LAKE COUNTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1917, 17 August 1888, Page 17

LAKE COUNTY.

August 13.— The special meetiug of the Lake County Council held last Monday was perhaps the crowning acG of the absurdity of local self-govern-ment. Ostensibly the meeting was held for the adoption of the yearly and half balance sheets, but practically for the purpose of considering a letter from the Mines department re arrears of mining rents. This letter makes various suggestions as to the manner in which these individuals may be let off, and the discussions which took place on it certainly did not redound to the credit of the council. To put the matter briefly, a meeting, costing the county upwards of £20, was held at the instigation of the Government to devise the best meaus of enabling parties owing legitimate debts to the county to avoid their payment, while at the same time the overdraft at the bank ranges close upon £900 1 Nor is this all. At least one councillor who took a prominent .part in the discussion is deeply interested., The miserable affair ended by the passing of a resolution referring the matter to a sub-committee consisting of three, whose decision is a foregone conclusion. It ia only fair to mention that Crs Aspinall and M'Bride made a bold and manly stand against the perpetration of this latest piece of bungling, while Cr M'Dougall, member for Cardrona riding, was unavoidably absent on accout of the road across the Crown Range being blocked with snow. The amount in arrears totals up still to £820, of wh'ch only £25 is due at the Queenstown, and the remainder at the Arrowtown office, a fact which explains why the movement became so intensely an Arrow one. This sum would very nearly wipe out the overdraft, on which 7 per cent, interest is payable, bo that the councillors and the Government "are injuring the ratepayers to an appreciable extent, and it will be well tor them to recollect the Mttle episode at the next election. As regards the position of the defaulting leaseholders, it is in general really not worth discussion, for the leases were almost exclusively taken up for the purpose of selling out to syndicates for fabulous sums, while the owners did not think them worth the payment of the rent ; and as to the cry of many poor men beiug driven to bankruptcy by the collection of the mining rents it is all humbug. What busineas can poor men have with mining leases and syndicates. The debt is a fair and legitimate contract between the Government and the lessees, and if the latter did not take the necessary pain 8 to understand the nature of the obligations entered into they deserve to suffer for their negligence. Besides this, how will the wavering action of the Government affect the mining rents in other counties. Will it not have the effect of throwing the door open much wider than hitherto to all kinds ot unprincipled mining speculations and monopolies ? — the very thing which has almost killed off the miner as a prospector, and reduced him to the condition of a " fossiker." The falling off in the production of gold for the last ye.ir ohould surely open the eyes of the Government to the fact that there must be something wrong somewhere, and itis clear that at no time, taking the number of leases now in existence into account, has there ever been more activity in mining than there is at present, and yet there is a falling off in the yield of gold that must be accounted for somehow.