A HINDRANCE TO MINING

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 102, 16 May 1885, Page 7

A HINDRANCE TO MINING-

The Lawrence corre«:porid<jmV!.of, the Otago Witness writes as follows : — There are many hardships ami hindrances fcha$ minors, labour un>'U-r whioh uight, wit^outl injV.r)| t|> 'anyone, he removed or lessened if our legislators possessed even a slight knowledge, of' ont ;vequiremeiits. For one instance there is a grievance arising oat of thy mining system which might Have been amply illustrate 1 during Mr Larnaoh's visit to the Blur Spur had ti:ue jjennit'ted it being ; brought under his notice. There are some four or five acres of auriferous ground held under a mining lease being unwbrked for thej last 12 months on which, at a moderate computation,' 20 > men "might* make • good wages for the next' 30- yearsi The present owner worked the piok of the ground, taking therefrom sufficient to enable him to lock up the poorer portion in the hope that wages may fall still lower, or some modern gold* saving invention may enahle him to extract another fortune from the claim. . In the meantime men arc driven from the Spur on which they have worked for so many years, whore they liavo mado snug homes, to seek navvying wherever they can get it. This locking-up of auriferous land is entirely opposed to the spirit of goldfields legislation.' A mining lease does not constitute perpetual ownership, even when the form of getting protection is gone through, and this precaution is frequently neglected, tjie leaseholder being so entirely ; master * of the When " jumping" a claim was legal it was an easy matter to have the spirit as well as the letter of x the law.^observed. If a claim-owner failed in 'carrying out his obligation he right speedily found a stranger in possession, and had to defend his position. The Warden visited the ground ere ne gave his decision. The intruder was put to no expense, hut generally speaking come off victorious. Now a man may fret his heart out in enforced idleness with acres of golden ground unworked before his door. Inst> ad o: the former summary procedure, he must fee a lawyer to prosecute the leaseholder, and the result will .be, perhaps, a fine of half-a-crown — the objector having only approbiura to grfc. This is a grievance beside which the squatting trouble falls into insigniticiince. The loss to a community by this locking up acres of golden ground while men are roaming tho c( untry in search of work should not be borne. It is unjust and imp riitic, and only one of the many legalised annoyances miners are subjected to, which we cannot hope to see removed until we have representatives in both Houses who have some practical knowledge of life on the diggings.