THE MINERS' MEETING.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 635, 22 March 1870, Page 2

THE MINERS' MEETING.

The following are some of the remarks made by speakers at the meeting of miners held in "Westport on Thursday evening last: — Mr Graham urged upon the mining community the propriety of combining, so that they might achieve a fair and proper administration of Goldfields affairs, and have by-laws adapted to local necessities. This was the more requisite when they knew that the Chief Magistrate of the Province had no respect for the miners, and very little for his own conduct. To get fair administration some radical changes must be made in the composition of the Provincial Government, and for the passing of proper by-laws he proposed the establishment of a Mining Board. It was only by such a body that by-laws could be passed which would be adapted to the peculiarities of the case. They had tried middle courses too long.- They sbould now petition the Governor. If they did not get all they wanted, they would get a great deal. But, to get anything, men required to take an interest in themselves; to stick together like men; and not to be altogether wanting in " cheek." Besides the big grievances which they had—the want of representatives and Mining Boards—there were Bmaller and local matters of which they had to complain. Let them look only at the fees which they bad to pay into the "Warden's Courtis for a surveyor, and five shillings for a bit of paper worth twopencohalfpenny. There was no " tick" given there. And, look how often they had to come down from the Terraces or from Addison's for that bit of paper. If they could not have the Warden,

they might at least have some officer ou the ground by whom somo part of the office-work could bo done whore the miner had to do his work. Not only had the diggers to leave their work and tramp into town, but, going and coming, they had to pay a- toll. Upon every truck-wheel and plate, upon every pound of "tucker," and upon every pick that was sent to the blacksmith they had to pay. He thought it was high time the Government were doing here as they had done for Charleston. Charleston had had a bridge bought for il. The residents of the Buller district helped to pay for that bridge, and why should Charleston and the Grey not now help to pay for a bridge for them.—Mr Graham referred to a wide variety of other , subjects, as collateral to extended representation and the establishment of Mining Boards ; and he did so throughout with an amount of primitive humor and simplicity of speech which it would be impossible to represent in print, however much it was appreciated on the platform.

Mr Dunn, in proposing a resolution on the necessity for increased representation, said that, in the words of the hackneyed but sufficiently expressive phrase, all were satisfied that there was " something rotten in the state of Denmark" —that they had not meted out to them on these goldfields the amount of justice which they demanded and had a right to obtain. They failed altogether to see the principle, if principle there was, upon which the franchise was based. If it was on the basis of population, they must be entitled to a great many more members both in the Provincial Council and the General Assembly; and to withhold that to which, upon principle, they were fairly entitled, was to inflict upon them a manifest and gross injustice. Even although in this respect the boon of the franchise had been fully granted, it was so fenced in by obstacles and objections, that only very imperfect advantage could be taken of it. For each part of the country to which they went a fresh miner's right was necessary, instead of the miner's right being, as it should be, applicable to all parts of the colony; and thus, as a rule, only a minority of the miners in any one particular locality were able to exercise their proper privileges. It was in such respects as these that, as his resolution stated, the present franchise was unjust and inequitable. "With these obstacles removed, and with increased mining representation, he did not despair of such a weight being brought to bear upon the counsels of the country as would ensure greater attention being given to their interests. In such a colony as New Zealand the mining interest was essentially the interest of the whole country, and in proportion to its promotion by the legislature would all other interests be promoted. While they had thus, and specially, good grounds for making a demand for increased representation, it was the duty of other interests to aid them in the demand which they made; and with a full expressionof their claims on their own part, and a fair advocacv of these claims on the part of their now few representatives, he trusted to see the change which they sought seriously considered and speedily effected.

Mr Braithwaite proposed a resolution suggesting the withdrawal from the Superintendent of the Governor's delegated powers. To some, he said, this might appear to be a very startling proposition, but it could not seem so to those who reflected bow the mining community had been misunderstood, neglected, and stigmatised by the present Superintendent. Either a sweeping reform must be effected in the principles and practice of the Government, or they (the miners) would themselves be swept out of the country. The Nelson Government were attempting the experiment which was tried by the man who hoped to feed his horse on one straw per day, and who believed he would have succeeded had not the animal died. Emblematically, they were killing the bird for the sake of the immediate possession of the golden egg. It was deplorable to think that such a population as that of the "West Coast should have to submit to ignorant and selfish people, who elected to office those who only did their behests, and who were able to make these elections simply because they were possessed of an unfair share of political power. It was grievous to contemplate that, out of a revenue of £BO,OOO, about £60,000 was collected on the West Coast and spent in Nelson, while £20,000 was the proportion collected in Nelson and spent on the West Coast. No doubt by debiting the West Coast with such items as the expense of that great scheme, the railway, there was an appearance of outlay on the West Coast, but the reality was that tbey were simply cajoled out of their revenue in the vain hope of cajoling also the British capitalist. To such a Government it was of no use any longer applying. It might hear them, but it would not heed them; and, before adopting the only alternative which remained in reserve—that of leaving the district and the Province, it was desirable that they should address, as he proposed, the recognised centre of appeal and authority in the colony—His Excellency the Governor.