GAME LAWS. To the Editor of the Daily Southern Cross.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3400, 9 June 1868, Page 3

GAME LAWS. To the Editor of the Daily Southe rn Cross.

,SlB, — At the Papakura Association meeting on the 3rd instant, I proposed that a petition be drawn up tp be presented to the General Assembly »t the forthcoming session, praying that the game law now in force in this province may be altered and amended so as not to interfere with the owners, occupiers, 'and their sons in the killing of game on their own lands in protecting their crops, btrange to say that, although there were some of the Wairoa settlors present who agreed with me, through an undue haste on the part of one or two members, which, caused some misunderstanding, my motion was not entertained. It was stated that there was no use in asking what the Government would _nut grant, to which I said that I only asked what I could claim by right, and that I would not let the' matter rest here as long as I could speak through the press*. And here let me say that, if the said bill bad been introduced to the Assembly as it came from the hands of Mr. Gillies, we should not have quite tb much to complain of ; but we must give credit to two of our Auckland members for having the law iii reference to game as it now is in force. There are some who say, You have the right to protect your crops now, for you can shoot the game and let them' lie ; and yet these very men say that they would b'& very sorry to see the law as my motion would have it. How inconsistent ! Now, I know that the law cannot be brought to bear upon the landowner* or, occupiers here in the matter of game, as it does upon the same class in our fatherland/ 'that is, if we choose to sue the owners of' these game birds for trespass and damages/ Some will no doubt ask who the owners are. I say that the Acclimatisation Society are the owners'; and/ what is more, if that Society doei not bestir itself ' in" guarding the interests of the settlers more than they" have done in the past, by neglecting to give ear to ' the sound advice given them by Mr, Gillies — not to introduce hare into this province, or do other foolish aeti, such as offering a reward for the heads of more-" porks, — that they will not succeed. I shall not be', surprised to hear them offer a reward for- the heads' 1 of our domesticated cats, on the ground that they ' kill small birds, for I maintain that if it were not for the morepork our bush districts would be orerrun " with vermin. I admit that pheasants are of use and * that they do good, but I deny that the good is at all commensurate with the destruction which they work' | in the settlers crops in those districts where they l are become plentiful ; and to prove thii go to Tualtau,; ' and there you will find, on some of the few 1 ' farms that has been taken up, that on the young' gr*ss very little of the clover seed is left by them, • for as soon as the clover becomes swelled it is a fine ' picking for them. Let the settlers who have suffered" J during the last season by,the pheasants speak out, u and prove themselves to be the sons of free men, and"*demand their rights. The time has t gone by that '^ the pheasants need'so much protection. Others say,' if we have the right to kill during the shooting >' : season, that is all we can expect. Now •>I say that our grain and potato crops are put •- ; receiving damage when the shooting season begins. >" 1 claim nothing but the free, full* and legitimate 1 ' rights of ownership in property. — I am, Ac.', ■><■ / >'M v „r, • u Ai MODONAHW'^' I^ Pukekohe Valley, June 4, 1868,

MINING MATTEES. jT&Qit*fSi AUviRTISKR," 3VVX 6.) Thx Beadigo Cl*im, on the Mo<tnatAiari, has been { r worked since .September last, as eight menV ground, bat in the absence of auy convenience for crushing no trial ha* yet been made of the stuff produced. Drive* to the, extent of tome 700 feet have been put into the ground, and a large amount of labour expended in the exyta£gj^Aii4>f hard granite rook before • the diacovery off auriferous quart* Mr, Samuel . Alexander is now the only working shareholder on this ground, and consequently takes the management ,of the claim. The remaining seven shared are represented by paid labour. One of the men was engaged in bailing out a shaft at the time of our m isit, from the bottom drive, with a view of following the leader. The, water was making in the nhaft at th<-' .rate of 66* gallons, every quarter of an' hour. The leader had been opened from one foot to 18 inches on t the bottom working. The f shaft ' Bad been sunk to a depth of 45 feet, and was worked from the lower drive to a depth of nine feet. She leaders are of a blueatone and rubble oharaoterJ be* sides one composed of hard bastard granite, involving a considerable expenditure of labour to take out. Drives, ,-prere put in to depths of 46 feet; 73 feet, [and 82 feet respectively. The latter had been stopped ,up aa4| abandoned as useless. A shaft had been! put in to a, depth of 40 feet* in order to out the leader from the range between the Kuranui and Moanataiari! ,A new drive had receutly been ownmenoed en a lower level to open the Carpenter's leader. This olnim haa kept a consiiera 1 - quantity of quarts on hand for more than two months awaiting the com pltttyn of Mesir*. Clarke and Kersterman n's machii ne, at the foot of the hill, but will have a orusbing in a - day or two now. A roadway from the claim had been out and levelled to a distance of 300 yards by labour, from the olaim, to be in readiness for the comple- , tion,of the pnaohine. The Beadigo Claim is adjacent to Edgecomb«'s, and {presents every indication of a claim worked under tbe direction of experienced .management. , The Ballarat Star, on the Moanataiari Creek, is bounded by the Carpenters' and Clyde on the one side, ai)d Bendigo Independent and El Dorado claims ,on the other. &, party of four men have been wprkug,on this claim for five months, and have sunk two ftbaitu through very hard rocks, but without finding gold bearing quarts until the la<*t week, when, clear- < ipg a ; »ite for. tbeir tent, they discovered the long- ' aougbt-for reef, within a few inches of th» »urfyce. They »t once foUo.wed up their, turn of luck, and haye 1 , „be«n. rewarded, for their j^ive months' labour. 7 be' „ leader is from 20 inches to two feet wide, mullocky "throughout, mnsilar to the Clyde adjoining, and will jiejd a very handsomer return. , 1 he shareholders are A. '( ollins, G. Holland, and two others. The Mariner*' Keef Claim have had a crushing of 38 tons of stuff this week at Graham's machine, bub tbe result *as far below the sanguine expectations of tbe shareholders. , The, total yield was 240 ounces of amalgam.,.. W« understand the party expected a ..yi^ld of some three or four ounces, and took out the , tailings to be retorted, Hespeotiog this crushing a cor- . who is also one o) the shareholders, says : —"The Mariner's fleet had a crushing at Graham's machine J^his, week of 38 tons, with a result of 240 ponces of amalgam, but tbe shareholders would have Had a much larger yield if the machine had not lost a quantity of amalgam, there being several dishes washed, from whiolvamalgam from jounce to 1 Jounces was got." Our correspondent adds that an action for damages is^pendiog-in this matter. A shareholder of the Loch Erne Claim writes 1 as follows 1-n" you. were pleased to congratulate us u pon zt>makably rich specimens which were taken out oftoe leader thas we opened up on Saturday last, ana now 1 am happy to inform you thatrthe quartz , taken ont pf tbe same leader ou the following Monday far surpassed,, in richness, the previous find ; in Wot, I'v.ery much doubt if there has been, as yet, anything found on,, the Waiotabi Creek to equal it. Even while I write this, another leader has been struck which premises to eclipse the above in riohness." The -writer also adds that by an error in the figures the gold yielded wan quoted *s 12^ ounces from 301b. of specimens instead of 301b., whioh, he states, " might lead the, public to think that the said claim was not deserving of the high encomiums you were pleased to pass upon it in your notice." ' Sadgrove's claim on the Moanataiari is reported to , be turning out about 180 ounces per week since their berdan has been got to work in earnest. t T;he Norwegian Claim have had a crashing this week at fjhe Victoria machine of about IS tons, with HO return., , ' ' .Jtull's maohine has ,beeo crushing this week for tbe Bough and Heady Claim, and a ton of stuff from 14^6) Sweeney ?s Claim, but the yields are not yet known. „, The Victoria machine yesterday commenced crushing for the.Eureka (Goldsworthy's) Claim. The stone from this claim, is verj rich, and the result is expected ,to be,*ati*faotory. > > v : ■ ! ( Messrs. .Dewolf's has been working very satisfactory during the week. The stuff crushed is the product of the proprietors' claim, bearing their name, on theKaraka. The men are busily at work constructing the tramway tt Tapu Creek from the landing-place to Golden Point, in order to facilitate the erection of Messrs. Bupkland and Co.'s machine. The last crashing from the All Nations Claim was below tbe mark, ths yield being something over 3 ounces to the ton throughout, This is a highly satisfactory result from forty tons raised in a few weeks, but is nevertheless below the former yield of the claim. A simil.tr quantity wi Ibe got out l>y the early part of next month, which is expected to reach thojold average, as a new leader is now being worked whioh gives promise of the usual excellence. The J^rand Junction Claim is situate at the foot of tbe Moanataiari and beneath Messenger's Spur, and conjoins ten men's ground. It has been opened for the past seven months, but has not been worked with • any regularity in consequence of several disputes, as to the)quantity of ground held by the grty,, which have been recently adjudicated upon by c Warden. The main drive has been put in to a length of 50 feet, with two 'cross drives, and another to a length of 150 feet with three cross drives. There is also a shaft reaching a depth of 50 feet, and in •ach of these good gold .bearing leaders have been opened, and, ,f#>jn whioh some splendid specimens have been obtained out of thick blue leaders. The leader was first cut from 6 to 12 inches in width in the left-hand drive, and is found to be thickly surrounded with mundic and iron pyrites, which will doubtless, to some extent, leisen the yield at the machine. In one of the drives a spring was opened whioh involved considerable labour on tbe part of the,shareholders before it could be diverted, and the' dnve had to be well slabbed throughout in consequence. A mass of leaden were opened in close proximity to this spring-level, and a face could not be put in. The men were therefore under the necessity of t taking it out by means of top drives. The propnetors of this claim were tbe fiSt to offer a site for a machine to Messrs. Clarke and£eratermann,anJ by' so dying have conferred a boon upon a large number of claims in that vicinity. Castle's Claim is ons man's ground on the Moana tain, and consists of 40 feet near the Evening Star and Justin-time Claims. The leaders opened on the gronnd'are believed to be those extending from each of the above, as well as from the Grand Junction Claim adjoining. The ground is consequently in a very excellent situation; but pendiDg disputes with olaims adjacent this promising piece of ground has sot yst been worked in earnest A[sample of 18owt. of atone from the Nil Desperandum, a new olaim on the Upper Moanataiaxi, has been crushed at Goodall's machine, and yielded about 40 ounces of gold. This, claim was only taken np about two or, three months ago, by hired miners, on account of a number of gentlemen ia Shortland, and promises to prove jvery remunerative. The Golden Star Claim, Moanataiari, contains four men's ground, and was taped off the last-mentioned olaim in, November last. For some two months afterward*, however, it was buffeted about, and ultimately .taken up in earnest by Messrs. Plaice, fientfelfc, and party. The latter commenced work with vigonr, and have a good show in the paddocks near the mouths of the drives. Of course there were numbers of applicants for interest in the claim after it, bad been worked in earnest, and some went so far as to appeal to the Warden for a restoration of the grounds but, unmistakable evidence of its abandonment; , having been giveD, that functionary very properly sent the applicants about their business, and reserved the right and title to the ground for the last oocupan^, The claim exhibits several good blue leadeiv, from which likely-looking quartz is being obtained. The main drive has been put in a length of .50 feefy with cross-driven, and in one of the latter an excellent leader was struck in March last, upon whioh the party are now 'working. The ground bas yet, howetet, on]y7<beeni.prospected in view of thr oompletfoa of' Messrs. Clarke and KerNtermann's machine!; but the latter having begun work, a large amount;,of stone and mullock from the leaders will be got out and crushed. There were several raw and some 60 tons of calcined 'quartz ready for crushing, all from the blnestone formation. We learn that a crushing of a ton of stuff from the City Board .Claim this week yielded a tin tack. We presome this statement is only meant to convey an idea.oithe.disappointment of the claimholders with the yield, although the quantity. passed through was | fftownto beof an inferior quality. I