THE PROPOSED ANNEXATION OF THE LAKE DISTRICT.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 5, 18 November 1863, Page 3

THE PROPOSED ANNEXATION OF THE LAKE DISTRICT.

The Wakatip Afuil of. the 14th instant, has the following indignant article on the . undeserved strictures of a portion of the ' Otago press on the subject of the Lake petition for annexation : — |<j^ Dunedin contemporaries are dating greav v honor to the Shotover miners. The Weekly Witness and the Daily Telegraph l have both cond sceiided to read a lesson to the diggers, about the petition to the Genera] Government now being signed. It is something new to ! see the Telegraph awakened into liveliness, or the Witness giving its readers argument in the pface of declamation. In one of these papers, those who hare signed' the' memorial are charged with blasphemy,- and. in both they; are denounced.as liars and fools for having' placed their names to that of which, they I know nothing. , One of the writers also cooly admits, perhaps without a blush, that he is aware how names to a petition are procured. We bope this gentleman ihasnot practised the fraud that he insinuates has been committed by others. Those in Dvfriedin have %een long accustomed to look upon the miners of the Lake as .stolid and willing drudges, and anything like action on their part is now deemed presumptuous; We will not dis- : pute with our contemporaries the question : .as to whether or not they know all about what is i being\^ohe'*jh'' ; tne^ ! ''district.';,Wei * have no doubt they can tell, to an inch, i the depth of yrashdirt, ; in every' claim on the driver. '^Ther can judge of the quantity ;©f Califurnianj ipumps, and instruct the diggers in the proper way of turning the %ar.ale. We wjll, iowever, speak a word or'twoon the me'fits' of the case so far as regards the right; of ithe miners *o»petition.l Anfl we will also venture to assert that there is not a singlet allegation in the petition *wlncli will not; be^f roved to the satisfaction crfthe General Government. Owing to the i JVitness being ithe grandmamma of the Daily Titncs, everyone is prepared to expect mendacious -statements in its colufnhs. We hardly ex-, pected, however, that it would be bold' I enough to tell upwards of two thousand men that they have deliberately told untruths—not only told untruths, hut signed, 6ealed, nnd delivered. them. The Witness* is n bad witness inthis cause, and the stare' ■of blank astonishment which we have seen ■ several miners^give when, reading thej recent article, -says more than any number; of words. The .Dunedin p. ess have long, misled the public as to the state of matters ' here, and when-they find that the know- 1 ledge of the -real state of things is creeping! out through other channels, they rush ; forward and proclaim aloud silly falsehoods. On behalf of the miners in the district we deny the aspersions, and declare that it would be well for the Witness the Telegraph if they, could issue their leaders ■ with half as much regard to truth as the ■miners have done their ' Petition. 1 The "tv quoque " style of argument is a bad one, but . it is the only one that is availal 1 v and wd give it as it was given The Witness talks largely about the difficulties that would arise owing to the distance 'rif the Seat of Governmt nt, if the t&j pmyer of the Petition were granted. IT Those who have signed the Petition are not Ichildren to 4be ffrightened such a bugIbear- A responsible Minister at Dunedin. .lor a^3ie nearest port, -and the establish•.l'tneut of District *Gourts will Iwing the Iminers" nearer ttie Seat ofGovernment than ltbey are now. :. _ . - ' ■ I Oo the 16th December, 1862, the Daily t Times, in writing of the then coming; election of buperinlendenV said -as. follows :—*' We believe the Governor con-; fiders the post so iiriiportant, as to justify ' him, in the event of an improper selection being made, in withdrawing from the, y Provincial control theimanagement of the : : ; joldfielda. lie «cari do- this at any time, - and ihejminers'not long ago *were petitioning that it should be dpnel'' ;lf our readers prill bearin m ma, -that ihe [Times and the ■ Witness areone and the same paper, they will be. able toijadgeof the consistency of > hose who are (connected with them. The , daily Telegraph attempts to show, that be Petition is incorrect tin reference to the evenue drawn >from the goldfields. Jt is '"■ rue, that 'in round numbers, the revenue ' erived for the year ending-fuly last was 506,000, of which the goldfields conributed L9f5;000. If ihe sum realised rom the sale of lands, and the Customs i evenue be deducted, as also the L 96,000; '.-.' he amount derived from oilier sources will ' c small indeed. It must also be botne in, ... iind, that the sum- contributed by the oldfields'is in thesha-pe of direct taxatlop, . nd thati indirectly, the .inhabitants of liem have to pa) the same as others. In conclusion^ wje'have onlyltosayj.ihat , be miners willnot be. diverted from their arpose by any indirect attempt to try ' tie question in the columns off the Dundin press. The rnsult which has been iven them, wili not at all affect the truth . f the statements they have made. Knaves id fools are «ver prone to csqnsider those ho thwart th^m, -guilty of pi-actices like • eir own-; hut- wither kßfeyeiy "nor olery will succeed in- disp^i'ng: stateents signed by upwards of two thousand en, each of which can be.ma.de oath to', QecesßV3^ We iaiain mpon the iners who have'not yetfiigned, the pro-* liety of signing the pefitipn immediately i that t here may be no pbssib i lity of the lestion being -evaded at Auckland, on j c ground that it is not iirianimbus. We ye reason to believe^ that- ; :the general overnment will, in accordance with the' cyer of the Petition, take the control of c goltffields into their ■owii hainds^- A fcrching inquiry will first he made by immission^ and then, it will be seen •tether the statement's in the petition are Jrrect or not.