ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 231, 16 September 1862, Page 6

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE

■ ■■::-y;f^i^MlKmd|iJ^ V Sia,—Supporting as 1 do an increase in the size of claims in every/ci^; /of mining in Otago, I have alwaysendeayqured.tokeep one object prominently to view, that is ,to;say, brevity, and. I have been cheesed in any desire I might.entertain to indulge iv elaborate arguments hi, support of my view of the ease by a keen sense of the impropriety bf appropriating any of your space to the discussion of extraneous; or^^irrelevant matter.; Any! wish I might have to adduce other than the simplest arguments in/support of my theory, -has- beenvfiirther^repressed by the knowledge that they would lead to the consideration of abstract" principle^" "and l/ihow"ybu "would not allow, the Times to be made a vehicle for the conveyance of individual;opinions upon the doctrines of political ecouomv." But if I have looked upon the question cf-extended areas,- aa one affecting the welfare of thegeneral-pubiie,- and hence the prosperity '"°[. Phe Province, •in,-rif possible—a greater degree than it does' the individual miner, tlie experience of the last twelve.-months will-bear me out, without quoting from the dry, and to most people, uncongenial pages of^Adain Smith, to;prove tbatafixed and increasing population of producers and consumers, is within certain limits, more profitable than an erratic and migratory one. It was such topics as these X was; anxious io ■ keep away from; for their truth is patent, except, iA it; seems, "to the Government of Otago. Poc whiUt the neighboring colonies are vieine; with each; other, some to obtain, others to retain, and -all to increase their several populations, and are outbidding each other by the loudly-lauded liberality of their respective land or mining laws, Otago alone is willing to sit with folded hands, and see the tide of eaiFgratipn. flow.to and ebb away from her shores, with m. much imperturbability as though it were a matter of no consequence to her; nnd as though the wealth* of strong hands were not a thing worth the making of some effort to retain. The extent of the means to be adopted to secure Uie latter result, will be estimated most accurately by studying : the nature of the competition she will have to undergo, and by ba'aueing the attraeUve and repeUant agencies ?he possesses in a mining point of view, as compared with those of Victoria in the first place, aa,the great centre of a mining population, i • then, that since the discovery of gold in Otago, the average earnings of the miners here has be*n in excess of the average earnings of the miners m Victoria during the same period, a feet established clearly iuough for all practical purposes, even by the very meagre statistics compiled by order of theGovernmentliete.and what have we proved ? With a fixed determination to eschew platitudes of what kind soever, I cannot help remarking that sHf-mterest is the most potentjmbfive power witli us all, and that if thw principle had beeu sufficiently powerful, theTe was nothing in thß presumed iaclemeocy of Otago's winter, to cause the exodus which took place at the commencement and during the firet few months of it. The effect must be traced to t omo other catre or causes than that of mere dread of the s-verity of f> winter, by those who it may be presumed were not nursed into effeminacy by the 1 nature of their previous occupations, and it may be partially accounted for by a desire.—natural enough— to renew former association»,uuder the somewhat more favorable circumstances, arising out of a fortunate trip to Gabriels, Wetherutones or Waitahuna, and by a longiug to enjoy, once more, the glorious sunshine ot \ ictona. By the way this same climatic superiority of \ ictona over < )tago,is a thing which tbe latter will havealwaystoptacetotltedebit side of her account, and endeavor to balance it by holding out somo greater temptation to a continual residence here. The rush from Otago at the time alluded to may be .farthermore accounted for by the uneasy and often unthrifty habits engendered by following up the occupation of gold mining; hence it maybe inferred tliat to a number it would have made little difference what were the nature ofthe inducements held but to remain, and a few may have gone with the intention of returning with their families in !he spring. I have endeavoured, thus, to assign motives for departure to what is plain must havo formed a very small per centage of the emir* number, and then the question arise^would the remainder have impoverished the country and themselves too, perhaps by leaving, if they hadsecn a fair opportunity of profitable employment 1 Under the moat favourable circumstances a sea voyage of even a fortnight's duration is not a thing to be envied, and it is certain that for the working miner,—Victoria's "glory is departed." . Gin ifc be possible, thai, that an overwhelming majority of those who took their departure from these shores, could have been impelled thereto without either object or motive, except by an itching fyr change of locality, as repugnant to the taste of a digger as it i* to the natur* of a cat. No one could think so, and I.would not have occupied your ifpace by dwelling so far upon miner's motives, but that I am convinced there are some who may have given the subj-jct but slight thought, and who will be ready enough to ascribe tbe decrease in the population to other causes, except those to wbich it; is justly due. But as this letter has already extended to a BTCater length than I had at fiwt proposed, I will include it by inquiring if this question of extended areas is riot one which might cotne legifimateiy within the province of the Chamber of Commerce at Dunedin to take up, as one affecting the commercial interest moat intimately ; for with a less parsimonious system of areas, the business community may be saved, to a very considerable extent at least, from any such alternate; buoyancy aad depression of trade a? tbat which ha 3 occurred during the last twelve months. I am, sir, kc, kc. hiiljo. ■' Waipori, Oth September, 1862.