ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1266, 28 April 1880, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

TO THE EDITOR. OF THE OAMARTX MAIL. , Sir,—Letters have recently appeared in „ the Otago Witness from the pens of e •' Sesyn Adams" and "A. G. Nichol" on r the subject of "The future of goldmining in Otago" that may well bear further remarks, and, as the paper referred to frequently does me the honor to " reprint from your columns such portions as treat specially of mining matters, my _ object will perhaps be evert better attained j by publication in the Oamaru Mail than 3 by writing direct to the Witness, espei cially as I am by no means sure that my j letter would be inserted. No one having j any knowledge of, mining matters, or j malting any pretension to an acquaintance 3 with what is necessary or desirable for its I greater encouragement and further de--3 velopment, will disagree, with the writers 1 referred to in their opinion that Mining 3 Boards should be established for the twor fold purpose of framing - bye-laws and 3 regulations under the provisions of the 3 Miners' Act, and to act as a representative ' body whose recommendations to the Government would have weight and influence, ' though; my opinion is that such a de- '' sideratUm is far from being all that is necessary to place the mining industry on a footing that its importance to the Government, the country, and the labouring classes (especially to the 3 unemployed portion of them) demand. 3 I am convinced, after much experience in 3 goldfields' agitations, petitions relating to both local and general grievances, and B correspondence with ministers on matters j vitally important to gold mining, that there ever has been and still is an almost 3 "total want of sympathy with the miner s and his industry. For instance, when B Mr. Macandrew waa on his election tour s (Mr. Keid being his opponent) to gain e goldfields votes he suggested, or promised, s a mining. conference of delegates to be e elected by the miners throughout the y province, whose duty it should be to make I suggestions for the improvement or amend- •, ineht of the Act relating to gold mining, p and frame regulations thereunder for the _ better government of the goldfields, as s well as to improve the administration of j the law by the several wardens. I had s the honor to be a member of that oomtniss sion. I was convinced then, and have s since had no cause to change my opinion, e that the whole affair was a sell designed a from the first to gain popularity andfurnish . a lever to lift the originator to a position he wished to occupy. Though a few of n the less important of their reco'mmendat tions Were afterwards adopted and t embodied in: acts passed subsequently, s the main portion, and that most important to the interests of gold "miners, was q wholly ignored, the report (for it was e printed) became a dead letter, and golde fields legislation, much as it was admitted e to be needed, was crowded out of the £ House until six years afterwards. Whilst y the Provincial Government existed, the ■ Qtago Central Mining Association, as the n outcome of a Conference held at Clyde in r 1874, took steps to comply , with the ridiculous provisions in the Goldfields f Act, .1866, to obtain the concession of a y Mining Board for the Provinoe of Otago, a rightly considering than, that j whilst the Mining Associations held a sort of permissive existence, recognised neither by Q the Government nor the Legislature, they (j came next to a nonentity. The provision it refers to required 500 signatures of v miners whose rights should either be three e months old or renewals. Under _the e circumstances this was a work of no little f difficulty, nevertheless it was accoms plished, and the memorial presented, I p believe, by Mr. de Lautour, member for r Mount Ida. It lay on the table, and the „ question was afterwards asked if the \ Provinoial Government would recommend the General Government to. accede to the prayer of the petition, The Secretary for the Goldfields (Mr. Bastings, if my memory serves me), replied that it" would not be recommended, 0 as his Government considered it (the s Mining Board) unnecessary. Now, o- though the specified number of signatures 3 requisite to bring the matter under the e notice of the Governor has been Qxoluded from the Miners Act of 1877, the same j uncertainty prevails as to the result of such an effort on the part of the miners, j the sinuous and intensely red-tape words standing in the way (as, indeed, they do in several other instances in Acts of vital 3 importance to the mining industry)-—" it * shall be lawful for the Governor if he 1 shall think fit." li* this phraseology I see a sort of mutual concession on the r pftrt of namby-pamby friends of gold 1 mining and opponents of all legislation 3 for the benefit of the miner. Th§ one says, "If I can get the Act passed the preliminary clause is of little moment. 1 The diggers will think it is all right,, and my object, that of notoriety or a stepping c stone to position or office, will be attained." Whilst the opponent says, 3 "Oh, it may go. j with such a preamble j we can always prevent its being put in force should the future prove it to contain anything adverse to our personal or class interests." So Acts are passed, and the statutes encumbered with j laws that serve no purpose save still > further to sever the different classes in the 5 community, hinder, the development of gold mining, and irritate and disgust those , who are most deeply interested. You will ' not be surprised to' learn that my opinion j is shortly this, that until there is a more f healthy, vigorous, and sincere interest [ taken in mining matters by our legisla- , tors, there is little hope of much.improve-. ' ment in the direction miners desire. How L this is to be brought about is to my mind the difficulty, with the papulation on the goldfields so scattered as are those of . Qtago. Miners in the early days of gold . mining in Yictoria, so far as legislation t and enoouragement to the industry are concerned, were in much the. same state as they are in Otago (or New Zealand) now, though Yictoria was vastly better circumstanced in the of population , and concentration, This enabled them to . venture a determined effort to make them--pelves heard and their wants considered, ; that culminated in the Rallarat riot; and, objectionable and indeed deplorable as , were the immediate results, its after results were nearly all that the miners could desire, so that, as compared with their fellow-miners in New ZealandJ they havG immense advantages in many particulars, go ipuoh so that I could almost wish a of that outbreak here. That something equally potent is required to arouse our Legislature to a due appreciation of the mining industry is patent, and I maintain that h@ who can solve this problem will deserve well of his .country, and his name will be honored, in history. I believe the unemployed difficulty will be solved, and, with proper enoouragement of the mining industry, entirely overcome, Jt becomes, thenj a question of interest to all who deem the natural welfare of the Colony the profitable development of its resources, and the prospects of its laboring classes at heart. I now commend the matter to your favorable consideration, hoping you will give it the weight of your influence.—l am, &c., Miker. TO THE EDITOE, Of TJTE OAMABU MAIL. • Sir,—l notioe. a short local in your issue of the 26th inst. regarding the intended alteration in the system of valuation, and that the Government are going i to force the local bodies to buy their valuation. Why should they not reverse the order and pay the local bodies for a copy i of their valuation roll, which nearly always gives greater. satisfaction than the General Government valuations ? Many of your readers will remember the valu&t tions for the land tax last year, what general dissatisfaction' tiiey gave, throughout the Colony, and nearly every one who chose to gp to the expepse of got the reduced, I think it. is €

very unfair that a high valuation should be put on, just on the chance that tho expense of appealing .will prevent the valuation being appealed against. It is manifestly unjust that the appellants, when successful, should pay all their own expenses. In all other cases brought into any court the loser pays expenses. Again, a gross injustice has been perpetrated by the adoption of the property tax in addition to the land tax, the more so as the former requires a new valuation, and will put people to the expense of new appeals, whereas when they appealed against the land tax valuations they thought they were safe for three years, otherwise they would not have incurred the expense. Every possible obstacle is put in the way of appeals. A person has to travel great distances to appear in support of the appeal. He has to produce witnesseis, and generally a solicitor is necessary, and, if one happens" to have land in two or more districts, it is compulsory to attend at the different assessment courts, however distant. For example, the writer happened to have three small properties which he considered wero highly over-valued by the land tax valuators. He appealed, and as by accident each property was in a different district, he had to attend three separate courts. The court of No. 1 property was 132 miles off, where he succeeded in reducing; the valuation b}' the amount of his appealThe court for No. 2 property was about. 80 miles off, where he succeeded in reducing the valuation by LSOO. No. 3 court was at no great distance, and there he also got a large reduction. But look at the expense—travelling expenses, witnesses' expenses, and lawyers feesu. and now to find all this was incurred foor eighteen months only, and has to be all gone through again, although the Act fixes three years as the time for each fresh valuation. How long will-the people put up with,this state of things? The present Conservative Government is as despotic aa ' the Czar of all the Uussias ; and what ia all this despotism for ? To grant friends such large tracts of country a3 that, miscalled the Piako Swamp, or to make* short unproductive political railways, to the properties of Ministers or wavering friends ! Did not members understand that the property tax was not to come into force till the land tax was repealed 1 Otherwise would they ever have agreed to» the clause leaving the power of repeal in the Governor's hands 1 He may never see> fit to exercise that power, and we may ga on for years paying the two taxes, unless the populace as one man demand the repeal. Look at the frightful expense, of this general valuation ! In a return laid before Parliament in July, 1879, respecting the land tax, the total value of Colonial property is put down at L 50,707,440, estimated at id in the £ to yield L105,62Ek The improved value was set down as L 99,566,679, against which were set mortgages to the value of L 21,764,292, making the absolute value of New Zealand- L 128,509,827, which ought to ba quite near enough for the purposes of the* property tax without a new ! The expense of the land tax department at the same date was put down in the return as L 23,094 19s lOd, and the estimate for the year ending 31st Maroh 1880 at LBsoo—or a total of L31,q94 19s lOd. And now all this has to be gone through again at, lam certain, a much greater expense. Every I action of the present Government is in- ! quisitorial, despotic, and tending towards centralisation. I sincerely trust that next session will see some check put on their extravagance. Let Parliament sell op lease the railways to some strong cora- , pany, and let the money be expended only ' in reducing our heavy national debt which is now some L 28,000,000. There would then be no need for a property or incometax. Let it abolish the counties and increase the power of the road boardsi and ! boroughs into which the whole colony be divided. Let it do away with subsidies, which are simply excuses aii present for taxation and the passage of the monej through the treasury to undergo the milking process. Taxation would then be lightened, and the colonists would feel free and independent, and know that, what taxes they levied on themselves would bo locally spent to their own advantage and not for that of the nobs and their friends. The expenses of a multiplicity of valuation rolls would be done away with, as each local body only woiulq require them. Improvements would advance and new industries start, without* fear of being ruined or cheeked by Government taxation, and men could work or speculate without feeling that they would have to give up the lion's share of tha profits to the tax-collector.—l am, etc., TOXCBrown,