THE COLONIST.

Colonist, Issue 55, 30 April 1858, Page 2

THE COLONIST.

NELSON, FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1858,

" As truth is truth, And, told by halves, may, from a simple thing By misconstruction to a monster grow, I'll tell the whole truth." Shemdas Knowles.

T'hk gold bonus was intended, it may be presumed, to induce parties to explore, prospect, and search sufficiently to demonstrate the existence of ;a "payable gold field," in the Nelson settlement; The individuals offering such a boon were supposed to be honorable men whose position and circumstances justified an advertisement of their intentions, and an assurance to the diggers and others' that they both meant all they said and could afford to give all they promised. No one surmised for an instant that there would be either inability or indisposition, in the event of indisputable discovery, to pay the proffered benefit without the least lingering reluctance. All sorts of searching,, digging, sinking, washing, and, with the exception of crushing, effective investigations were prosecuted. Many have been, continued under disheartening counteractions of new circumstances and unexr pected changes, with admirable perseverance. The good order upheld amongst the diggers has resulted chiefly from their own prudent, just, and wellconsidered measures. In the whole of America and Australia no regulations for sense, equity, and uniform propriety, both in the design of them and in their'quiet practical operation, have ever been; bo honorably observed, with such undeviating care, in the spirit of voluntary homage to rules pronto*' tive of peace and respectable neighbourhood. And what has beea the result? Not only have remunerating gold fields been found, but they have been worked for many months with the certainty of their permanence. With a climate, and with, foodj .water and fuel always beneficially available^ the most ■ experienced diggers from California and Melbourne again and again assure our more hesitating colonists, that Nelson must, ere long* be the true Ophir or moderate men, and steady enterprize. Indeed, taking man for man and month for month, our gold diggings, have been found to average more than any others.; If as yet they have presented no astonishing prizes, neither have they blasted hope by any ruinous blanks and failures. On the contrary, they have proved to every man of pluck, industry, temperance, and ordinary forethought (and others had best remain aloof) that, however crops may fail, cattle die, or the common means of colonial support discontinue, he will have an unfailing friend in the exhaustless treasury of our innumerable gullies and mountain deposits. Slaves of lucre there are, but every man of true heart and soul may here realize enough of gold to enable him to lift the front of a free and an independent citizen. He too whom fortune may have spoilt elsewhere, may work here without confusion, work, in a most healthy country, at all seasons, work himself into vigorous habits, win a goodly reward, and return to the status of a gentleman, and return with the noble bearing of a man who has learnt to win a comfortable subsistence, and a wiser and happier experience. Such are the evidences of a"• workable gold field;" aye, a field workable by all people, at all times of the year, and with a safety and healthfulness not to be found elsewhere. Nor is there reason for supposing that those excessive evils peculiar to vast regions will

find room to spread.and dominate here; The laborer is surer of his honest gains in this island thaninany other landin the known world. All these mattei^ therefore being duly pondered, we cannot suppose any one hardy enough to assert that discovery worthy of the gold bonus has not been made. Not only has it been achieved, but the untold thousands yielded by it are of incontestable notoriety. None but the foolish or the bad would say a word in contradiction.

We may here premise that whatever of reasoning we may introduce or avoid in this article, we are, at any, rate, in a condition to treat the case before us independently. We know of no one, either as subscribers "to the bonus, or as expectant claimants, to whom we are under^ny kind of obligations, either personal or editorial; and as for any present or future applicant, for the comparatively small sum to be claimed, we dp not personally know any one of them. In fact, we have so little to hope or fear from any of them, as to make us utterly indifferent with regard to any u> fluence as affecting our own interests. Consequently our remarks, such as they are, must be received on public grounds only, or not at all. In this we serve the public merely. We aim at no more, and hence it will be difficult'for any one to prevent us obtaining the description of bonus which we may happen to desiderate. ' .

Now we will not be so unmannerly as to hint, that the worthy citizens of Nelson who offered the amazing purse of five hundred. pounds for the disclosure of a secret which might produce endiess: millions, enjoyed the security of the utmost doubt, that they would ever be challenged to make good their engagement. On this point we will suppose their intentions to have been, and still to be, perfectly upright, Neither will we venture to imagine that they, finding payment inconvenient, wish either to compound or postpone. Such a thing, even in bare idea, would be an affront to them and to the province. But no friendly spectator, with anything like dispassionate view 3of their movements, can clear them of the charge of prolonged delay in conferring what at first was a spontaneous favor, but being long formally promised is now to certain parties, if under supposed or implied conditions, an affair of right, and of right too, as some conjecture, unnecessarily withheld. Had there been many applicants, for the bonus, with nearly equal claims, under great complexity of circumstances, or with irreconcilable pretensions, some procrastination might have been excusable. But the claimants were just plural, and had a division of bonus been fairly required, it could easily have been executed. Or if, on the other hand, there had been no claim preferred, then the inertness of the subscribed patrons of a bonus might have been proper; but good claims were urged, and abundantly substantiated. By possibility there may have been some informalities on the side of claimants; we have heard of such; yet never have we been able, after careful inquiry, to perceive any save mere verbal errors in that respect. Certainly nothing has been revealed to the public but what a little of the spirit of equitable despatch could have ruled satisfactorily, and have settled months ago, and have settled by the subscribers themselves as a body. They seem to have been of another opinion. It has appeared best to them to appoint three Referees. [ Whether this should have been done without consulting the. claimants, we gravely doubt; because, itiwould. not only, be to adopt such a line as the way to a subterfuge, but an" understood agreement; having been made in a promissory manner, irrespective of such reference, that reference could only be made in fairness by an appeal to all parties concerned. In honor bound to the public, particularly the diggers, and any of their body applying for the bonus legitimately, the subscribers should not have acted without their acquiescence, as if they themselves were only restricted by the lordly obligations of their own patronizing will and pleasure. Their error is an old one, yet it is not the less wrong, and liable to be as selfish as it is undignified. '■.".

We pause not to inquire whether the Referees be disinterested men—men with pockets untouched in this small matter—men out of the vortices of trade in land, either private or public—men retired from the eddies of a vulgar partiality, but; at the same time, of generous and independent minds, —we will at once assume, that they were all equally honorable, and wise, and true; but they are men who receive from a certain party, a certain commission, and, with an understood amount of confidence, in a certain and duly expressed case of difficulty, about an award that may or may not be made. Exactly so. Well now, as the original promisera of the bonus have hesitated—they best know why—to pay the money, is it not rather too much to expect that the Referees, engaged by one side only, will promptly look them out of countenance, and say, yon must pay it at once, no matter how disagreeable the payment may be? Were all equally good fellows,, it would be a fragment too much, it may be feared, to expect such a result, just as it maybe. Because, in such circumstances the case comes into their hands vitiated by the evident bias of the friends who submitted it to their decision, It is true since the trio, who are to act not as umpires, but' as judges or arbitrators, selected by an interested number of employers, have plenty., of and integrity; amongst .t|»em f they may act for the ultimate credit and respectability of the province, and to save its character, may becomingly risk any small displeasure which their; manly determination may occasion, no. matter; what party it may inconvenience or disappoint* But, at all events, they appear to take a^ much time for their verdict or judgment as if the affair were barred by all the hinderaiices of a chancery suit. ' ' '~"'" ■■'"'" '" ■'■•■■'.'. "'. '■■.

Meanwhile, we are apprize^ of a movement in another quarter. It is said by several of our correspondents and friends at and from the diggings, .that the delayed bonus has already taught the diggers,-r-no, thanks to small friends here, —to contemplate an early effort amongst themselves, to reward the worthy, especially the agent by whom the fact of a paying gold field was first established. We have no personal acquaintance with the individual or his co-operators; men who were long in the field before this journal was originated. Still we are of opinion, from past correspondence in this paper, and from present communications, that the claims long felt by the diggers, and formally acknowledged repeatedly, will not be allowed to rust. In civilized society, when m^rit is once fairly known it is.sure of its crown, from either admirers or just witnesses. The genuine desert of any one who has opened the road to boundlesspublic wealth, and greatness to be promoted by it, will not be unappreciated by our suacessors, neither will our fellow citizens suffer it to pass down to them, as from heads and hearts destitute

of regard for the future. He Avho finds permanent ore, or an enduring staple, and shews us how to gain it in a practical manner, is a patriot, staple and patent for ages to come ; and the least a few colonists and compatriots can do is, by some suitable gift, to signify to posterity that they were neither blind nor unfeeling. :

(To be continued*)