The Westport Times. AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause of Truth and Justice we strive. THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1872

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 918, 25 January 1872, Page 2

The Westport Times. AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause of Truth and Justice we strive. THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1872

At a public meeting held recently at lieefton, resolutions were passed strongly affirming the necsssity of a Resident Warden being appointed to the Inangahua District; and there can be no doubt that such an appointment is one of the most urgent requirements in connection with that rising . district. Even, since the meeting referred to took place, the population has increased to such an extent that 1 the constant presence of a Warden is ' more than ever necessary. The various interests are becoming daily more . valuable, and the outcome of this condition of things must necessarily be a i fruitful harvest of litigation. But it . is not alone in respect to the con- ' verjience which would be afforded to the miner by frequent sittings of a > Warden's Court that the subject is ' deserving of interest. It is that large and important questions should be definitely and permanently settled at i tho outset that the presence of a liesi- • dent Warden becomes so indisDcnsable. i *■ Where titles to claims or the various ' rights in connection with them are int secure, it is impossible for a district to progress so satisfactorily as it would had the means been established which ' would enable the matters in dispute to be promptly settled. It is no answer to the question that the workings are . not yet sufficiently advanced to enable a correct estimate to be formed of their 1 future value,and therefore the appointment of a resident officer is premature, inasmuch as the provincial revenue derived from that district during the past few months would fully justify tho Government in acceding to tho courseproposedbytkoßeeftonineeting. 3 Even, were tho circumstances different, we would still .contend that it should be the earliest step of tho Government to provide for the most efficient administration of tho law, and i, it is idle to suppose that this can i be satisfactorily performed by short . monthly visits. To the miners themselves it is of tho utmost importance that the appointment should be made early, as tho manifest defects and im-

perfections of tbo Goldfields Act are a source of complaint both to the public and to those who havo to administer the law. The following example, without instancing any other, will suffice to show the absurdities of which a perverse or injudicious administration of the Act is capable. The GBth section enacts—" Every such Warden shall have power in every case brought before him to make such decree or give such judgment as shall be just, without regard to any rule of law or t'jc practice of any court of equity, and to award damages and reasonable costs, and direct payments to be made to either party." According to the foregoing section, it will be seen how dangerously large are the powers with which a Warden is invested, and how easily it may happen that two or more Wardens, treating analogous cases, may give judgments, if not absolutely conflicting, at least varying so greatly as to possess very Blight similitude of relations. It will be thus seen that, in administering justice under an act of most extraordinary pliability, it may easily happen that a Warden in one portion of the colony may decree an absolute forfeiture of a valuable interest, . whilst another elsewhere may inflict a nominal monetary penalty for the non-performance of certain conditions. How necessary is it, therefore, that a Warden when clothed with such large discretionary powers should be enabled, by experience and local knowledge of the field upon which he is called to exercise his judicial functions, to exercise his jurisdiction in a inanuer which would escape the blunders entailed by defective legislation. We feel assured that the appointment of a resident officer to deal with the disputes already arising, will prove an incalculable saving to present and future holders of valuable mining interests in that district.