THE ESCORT QUESTION.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 21, 20 January 1863, Page 2

THE ESCORT QUESTION.

MONSTER MEETING. ' Perhaps the largest meeting that "has ever yet been hold in Invercargill took place last night " for the purpose of petitioning his Honor the Superintendent to establish, a Government Escort immediately." The place announced was the School House, but it would be almost more correct to say that the meeting was held in the open air, as, though the Chairman and speakers were within the building, the major portion of the audience were without. On the motion of Mr. Calder, W. F. Taiieton, Esq., M.P.C., took the chair. He said that an announcement had bvjn made in the Invercarcjiu. Times that a meeting would be held in that place, for the purpose of expressing the desirability of appointing a Gold Receiver and an Escort, and they had now met to take the matter into consider ,tion. He could not say it was with gveat pleasure that he met them — it was ra her with pain and regret that there was any necc Ity to meet on that occasion. At ;he sr ne time it was very desirable that those advances which they enjoyed, arising from the : : ent discovery of gold on the borders of the Province, should not be thrown av, r ay ; and ii was desirable that Government should understand what public opinion had to say on the matter. He trusted that whatever resolutions were brought forward they would be calm, thoughtful, and considerate ; that while distinctly expressing the views of the meeting, they would at the same time entertain that consideration and respect for others which they claimed for their own opinions. (Cheers.) How it came to pass was to him a mystery that any man should positively assert that they ought not to have a person on the goldfields to receive the gold, and that they ought not to have an escort to convey the gold to the town. This he ccmld not understand. Surely th-.-y were entitled by the common laws of trade and com :ierce to trade with these gold fields, and if entitled to barter, they were entitled to a receiver ; if entitled to a receiver of gold, they were certainly entitled to have proper means used for the preservation of their property ; and if entitled to have that property preserved, it was the duty of Government to give all suitable security in conveying it. (Cheers.) Admitting they h<ul a right to buy or sell of the goldfields ; admitting their right to receive gold from the men possessing it ; how it was not their right to deposit it in the strong box of Government he could not see. (Cheers) How came it to pass that there were any objections to certain individuals being appointed to convoy the gold to the place ? Oh, it was said, the gold was beyond the boundaries of the Province. The rights of hum..nity told them what to do in such a case. They h-d the right to buy and sell, and get gain : and, therefore, Avere fully entitled to have their property guarded. Whether the men sent up were policemen or not was a mere evasion of the question ; all they wanted was men to guard the treasure, it mattered nothing whether they v, r ore a polie: man's uniform or not; and if the Avaihig of a uniform was going to give offence to their neighbors, they would avoid it and not quarrel about a name. Surely ho Arm incapable of argument if any man' objected '.o this course of proceeding ; inasmuch as the Province had placed gukiiields within its reach, it was part of .their ,duty\'to bring to the Piovincc the gold which belongs tq^the merchants ta d ing, or the men toiling fo'- it ; and it appeared quite "right to him that Government should undertake whatever was requisite for receiving the gold, preserving it on the field, and conveying it to the town. He had, therefore, gro..t pleasure in taking the chair on such an occasion. (Cheer?.) Mr Calder, in moving the first resolution, avo;il<] say notliingbeyond the substance of it. The Chairman j" d already expressed all lie thought or felt on the subject, which had been so thoroughly discussed, and was so well undersiood, that it would be superfluous to go over it again. They were all satisfied of the necessity of an escort and gold receiver being appointed. A deputation had already awaited upon the Superintendent, to urge the matter, and now they had met in public for the same purpose. lie quite agreed with the Chairman, as to regret ing the necessity of meeting, but he thought the duty was so plain that no one could be mistaken as to the course of procedure which should be adopted. The resolution he had to propose was as follows: — '-That, taking into consideration i'\(! great trade now established, and w.'.'ch is dai!v increasing, between this Prov'nee and eWakatip goldfields, and that in co.isoquence of this being found to be the tuiural outlet for the produce of those goldfield--, the establishment of a Southland Receiver's OfHce and Escort are urgently demanded." Mr. S. Beavan seconded the resolution. The Chairman invited any remarks upon it, and none being offered, it was put to the meeting and carried unanimously. Mr. Snialificld said that though the resolution put into his hands was more strongly worded, he had decided satisfaction, or rather di- satisfaction, in moving it: — "That this meeting is ;,.;\;tly dissatisfied with the supineness displ-yod by the Provincial Government in promoting the cl velop.ii'it of the trade of the Province in co mec'uon Avith the goldfields near Lake Wa\aiip, and expresses its most decided O] "rion that a Receiver's Office ard an Ereort should at once be organised ; and further that a receiver's olliee merely at the south end of the Lake, ami an escort therefrom would be inadequate to meet the wishes of this meeting, if not entirely u-cle:'s to attain, live object in view." He certainly thought that too much desire hail been displayed by Government to consider the etiuuette clue from one Province to another. (Cheers.) They had nothing to do with me c lin 'S of demarcation. (Cries ->f " Oh, oh.") Somebody said "Oh, oh," Itnt lie said they had not for this reason. The diggois and population of the gold dL:rict"ww/ come to them for the.r stores. The duty which was receivable for gold produced o*n the borders of Otago would be returned — the general Government took care of that ; and another question would arise before long; the*' would see whether Government would not reorganise the boundaries. Ho had spoken on this topic before, and would not repeat what he had previously said, but simply move the resohk' mi. Mr Monkinan seconded the resolution, which was also unanimously carried. Mr Donald M'Kay moved the next resolution :— " That this mceling, while strenuously urging u ])(■)■« the o.inerintendcnt and his executive both the importance and the neccsoity of at once organising an escort for the purpose of bringing down gold from the Wakatip and other Southland border diggings, and of appointing a gold receiver at the spot most convenient, and at the same time most serviceable to Southland, disclaims all desire of interfering with any rights of Otago to the duty lev'ihle on gold produced within her at present denned limits. The main object of the nicelin^ is to asset the right of Southland and her merchants and traders to rec.'ive from the gold diggers, whom she and they have to supply with stores, the native gold which is their sole medium of exchange." Looking upon gold, be said, as a commercial commodity, there Avas no doubt Avhatever, that merchants and the public had a right to buy it on any goldfield, and if a man had property he had a right, within the British realms, to its protection. (Cheers.) They knew that this was the nearest, and the natural outlet for the Lake Wakatip district, and so long as the gold was going to Otago people in other countries who did not know our geographical position supposed that it was the proper place to go to ; but if the gold came directly here it would be a public advertisement to the Avorld at large, that this was the proper place to come to in order to reach the goldfields. In order to bring the tide of emigration here, the best step was to bring the gold here (cheers). In the second place, he did not think they should be actuated by any objections of the Ot-ign govcrn-

merijiJ The iboundjijr line (should not make any. difference between people of the same name i^nd '.linage. If the Otago government sfiouldibe so jealous,sp rude; as to raise object ti^3;in<the: .way^thQughf that was to be tried— theyHvould be an example of narrowmindedness to the world. If the Superintendent and his Executive had any will to establish what was wanted, the public should strengthen their hands by a clear expression from the meeting. Mr. Calder in secconding the resolution, read the following extract from the Otago Daily Times, as throwing a little light on the subject : "As we have said before, the luvercargill gold-buyers have a perfect tight to compete with those of Otago ; and the Southland people are quite correct in endeavoring to secure as large a share as possible of the goldfields' trade ; but with these privileges they must be satisfied." Well, he said, we never asked for more than these privileges. Here was the very government of Otago allowing us the liberties which the government here thought we had no right to. It was a most extraordinary thing. Mr Sim, in the course of a rather incoherent speech to the Chair, was understood to ask two questions. First, supposing an escort established, what would be the cost of transit? was it the intention of Government to charge so much per ounce? And second, was it prepared to guarantee the safety of the gold ? All the governments of Australia, he said, and that of Otago, were responsible, which was answered by cries of " no, no." Thfl Chairman said it was quite competent for a private escort to be established; but was it reasonable that a private individual should pay for that which was to benefit the community at large? It was a provincial matter. Who were the parties who could pay except the Government ? The people could only pay out of their private resources, and on that account they were opposed to a private escort, simply because it was private, therefore Government ought to undertake it. As to the conditions under which gold would be received, that did not belong to the meeting. They wanted the escort established ; they did not know what conditions Government would impose, but if not the right ones they could be seen to afterwards. Mr. M'Kay, as an oM digger, would remark that it was generally known to all who had transactions of the same kind, that where Government took upon itself to transmit treasure it gave its power to keep the treasure safe. As a digger in Australia he could say that when Government took it the public knew that there was a force to protect the gold, but the public also knew the Government was not responsible for its safe transit or custody. He supposed it would be just the same here. Mr. Sim said that in Victoria tb.9 private escorts received gold without, and Government with the responsibility. (Cries of " No, no.") The expense of the latter was defrayed by unclaimed gold, of which there was from £40,000 to £00,000 worth lying in the Treasury in Victoria. He considered that Government shouM undertake the responsibility of gold transmitted. Mr. Smallfield stated that a leading contractor from Victoria was here lately, and said in the hearing of many that the first escort to this place would do more for it than all the leading articles that had ever been written. Mr. Sim — Do they propose to levy the same duty as in Otago ? [Cries of " Joe, Joe/ 1 " Sit down," and great laughter, in the midst of which the querist collapsed.] The Chairman said there was one topic he would make a remark on — the law of the subject. They had been dealing with the question, not as a legal one, but as one of right. They said, " If the digger buy or exchange from us, then we have the right to be protected in our possession." But the law comes in, and says that wherever you export that gold you must pay the duty. The resolution said they had no desire to defraud Otago of the duty, but it was not Otago, it was the colony at large that put on the duty — i.e., that from whatever part of the colony gold shall be exported, the duty must be paid. The duty, too, was leviable by officers in the separate provinces, who were not provincial but general officers, and this resolution was brought forward for the purpose of disclaiming any desire to interfere with the rights of Otago, or any other Province. All they asked was that people working here would be protected in the enjoyment of their rights and privileges. He was glad, in one sense, that Government had waited for an expression of public opinion on the subject. Perhaps it would be better if it waited to hear the public opinion oftener; but he hoped that, while expressing their opinion, it would be done in a respectful way. Let them say to Government, " our lives have fallen in pleasant places," and we have " a goodly heritage ;" but, at the same time, they must watch that their advantages do not slip from them, or that others possessing greater energy should take away what justly belongs to the place. The resolution was then put to the meeting, and answered by a host of " Ayes." A request for ''noes" was replied to by cries of "Not likely." On the motion of Mr. Monkman, seconded by Mr. Macgeorge, it was unanimously agreed that the Chairman be authorised to transmit a copy of the resolutions to His Honor the Superintendent as the opinion of the meeting. A hearty vote of thanks was then given to the Chairman, and with three cheers for the escort the meeting broke up,