&ons found woilung on giound without having previously paid the license-foe to the pioper officer, should pny double the amount of such license." That part of tho instructions to the Commissioner, dated the 2.'Jrd of May, which relates to licenses, is as fellows, " Wiin respect to such persons as shall rel'use to pay the moderate fee demanded by the Government-, you will, T doubt not, act with vigom and doteimina'ion, remembering that the very object of your being 'u implied v. iti an efficient force is to enable you to cause tLe Government leg illations to be invaiiably respected, and for this purpose his Excellency the Governor has been pleaoeJ, by the accompanying document, to give }ou full authority to lernove all unlicensed persons." The^e instructions, issued as a make shift, and in the absence of the sitting of the Council, were fair and leasoiiablc, but it will be seen that tho punishment of obstinate diggers refusing to take out licenses was limited to re- j moving them off the ground. Under what autboi'ily i then was ciadle smashing introduced? The nis'nictuns ' give no such power to the Commissioner oi;'ii= A°si=t- I ants, and looking at it iv a le«jal point ot \ tow. tho law is decidedly against such acts hong legalised on their pait. But we should like to know how the single license is to be enfoiccd, or the penalty of double the amount of the license is to be exacted? A civil lotion may ho agaiiibt a diggei, whoivfused to pay tho license but the Government cannot by theii regulations have the evafio'i of lioenhe sum gorily disposed of before a magistrate. The regulations invest the Commistionois with powers without the means of exeici.-wng them — nay, the} r are in fact a dead lettar. The Government must be aware of the futility of thoir regulations, and yet though the Council has been sitting five weeks they have taken no means to provide by Legislative enactment a remedy for tho Crown when deirnuded by the dishonest minor. They have brought in v Bill to protect gum-tiees and scrub on the Sandlulls,uear Sydney, whilst they have remained silent on the subject of enforcing a proper and fair revenue fiom the gold fields of the colony. The last item furnished in the return shows a balance of j£4-68 7s. 4d. in favour of tlis Government fo tlie 31st October, arising out of the transport of gold from Sofala and Ophir to Sydney.

An important incident regarding the celebrated ' Lock controversy' has taken place. For some time past it has been well known that Mr. Ilobbs, an American exhibitor of locks, has upon nioie than one occasion hinted at the possibility of opening, without keys, those locks which had been considoiedas possessing the gidit desideratum of peifect security. In order to put the matter to a test, a number of gentlemen were invited to bo present at 34, Great Georgo-street, Westminster, to meet Mr. Hobbs, for the purpose of affording him an opportunity of operating upon a lock which some months since was placed on the door of one of the vaults of tho State Paper Office. The lock bavins? been examined and found to be fairly locked, Mr. Ilobbs produced fiotn his waistcoat pocket two or three sin all and simple-looking tools —a description of which, for obvious reasons, we forbear to give—and proceeded to work. Within twenty-five minutes fiom the time of commencing', the bolt of the lock flew back, and the door was opened. It was then suggested by one of the gentlemen present that Mr. Ilobbs should turn the bolt back again, and lock the door; it being a ''detectoi" lock, it was con&ideied that he would be anable to accomplish this feat. In less than ten minutes, however, the door was again locked —no injury whatever was done to the intenoi of the lock—and no tiaces weie to be seen of its having been picked. The lock in question bore the stamp of " Chubb s New Patent." We understand that a committee, consisting of Mr. John Rennie, Professor Cowper, and Dr. Black, has been appointed for tho purpose of making arrangements for j allowing Mr. Hobbs to try his skill upon the mys- j terious lock exhibited in Mr. Lramah's window—who- j ever cm succeed in opening which will leceivethe sum of two hundred pounds. The lock is fo be enclosed j between two boards, sealed by the coiuinltev, and no i thing but the hole for the key is to be exposed to view, and thirty days is to be the period allowed for opening it. The expeiiment is looked for iv aid to with considerable intpiesl by all persons connected with the trade. We may add, that Mr. tiobbs exhibits a lock, and offers a reward of two hundied pounds to any one poison who can pick it or ibim a false key which will open it, after examining the lock and key ioi any period I they may please.

■HIE CITY Or MANCHESTER STEAMER. The Banner of Uhler thus notices the arrival in tho port of Belfast of this magnificent steamer :— ''I ho ainvol of one of the ocean steamers at this port is an event of no ordinary occurience or significance. It indicates at once the growing commercial impoitance of the town, the en lei pi ise of Us merchants, and the capacities of its haibour. Only a few years have passed since it was regarded as a most extraordinary feature in connection with this port that the Dunifnesshiie, cauyieig about 1,400 tons of timber should have boon able to sail up Dunbai's Dock without unloading any pait of her cargo; today our fellow-townsmen aipable to congratulata themselves that the City of Minchester, whose e&iimab d tonnage is 2,lti > tons, and which draws about VI feet watei, h.ifely mooted at our quays, and as safely left our baibour. In 1844, lJelf.ist"numbeied, as the property of her merchants, eight sioiimeis, the aggrgato amount of whose tonnage was only 1,154, in 1851, one establishment in the same flourishing town claims a 1 Us property a single steamereiiqual to them all in the extent ot us tonnage. '1 hose aie gratifying fact 1-, and, weie it desnable, they might bo enldiged upon."

CAMmUDGE MILITARY AsYLCJM IN MIIIOUY 01 HIS Royal Higiinlss the lati: Dukl 01 Cambiudge. — A Public Dinner m aid of this Institution wus bold on Friday, at the London Tavern, H being tho fiist festival. The Marquis of Londondeny, G.C.13., presided. Tha usual lo} r al toasts having been drunk, tuo Chairman proposed t( The Memory of His ".oyal Highness the lato Duke of Cambridge," which was duinlc in solemn silence. The noble Maiquis then, pioposed the toast oi the evening-, " Piospenty to the Cambridge Military Asylum,"' and stated that tho chanty which they had assembled to assist was oiigiaated in the course of tho previous year by a number oi his late Royal Ilighne&s's personal friends, who proposed to erect to his memory a monument in consonance with the beneficent objects to which he had devoted so much of his time and energies. Alter much dehbeiation, they had come to the conclusion that &uch a chanty, having- ior its object the support of tho soldier's widow, would -omtiluto a mcmoual not only congenial with the thaiaclei of the Duke, hut serve as a guide and example to all who wore desirous of benofitung mankind. Fot the accomplishment of the chief object in view, namely, the erection of'almshouses, theie was now in the hands of tlio Committee a sum of £2700, and he believed that the cost of their construction would not exceed £3000. Hating expips&ed a hope that the benefits of the Asylum mi»ht boultimately extended to orphans, the noble Chairman concluded by an earnest appeal to the friends of the chanty to laise the few hundred pounds which weie still necessary to render it piactically useful. Several other toasts were drunk, and tho Secretary having announced the receipt of a considerable amount of subsciipUons, the company separated.