The Anti-Chinese Agitation.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 2, Issue 93, 22 August 1871, Page 6

The Anti-Chinese Agitation.

—o— U We have been requested to publish the fol ' lowing address from the Arrow Kiver Miners'! '. Association to the Miners of Otago : Fellow-Miners, —We, the miners of the j Arrow district, address you with a view to enlist your sympathy on behaif of the welfare of j the mining community of Otago. We have succeeded in establishing a Miners' i Association in our district; but we feel, owing j to our isoktei position, our inability to procure j that amount of benefit which might bo obtained ! if all the miners of the goldtields of Otago were i to unite ; for it is by co-operation alone that we ! can expect to obtain that consideration from the j Government due to the importance of the min- I ing interest. Therefore, Unite, Fellow-Mixers, and you j will have taken the most important step ; which | must lead to a goal alike honourable and ad van-! tageous. We are taxed heavier than any other class of the community : we are having an alien race thrust upon us, to rob us of the fruit of our per-! severance and industry : the auriferous lands of | the Province are being encroached upon by the j agriculturists : we are g warned by obnoxious' rules, which are framed by men unacquainted I with practical mining, and which are admiiiis- \ tared by men without that technical knowledge i which is required to adjudicate upon mining i cases : we are treated with contumely by the Government, which is shown by the reduction ! of the salaries of the Goldfields' Officers, and by j a continual tampering with the rules which re- ! gulate mining : the revenue which is extorted j I from us is expended in districts and on objects \ I totally disconnected with mining, while those • j districts which we have explored and settled are j ! left without passable roads. To remedy this j I stale of things is the objsot of Miners' Associa-! i tions. I

Remember that we, the miners of Otago, ex- j ceed in number any other class of the comma-1 nity ; that by our united voice we must in justice obtain what we demand ; and that the way ! in which we have been treated by the Govern-! ment is due, in a great measure, to our own inaction.

Look to Victoria ! There the mining interest rules the destiny of the country : her miners would never submit to oppressive and unjust taxation, nor bend before the rule of the squatter or the land jobber. There is yet to be traced in her laws that voice of the people which made itself heard by energetic co-operation in the early days of gold-digging, which shows that Miners' Associations have not existed in vain, but that, on the contrary, they have fulfilled an important and a beneficial part. We therefore beg to urge you to form a Miners' Association in your district without delay, to act in unison with similar institutions throughout the gold-fields of Otago. You will see that our condition is capable of much improvement, and it will be sufficient to hint that in us and iu our united action lies the power of improvement.

Arrow River, August 14, IS7I