THE PALMER.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 877, 3 November 1874, Page 3

THE PALMER.

News from Palmersville to September 10th has been received A public meetin", comprising representatives of the storekeejyrs and miners at the principal camps, was he'd at Stoney Creek, Palmer diggings, on the 6th. Bishop Quinn presided. The following resolution was unanimously adopted—"That, in consideration of the present condition of tho goldfields, of the arrival of a large number of men from the south, and of an inevitable danger of a famine during the rainy seaon, which isfist approaching, this meeting deems it its duty to ensure publicity for the following facts - That there is r.o alluvial mining at present except what has been already worked ; that a majority of diggers are not earning wages ; that many are not making rations—a considerable number are in a worse position ; that the quartz reefs cannot, as worked, alford lucrative employment until machinery is on the ground; that the present rate of charges for provisions is exorbitant, seeing that they cannot be procured for less than an ounce of gold per man j>er week; that the present prii es for rations at the principal camps are Flour, 3s per lb ; sugar, 3s Gd per lb ; tea, 7s per lb ; salt, 2s 6d per lb ; jam, 3s Gd per lb ; potatoes, 4s per lb ; rice, 3s Gd per lb ; blucher boots, which can be bought for 5s in Brisbane or Sydney, 30s to 35s per pair ; that supplies being forwarded from Cookstown and Townsville are unequal to the present wants of the population on the gold-fields ; and that large numbers of the miners are leaving the diggings for fear of a famine during the rainy season.'

A parajraph is g'>ing the rounds of the papers to the effect that Mr J. C. Brown, the valiant advocate of Tuapeka's interests in the halls of the Otago Provincial Council and the General Assembly, has taken wings uuto himself and flown to the Palmer. Mr Brown, we believe, has been sent by the miners of his district to report upon the value of the Palmer goldfield. If this is so, the matter should awaken the attention of our Government, for taxation, said to equal £5 upon each working miner, is beginning to tell. A Resident Magistrate, within a circumference of a onc-hurulred-mile-circlc'.gave a decision the other day that caused some surprise. The case is reported to U3 as follows: —Mr O'Flaherty, the well-known counsellor from Dcvilstown. was defending his client from certain charges for goods supplied by Taffy and Co. to a firm of miners. The learned and enlightened counsel was contending that the goods, being lor the use and quiet enjoyment of a third party, his client was not liable for their value, uuless it was proved that he was a consenting party to the transaction by a written document, as provided by the 3rd and h section of the Statute of Fraud, 29 Charles 11. "Mr O'Flaherty," remarked the grave dignitary, " I ant astonished that you should attempt to deceive the Court, by quoting an Act that only applies to criminal offences like larceny, embezzlement, <fec." Mr O'Flaherty remonstrated. He had come with a full and teeming brain ; was able to quote from it the wording of the sections of the Act; but he bad neglected to furnish himself with the " lawyer's bible." All his argument was in vain, for, in the absence of the book of authority, the Magistrate decided against the unhappy lawyer, adding "that the common sense interpretation of the meaning of I the words 'Statute of Frauds' would show that the Act was not applicable to commercial transactions." Messrs Taffy and Co. uttered a hearty endorsement of course, and secured a victory. When this matter was afterwards related to an undoubted authority, he is reported to have lifted his hands in pous horror, nnd to have expressed aloud his wonderment as to what the country was coming to.