HILL-SLUICING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 320, 29 December 1862, Page 5

HILL-SLUICING.

(To the Editor of the Daily Times.) Slß'~9 n Jf enalf of a number, I earnestly request you will insert this letter as early as convenient In the farst place, Mr. Editor, who is that plucky individual that has dared, and that through the Press, to call the bone and sinew—the mainstay, not of New L< aland only but of the whole of the British dependencies in thu* Southern Seas—" 10.-ifrrs'!" Allow nic to question him on one particular, and then let wm his cm PloyGrs hide their diminished heads. Who were the pioneers, the discoverers of an every one, and each of the innumerable gold fields both here and in the Austral ins ? Were they that most farseeing and enterprising class of men," the hill-sluicers, sjli-styled engineers and labor-saving civilizurs of mankind, in digging pal-lance*—" ibs-sickers V No. ! I thmk not, but I hope the worthy - v eritas" will answti- me.

■\eruas, by his exposition, would make the world believe that by the law being carried out in its present form, they are b-jing very badly u-eil, in fact, that without an alteration either in the removal of our warden fur a more independent—is that the word ? or the rescinding of the most just clause ia the rules of the gold fields, they are ruiaed meu, aud iv their tall, dov n conies the Province. _ Now, that is all bunkum : but to the point at issue. With-all due deference to " Venta-," I directly contradict his assertions aud most emphaticaly state that instead of the law in its present form robbing the hill-si ulcers of their just rights, their intent by having the law altered is th-i robbing the gully-sluicei-s and miners ot theirs, and tlrj Province of an amount of gold incalculable. The grounds of this bold assertion are that by comparison of difterence of population Gabiiel's Gully is yielding more gold than in its palmiest days, how "does this chime in with the assertion of " Verilas" that Gabriel's Gully wa? nearly worked over a twelvemonth ago? Also, that the hill-sluicers Lave already buried up with their refuse a very large area of golden ground, and without a stop is put to their powerful and economical means of hydraulic sluicing, they will bury up a still larger area, and I would state that this same ground is far richer than they are working themselves. Now how far are they benefactors ot the Province 1 Again, as to their perfect right to hold the water, and their enjoying the same for some months, those assertions are negatived by the fact that twice have they had to pay damages for holding the water to the detriment of the gully men; a third action, is still pending against them on the same head. Lastly, as to their engineering- skill, the veriest idiot could do as they have done; and as for their pluck and enterprise, they are too contemptible for notice, excepting that I challenge thorn to explain how L14,U00 has been expended iv the races of Gabriel's Gully ] I am, &c, Gabriel's Gully.