FEATHERSTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 270, 2 October 1879, Page 2

FEATHERSTON.

(FKOJI OUIIOWK CORRESPONDENT.) October Ist, 1879. According to advertisement a meeting was held at the (Jlub Hotel this afternoon to consider the desirability of securing some protection to prospectors for g >ld. L'here was a good attendance, some forty persons being present, and Mr Pharazyn occupied the chair. Mr Pharazyn then read the advertisement culling the meeting, and after a few remarks called oil Mr Carew, a practical miner from the Thames, to give his opinion. Mr Carew thought that prospectors should be protected, or the advantages of their search might be seized by idlers and persons unconcerned. He instanced a case that had come under his own notice at Ohinemuri. Prospectors had been out, and when gold \m found the district was proclaimed a gold-field. A number of persons awaited at the appointed time for miners' rights, having previously pegged out their claims, and, by a preconcerted plan, were first on the field, and tin's the original prospectors were prevented from occupying the claims they had found, and knew to be auriferous. The subject was fully discussed, Messrs Coleman Phillips, Toogood, Cox, and others taking part. The following resolution was then proposed by Mr Too° good and seconded by Mr Oakley:-That in the opinion of this meeting, it is highly advisable that persona prospecting for gold and other minerals on Crown Lands in the Wairarapa district should be protected in any discoveries they may make, and that a committee beappointed to bring this question under the notice of the Government, so that the difficulty may be met by legislation if found necessary. This was carried, and the following gentlemen were appointed a Committtee Messrs Carew, Oakley, Cox, Cuudy, and Riddick. No wish was expressed to have the district declared a mining district untiH something more definite was to hand, as it might lead to disappointment, and prove injurious to the district.