THE GOLDFIELDS LEASING SYSTEM.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4330, 1 July 1871, Page 3

THE GOLDFIELDS LEASING SYSTEM.

Our Thames correspondent writes :— -" A lato Provincial Government notification, setting forth that no leases will be granted in the Upper Tararu district unless it shall have been proved that labour to the amount of £50 per acre has absolutely been expended in working the ground within three months' of the application for leasers pronounced on all sides here as an arbitrary edict of the Superintendent, that instead of hastening will tend to retard the development of the district in which it is to have force. The leasing question and how to administer the law respecting it has assumed a variety of phases within Jbhelast two years. t _ .Amendments and notifications have "followed closely on each others' steps, the result being a cumbrous piece of mechanism, incongruous in its parts . and expensive in its operation. The utmost that can be said in its favour is that a rich crop of fees accrues from it to the Government, .and also that, when once set in motion, and its course run, it does confer a sort of title upon the applicants. However, it is not my object to enter at length into the question here, but merely to protest against this latest action of the wiseacres who are entrusted with the management of this important goldfield. I do not mean to say that the measure is entirely destitute of wisdom. The germ is there, in an evident good intention to check monopoly. But in avoiding this Scylla, the Charybdis that wrecks public spirit and enterprise looms up threateningly on the other hand ; and upon this object and enterprise the development of the Upper Tararu district absolutely depends. I say this advisedly, for it is well understood here that every attempt hitherto made by labour, unaided by capital, to develop the "good mines that are known to exist there, has failed, and that signally. With the wholesome di cad of monopoly on the one hand, and on the other the danger of a section of country, rich in minerals, being allowed to lie fallow, and consequently unproductive, the question arises, How is the difficulty to be mat ? Is there no way to avoid extremities on either side, no way left open by which capital and labour may march amicably hand in hand ? _It certainly docs not lie in the notification above referred to, which is equally restrictive to the capitalist and to the labourer. The one objects to beiug compelled to lay oub so much money in so short a time ; the other cannot afford to do so. The one say 3, What right has the Government to place so heavy a prico on land in a locality that is all but inaccessible ? The other lifts up its voice and rails agaiust the power that so suddenly raises an obstacle between it is tbo one indispensable and only efficient coadjutor. It is argued that the Government, pcdler-like, is overcharging for its waies ; that no warrant for such a proceeding exists. If the Upper Tararu district had been opened up by good roads, and so placed within easy communication of the centre of business at the Thames, a pretext would not have been wanting for this paternal display of authority and care. But, as the case stands, Upper Tararu retains its pristine condition of swamp and forest, which can only be slowly ameliorated as the development of the place progresses. To force on that development bhould then be the aim of the Government. Ido not think that charging £50 per acre for the land is hke'y to forward matters much. If a restrictive duty is to be placed upon mining lei it be as light as possible, by all means."