The Evening Star THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4204, 17 August 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1876.

The report of the Under-Secretary for Goldfields ought to be ono of the most interesting of the departmental reports laid annually before the General Assembly. The subject is large and attractive, and Mr Haughton, the Under-Secretary, is a gentleman possessing a long and varied personal experience of goldfields, so that he is well qualified to do justice to his theme. Ilia reports, however, are the baldest productions imaginable, usually consisting of a batch of Wardens’ reports and statistics huddled together, and prefaced by a few words of introduction ; and in reading them one is led to wonder how the Under-Secretary contrives to pass away his time, for his labors during the year seem to be comprised in the reception of these Wardens’ reports and the compilation of the statistics. On the present occasion, something better was, reasonably to bo expected, for Mr Haughton had, to the general astonishment, been induced to leave his office at Wellington and take a tour through the mining districts during the recess, and although, as he truly observes, the tour was made “in a very hurried manner,” still there was ground for hope that his flying excursion might have enabled him to proffer a few suggestions for the improvement of the goldfields administration. Then, too, the impending Conditional changes seemed to deserve notice. It would not have been proper for Mr Haughton, as an office- ol the Civil Service, to have discussed political questions, but it would have beon highly appropriate for him to have pointed out the peculiar requirements of the goldfields which needed consideration in any alterations that might be made in their form of Government. Certain politicians have laterly promulgated the notion that sound policy dictates the abolition of all special measures for the mining districts, and it has been argued that such measures attach a badge of inferiority to the mining population ; but a different cry conies from the miners themselves, and for obvious reasons. Mining is a peculiar industry, and those districts where it is almost if not the sole pursuit of the inhabitants, want their affairs administered ac cordingly. A glance at the country journals of Otago will show how much the mining localities dislike the prospect of being tacked to agricultural districts, because they know full well that such forced unions of divergent interests would inevitably bring about angry disputes and injustice to the weaker party. Mr Haughton had here a fine chance for the display of his talents and technical knowledge, but he has missed it; for not a single suggestion of any kind does he make. The yield of gold for the whole Colony has been gradually declining for several years past. In 1873 it amounted to 505,3370z5. ; in 1874, to 376,3880zs ; while in 1875 it only l eached 355,3220z5. The decrease during this period has been greatest in the Otago and least in the Marlborough and Nelson South-west goldfields; the Otago yield having sunk from 182,4160z5. in 1873 to 121,4230z5. in 1875. There has also been a heavy decline in the productLn of silver, which fV.ll from 80,2720>.5. in 1871 to 29,0850z. in 1575. This is owing to the partial exhaustion of the Thames diggings, where the gold is largelyalloyed with silver. The development of the Mount Kangitoto galena lode may cause the returns to wear a different aspect next year; but it is stated by Mr Warden Fitzgerald that “ owing to the almost inaccessible country in which the mine is situated the placing of proper machinery on the ground will take some little time.” While the gold returns showed a decline last year, the amount of revenue raised from the goldfields exhibited an increase of <£4,973 upon the preceding year, the sum collected daring 1875 being £88,510. The principal items of increase were depasturing licenses and miners’ rights. The mining population likewise advanced from 16,424 on the 31st March, 1875, to 16,639 on the

corresponding date of the present year. The difference, howevei', is solely attributable to an augmentation in the number of Chinese miners, Mr Haughton, reviewing these facts, takes a hopeful view of the future. He says “ the results of the year, as shown by the statistical tables, are very reassuring, and seem to indicate that the worst times are past, and that now reactionary Improvement may be looked for.*' The causes of the decadence of this industry are patent. The rich surface patches have been worked out; the days when fortunes were turned up with a pick are passed; and gold-mining is now become an industry requiring the help of capital for its successful prosecution, and conducted, to a considerable extent, like mining for less precious minerals. There is still an element of speculation about it, but the romance which once surrounded it is gone, and with it have fled those crowds of adventurous spirits little used to the pick and shovel who were attracted to the miner’s occupation by the hope of finding there a short cut to wealth. Goldmining has now degenerated into ordinary hard and disagreeable work,

and the number of men engaged in it will ebb and flow in proportion as the wages which it pays are smaller or greater than those obtained in other pursuits. The extensive public and private works which have been in course of construction during the last three or four years have drawn away numbers of men from the gold fields j and it may be expected, now that the demand for labor in this direction is growing slack, that the goldmining population will increase. It however, significantly remarked by Llr Warden Simpson that “it is becoming more and more noticeable every year that there are few, comparatively speaking, young men among the mind's on the Otago goldfields now and he pertinently asks, “Is the race gradual!y to become extinct V’ There is no fi;av of the race becoming extinct so as there are men looking for work and lair wages are offered to the miner; bub it is certain that, in the future, gold-mining will be more subject to the ordinary principles which govern the supply of labor, and less exposed to extraneous influences than it has been in the past. The miner is gradually being converted from a nomad into a settler. All the Wardens, within whose cognizance the mattter has come, speak emphatically of the success of the agricultural lease provisions of the Goldfields Acts and the deferred payment system in promoting settlement; and the miner is freely availinghimself of this means of creating a homestead for himself. It is pleasant, moreover, to learn from Mr Warden Oarew, with respect to the Tuapeka district, that “ there is no reason to suspect that what has occurred in other Colonies, of men taking up blocks of land, exhausting its fertility, and then selling out to large proprietors, will occur here, and the nature and quality ol the improvements effected upon the ’anti and the manner of making it evidence a contrary intention.” Let us hope Mr Carew will prove a true prophet.

Mr Shenparson, agent for th» Lydia* Howards Burlesque Company, is in Dunedin making arrangements for the troupe’s appearance in Dunedin some time about ChristJJJ* 8 ; Owing to their successful season in Christchurch, they remain there till after the November races.