WELLINGTON NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 270, 5 April 1898, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

[VKOM OVV. OWN CORKEsrONDENTI. W'Ki.uNOToy, March 27. A FADED LIBERALISM. Ministers returned to-day from the Duncdin jubilee, at which function they shed the light of their countenances and endeavoured to look as if the progress of the last fifty years was mainly due to their progressive policy. They alas, or rather their chief, spoke at Mi'ton, Balcluthrt, Lyttelton, and wherever else opportunity offered and realised what has be< n patent to everybody else since last session that the old stories of tho iniquities of the Opposition aud the exceedingly delectable projects of the existing Government have grown stale aud insipid by constant iteration, and tho audiences at all places greeted the yarns with expressions which sounded more like jeers than cheers. Liberalism as preached seven years ago and Liberalism us preached iu these days are so diverse that the travellers' tales of our adventurous Premier arc not only received with cries of " Rats," but it is understood that it is a question of finance to irrigate the Liberals up to that degree of patriotism which induces the courage to eit out a three and a-hilf hours' oration with only a single refresher after it is over. Naturally the average elector finds this sort of thing irksome, and so it conies about tlr.it a Preuiieral visit and meeting is invariably accompanied by augmented receipts in the licensed victualling profession. THE STATE AS A CLAIM JUMPER.

There is a very curious piece of business on hand just now in the Premier's own electorate. The Ross United Company has held certain leases for twenty years or more. The ground is deep, the several runs of gold being below sea level and in shingle, consequently heavy pumping machinery is necessary to work it. As a matter of fact it has not been worked for many years aud the company has endeavoured to procure foreign capital to erect new machinery. Parliament voted £20,000 for deep level workings in the North Island and £IO,OOO for the South. The first sum is being paid as work progresses at the Bis Pump at the Thames. The Ross Company applied for the £IO,OOO and furnished plans, etc., of the proposed works, the funds for which were to be provided by an English company contingent ,on Government keeping its promise regarding the vote. The only notice taken by the department was to pigeon-hole the plans, application, etc. for nine mouths, and then reply that as the cash was not put up by the company that the subsidy would not be eiven So far the action of the Government was merely a breich of faith, but the next move was one of open hostility. Mr Seddon, who is not Minister of Mines, gave instructions to one of the inspectors to jump the leases upon which the shaft and machinery were situated, and this was done. Some few weeks previously, while Mr Seddcn was in Westland, he said he would give £25,000 towards opening the ground afresh. People are now curious to knew who will obtain leases of the jumped areas aud get the subsidy. Seeing that the Premier took upon himself to assume the duties of Mr Cadman for the occa sion, seeing also that ths ground is known to be very rich but expensive to work, and seeing further that Mr Seddon is allied with the German syndicate, the curiosity displayed is not to be wondered

at. GIVE ME MY POUND OF FLESH

But tho Westland jumping case sinks into insignificance when the proceedings of the Mines Department in Auckland are known. During the boom leases were pegged out by hundreds. Not in all cases by speculating capitalists, but often by working miners, who could raise the application fees. Not being able to work them or to float them into companies the men simply deserted them, losing their deposits and time. But under our mining laws the rent goes on whether the lease i 3 occupied or not. The statutory way out of the difficulty is for the leaseholder to apply to the warden for cancellation. But the average prospector in abandoning a lease thinks he has had enough of it without going to court and losing a day—perhaps a week—to legally register the fact and pay a further fee to make his disappointment known, It has been the custom of the department to let the lessee go. But quite a change has come over the methods of the strategists who administer our goldfields. They hold ' that the Jessees are still tenants and liable for the rent. No doubt this is I quite a correct view for a SJiyloek to take, and no one would take any exception if the property itself was worth seizing, if the bailiffs were put in and the lease and tenant's interest sold. But the Government which protects the toilers must have its pound of flesh, and, judgment having been obtained, the bailiffs have followed the lessees to their present homes and sold up their poor little belongings, even to the baby's cradle. Morally, these men -and there are many of them—owe nothing to the State, The land they took up, and paid from £2O to £;jo each for the right to occupy, was—and still is—a wilderness, worthless for anything but the minerals which may exist in it. It U pitiful to even endeavour to guess the reasons that prompted such cruel proceedings. It is openly alleged in Auckland that a notorious syndicate is at the bottom of it, and to those with a knowledge of the operation of the Aot this seems likely enough. A lessee on tho goldfieids, if he does not surrender his lease, is held to be the rightful owner for the full twentyone even if he pays no ront. Should some other party desire to take up the ground he has to go through a clumsy and complicated process in the I Warden's Court to have tre original holder's title cancelled aud obtain a new one for himself. .Supposing now that the syndicate desires to acquire the abandoned arew it would, according to the usual procedure, have to serve a summons on eacli of the original holders. or, if not get-atable, advertise for him. Such a course would naturally arouse suspicion and perhaps induce some other capitalist to assist the original lessee in opposing the syndicate. But tho Government has conveniently stepped in and saved the trouble by making a wholesale job of it, cancelling all the leases and skinning those of the unfortunates who have any skin to Jose Thus the field is clear for exploitation, and when Mr Seddon arrives iu Auckland this week he will hear a few observations of a vcrv pointed character, ancnt mining sharks. IN UNCONGKMAL COMPANY. Perhaps it was the doctor's orders, or it may have been that Premier Seddon and his colleagues felt that nothing but a change of air would brush away the depressing effects of the Wellington election. Anyhow, it seemed as if it would have been better for the Ministry to stay in Wellington to straighten up the various departments, keep au eye on the scores of navvies and bricklayers employed at the ne.v Tower of Babyon at Parliament buildings. They realise now that it Wellington is hostile to them, Otago looks on them with either quiet contempt or the derision which is the reward of the cricketer, who has his middle stump knocked out first ball. From an eye witness, I gather that in the procession in Dunedin, our Premier looked more like a professional undertaker's mute than a holiday-maker. Those who noted his depressed appearance, judged that he had been reading up the early history of Otago, with a view of showing that the great work undertaken by the old identities was in some way due to the progressive policy of his administration. This idea vanished us soon as he began to speak. He had certainly armed himself with his usual eheaf of statistics, but hia reception was go unexpectedly cool that hia figures got

in a tangle at the start. lie took refugn in cl.oicc selections from the oft-repeated speeches we have all heard, and in place ot the usual cheers was astounded to hear such irreverent expressions as " Time," " Rinp off," " Give us a and so on. This disturbed the nieut: 1 balance of our only Statesmen, and when he struck an attitude aud rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and said with deep emotion, " Heaven helps those who help themselves," the vast audience caught the point and fairly yelled. It is the custom when a Q.C. is elevated to a judge in England for him to present a ring with a motto engraved on it. Mr Seddon's motto on his elevation to the P.O. no doubt was the appropriate one he used in Dunedin.