Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1872. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 237, 15 August 1872, Page 7

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1872. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

•For the first time the General Assembly has evinced a disposition to deal fairly with the raining population of tne celony. At the present time, when the stamp duty on receipts is creating such, general dissatisfaction, the resolution to reduce the- export dut}* on gold by sixpence an ounce maybe considered j an admission that that duty is un- ' justj and ought to be abolished. who have fought and worked for the abolition of the gold duty will have the gratification of seeing that their struggles were not in vain; that the public mind, of which the General Assembly is the reflex, has begun to realise that specially taxing the gold mining industry is a mistake. The thin edge of the. wedge ,has; been inserted ; it remains for •the miners of the colony, by their united efforts, to drive it home. The various tiiining associations throughout the colony recently resolved to 'forward a' petition to the House of '-Representatives, praying for the Abolition of the 1 gold duty. We "recommend them not to desist from jfcjieir labors in this direction because fine concession of sixpence an ounce has been made. They ought rather ; fc>Tedpuble, their efforts, in order to fteeetofce the $nal abolition. of the

obnoxioijs f : feik. ; They reasons a!d•duceduin faVpr of its continuance are so weak that tlieydd 1 not deserve notice ; while : the arguments advanced for its abolition are incontrovertible. The, oft reiterated, cry about special expenditure being required for the goldfields is utterly exploded. The goldfields certainly .require police protection and justice administered ; but people in other parjbs of the colony require the same. But the people outside the goldfields are not specially taxed for protection and justice, and it is not fair to specially tax the mining population for those objects. The miners require roads, but they don't get them; while the residents of what are called the settled districts get roads made out of the revenues derived from the goldfields. In times past the goldfields revenue, of which the gold duty is about half, has saved colonial credit. It has staved off bankruptcy from several provinces, and enabled others to construct public works for the benefit of people outside the goldfields, which they would not otherwise have been able to undertake. But this style of things has been carried on long enough. It is time, that taxation should be distributed equally among the whole population — that no class should be specially burdened. Irrespective of the gold duty entirely, the miners pay about £2 10s. per head more than men who do not dwell on goldfields. That extra imposition itself would not be tolerated for a single instant in some countries. We again recommend the miners to redouble their efforts to procure the abolition of the gold duty, and not to cease agitating until that unjust and impolitic tax is swept entirely away.

In our' supplement will be found extracts of the more interesting portions of the Report on the Goldfields of the Colony, furnished to the House of Representatives by Mr. Haughton, Under-Secretary, in accordance with a resolution of the previous session. The report is incomplete in many particulars. But, considering the fact that it is the first report of the kind compiled in the colony, many imperfections must be overlooked. Mr. Haughton states "that the geographical and physical circumstances of the colony, the scattered localities of the goldfields, the diversity of administration under the several Provincial Governments, all tend in their degree to render the collection of valuable statistics exceedingly difficult ; and in default of special machinery, in many instances, impossible." Appended to the reportare reports by the various Wardens, which exhibit a great divei-sity of style in writing, quality, and quantity of the information furnished, and a number of valuable statistical tables. The beneficial result of the publication of authentic statistics of the result of gold mining are sufficiently obvious to require no pointing out. We hope that, before the time comes for compiling his next report, Mr. Haughton will have forced upon "the minds of mine-owners and managers the conviction that it is for the general good that the real position of the goldfields should be established by such data as can only be affqrded by what, it must be admitted, are the secrets of their business/ Apart altogether from its value, we hail this report as the commencement of a new era in the gold mining history of New Zealand. It exhibits an intention on the part of the General Assembly to foster this hitherto neglected industry, to aid the development of the auriferous resources of the colony. It also foreshadows the abolition of provincial rule on the goldfields, and the assumption of . their administration by the General Government ; and the creation, at no distant date, of a Colonial Mining Department. If these things should come speedily to pass, the sinecure created for Mr. Haughton will be one of the most useful offices ever called into existence by the Government of New Zealand.