The Tuapeka Times. THURSDAY, JUKE 22, 1871. "Measures, not Men."

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 176, 22 June 1871, Page 4

The Tuapeka Times. THURSDAY, JUKE 22, 1871. " Measures, not Men."

The Mining Conference having adjourned till after the next session of the General Assembly, it will not be amiss to review some of their proceedings up to the present time. The task assigned to the Conference by the Government, as disclosed in the Superintendent's letter, was a sufficiently arduous one. They were asked to take into consideration the amendment and consolidation of the Goldfields Acts, the alteration of the regulations now in force in the province, and the mode of applying the lo.'in expected for the Provincial Goldfields, under the Immigration and Public Works Act. The consideration of the second of these topics — the amendment of the Regulations — the Committee, in their reply to the Superintendent's Address, declined at present to undertake. The Regulations, they state, must be based on the Goldfields Act, and it would be a waste of labour on their part for them to take them into consideration till the statute on which they were contingent was enacted. This part, therefore, of the task assigned to them, they determined to postpone till their next meeting. In contradiction to the resolution thus expressed, it is curious to find that a great part of their resolutions and report, .and that we think the most valuable and practical part, is taken up with proposed amendments on the very Regulations which they thus stated their intention of declining to notice. The scale of fees in the Warden's Court, and the charge for registrations ; the rent of mining and agricultural leases ; *he deposit for the former and the " mode of advertising the latter, are all fixed, not by the Goldfields Acts, but by the Regulations; and these subjects the Conference has made the subjects of resolutions. It is possible that, by considering these in the face of their express declaration, the Commissioners have meant to imply that they should be definitely fixed in the amended statute, and not left, as hitherto, to

be enacted and amended by the Provincial Government as circumstances from time to time may seem to require. This supposition would seem to derive support from the fact that, while the Commissioners recommend that a copy of their resolutions and report should be sent to each member of the Assembly, no such recommendation is made in reference to the members of the Council ; though of the two legislative bodies it is the more able to give effect to their resolutions, as the law at present stands. This supposition is still further strengthened by the well-known opinions of some of the members on the delegated powers dispute. We can scarcely, despite these circumstances, think it was the intention of the Conference to insinuate that so much of the control of the goldfields should be withdrawn from the province. We rather think that the programme sketched in their reply to the Superintendent was adopted without due deliberation, and it is fortunate that it was not adhered to. The third division of their task — the mode of applying the share coming to the Otago Goldfields of the £300,000 for water supply — the Conference disposed of by a single resolution. They concur with his Honour's opinion that part of the grant should be lent at a low rate of interest to companies already existing, or to be formed hereafter, on terms made by the Government. To this recommendation they add what will be acknowledged a very necessary caution, lest so much of the grant should be dribbled away in assisting so man} 7 small schemes as will prevent the execution of large permanent works of public utility. The recommendation that the Act should be amended to admit of a portion being expended in draining and forming sludge channels, is a necessary measure of justice to the miners in localities where the scarcity of water is not the only or perhaps the the greatest evil with which they have to contend. The consolidation of the Goldn'elds Acts the Commissioner regard as their primary duty, and the changes they suggest are, as far as the letter of the law extends, of the most sweeping nature. We had no idea that the law in reference to mining in New ! Zealand was so unsatisfactory, conflicting, and unintelligible, as from the report before us it appears to be. We thought that as the A.cts must be comparatively few in number, the law was at least as plain and clear as that treating of other industries of similar importance. But it seems we were suffering from ! a grievous mistake — unless, indeed, j the Commissioners, to magnify the difficulties they have overcome, greatly exaggerated the defects of the law. So bad, in fact, is the law that they, while knowing the " difficulty and even danger of striking out a new policy" in regard to mining, would apparently recommend that these difficulties and dangers should be encountered, were it not that, fortunately, they found in Victoria an intelligible and satisfactory precedent. It is singular that the Commissioners i have not furnished a few instances in support of their statement that the Goldn'elds Acts are contradictory and unintelligible, and to back their recommendation that, with the exception of those parts which relate to pastoral and agricultural industries, they should be entirely repealed. It is still more singular that the resolutions on this point appear to differ considerably from the report in this respect. The resolutions deal with proposed amendments on the Acts, and these amendments seem to have reference not so much to the defects in the Acts as to greater privileges which it is thought the poorer ground worked, and the consequent alteration in the mode of mining, render expedient. The basis of the new statute which the Commissioners recommend, is the Mining Statute, 1866, of Victoria. The proposed amendments on the law we will not now consider. The amendments on the Regulations which the Conference suggest, we, with two exceptions, cordially support, and would express the hope that some member of the Provincial Council will endeavour to have them immediately effected They contain the most valuable and practical result of the deliberations of the Conference. In reference to the mode of publishing the applications for agricultural leases, the Committee recommend that advertising as at present be discontinued, and that a notice posted in the Warden's Court be substituted. In a distiiet like this, such a notice, in nine cases out of ten, would not in the slightest degree answer the purpose intended by advertising. The miners in the neighbourhood

of the land applied for, who best know if such land foe auriferous or not, and who are the most interested in objecting to the application if it is, would not, in the majority of cases, know that the application had been made, if the course recommended were adopted. We fear that the law as to the notices on the ground is not always strictly adhered to. The greatest safeguard that exists against the alienation of auriferous land is undoubtedly the advertising in the local papers, and so far from showing that any precaution adopted should be relaxed, the history of agricultural applications in this district shows that they require to be made more stringent. From the slight notice taken by the Conference of the danger arising from the agricultural lease system, we infer that the matter has not in other districts been forced on the notice of the miners as it has in this. To one other recommendation we refer. It, if not included in the Regulalations, falls under the authority of the Provincial Government, and it is urged that immediate effect be given to it. We allude to the recommendation as to the shifting of the Warden. This, on the face of it, appears so arbitrary and unreasonable, that nothing but the most cogent reasons could convince us of its expediency or justice. If the Commissioner!* possess such reasons, they have not produced them, and we cannot imagine that they can have adequate grounds for their recommendation. We could have no difficulty in furnishing reasons why a Warden should be permanently settled in a district, removable only for misconduct. The duties of Wardens in the different districts vary greatly, not only in the amount, but in the nature of the business transacted. In one distiiet the business brought before the court is more simple than in another, where the mode of mining and the other interests involved are simpler and less extensive. The experience gained as Warden in one district may therefore not be of much value in another district. Where the mode of mining is exceptional to that followed in any other district, the experience of mosb value can only be acquired on the spot. Again, the legal knowledge, the aptitude and capacity for business, which may be sufficient for a Warden in one district, may be totally inadequate for the due^rformance of the work of another, and vice versa. We fear that on this point the Commissioners, or some of them, were influenced, perhaps unintentionally, by personal feeling — by the desire to get quit of an obnoxious Warden. They wished to make the bad shilling — or rather, what they consider sueh — pass. If the shilling is really bad, "nail it down " — if the Warden is inefficient, get him dismissed ; but don't punish all and injure the community for the offence of one.