Cromwell Argus AND NORTHERN GOLDFIELDS GAZETTE Cromwell, Monday, March 20, 1905.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXV, Issue 1929, 20 March 1905, Page 4

Cromwell Argus AND NORTHERN GOLDFIELDS GAZETTE Cromwell, Monday, March 20, 1905.

We are pleased to see that on Saturday evening the Minister of Mines spoke out in a GOLD straightforPILFEBING. ward manner on behalf of the character of the honorable fraternity of dredgeman, which had been, apparently, sadly aspersed by the deputation that waited on the Minister in Dunedin in reference to the pilfering of gold from dredges. No doubt the members of that deputation spoke somewhat generally, and it was evident that they did not intend their remarks to apply to all dredgers indiscriminately. In every large body of men there are bound to be a few of dishonest tendencies, and it is very unjust to decry the many for the faults of an odd scallywag or two. People might as well asperse the character of the whole body of policeman because two or three, in the course of years, are found faithless to their trust, or say that all sharebrokers are rogues because some of them floated " wild cats." The legislation asked for by the deputation was, in our opinion, ridiculous and more likely to destroy the honesty of good men and true, than to prevent or restrain the thieving operations of rogues. The best way—a way tried successfully in larger industries than dredging—to keep men honest is to trust them. A man who finds himself trusted will feel no temptation in conditions that would be very trying to the moral strength of a man who was treated by his employers as a potential, if not an actual thief. The best and quickest method of turning an honest man into a thief, is to let him see that he is regarded by his employer as unworthy of confidence. As for the deputation, if its members wish to start a crusade they might start nearer home; secret commissions, &c, would provide them with a little missionary field. As for throwing a wholly unmerited slur on the working dredging fraternity, our opinion, founded on considerable personal experience, is that the dredger's chances of salvation are just as good as those of the average sharebroker, speculator or " guinea pig."