THE AUCKLAND STAE ON THE TAIRUA CASES.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2013, 17 June 1875, Page 2

THE AUCKLAND STAE ON THE TAIRUA CASES.

! The fellovving'.is: from - last-, night's Auckland Star, the opinions expressed in which will, we believe, be concurred in by nine-tenths 'of ; the people-of the Thames:—

The litigation at present proceeding at the Thames with reference to' the Tairua struggle is notfcing short of humiliating. It matters not what the position of the case may, be as affected by legal technicalities, it is none the less humiliating. The subject has now been brought within the sphere of legal investigation, and by the technicalities of law it ,musfc in the first instanco be controlled. The duty of the magistrate investigating must necessarily bo guided by these teshnicalitios, and we are perfectly confident that with entire fairness and impartiality he will decide, and that his decision will be according to law. But whatever may be .-the decision, the' situation at the present is one calculated to make one • ashamed of humanity. For it is nothing less than en organised attempt to rob, by process of law, the discoverers of the Tairua -goldfield of the honest rewards of years of persevering effort. There has been/something akin to a regular rush oh the, discoversvs' leasehold—for leasehold' they have in equity, if not by formal,deed; and the sharpest wits of the Thames, which scenrngly have been lying dormant during the past few years «f the dearth of-' share r sw'ndles, appear to have awaked, and aroused themselves to fierce and preternatural energy. It can only be tLo hunger of starvation that has inspired this raid oa Tairua, and I

rll the sharpers at the. Thames, even those liav'ng no prospect of a bite, are apparently I'cking their lips with eager glee... When wo consider the distinct oargain mr lo- between the Prospectors and the Government, that they were to have a leass of thh\y acres, for the gift of a goldfield, it is curious to observe the pleas put forward by:thc various jumpeig tor taking away the right. The chief of these, now being debated, is that some of ( the pegs, im tead of bein^ three inches i square, were onetighth of an inch loss, and I relying on this point, nn effort is made to ! takeaway property thatmay prove perhaff j worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. ; And wben we think of "gentlemen" going I up to Tairua with footrule and measuring ' tape to see if the discove 4 ci3 have erred t by tl^e fraction of aninehia the size of a peg which cou'fl be chopped down off any tree in a neighbouring scrub, and if by such a lapsus they could establish, by sharp law, a right to share in the property, -we confess we know not fitting words with which to characterise the proceeding.' Another point of vast legal importance is that the length of the claim exceeds twice its breadth.- We do not speak of "the legality of such objectiins, but decidedly the morality of putting forward a claim to plunder the discoverers- based on such; grounds requires no comment. The other pleas preferred are the., various, rights' alleged to have been acquired' by ' "jumping" proper; and altogether the thing, in which a multitude appear to have interests, has the aspect of'being the most disgraceful conspiracy to plunder that has jet dirtied the page of mining history in. JPT«tv Zealand. We have heard and we believe that the great majority of the people at the Thames are disgusted at the affair. If it were not so, and if we - believed that the bulk of the people there had become so degraded as to render sympathy to the efforts of the junipers, we should not, hesitate to regard the Thames as the moral and commercial scab on foe side of the province. " ' - ':•

Since the foregoing was in type we have received the telegram published in another column. There is nothing in it to make us modify one view expressed. It will be observed that the litigation is ended. The discoverers appear to have yielded a portion to save the rest, paying blackmail for quiet possession. Time precludes bur considering or .commenting further on the subject. Sharp practice appears to have had its reward, and the result is such as may point a moral and • adorn a tale.