THE Inangahua Times, PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1882.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1065, 24 March 1882, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times, PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1882.

The economical arrangements made by the Government relative to R.M. and "Warden's Courts in the Inangahua and Lyell ditricts, cause great inconvenience and loss to the mining community, and the same will apply to the adjacent district of Ahaura. Indjeed, at present in the latter, owing to the illness of the Warden, all disputes are hnng up for an indefinite time. In Pinafore, we are told that "a policeman's lot is not a happy one," still less must be that of a peripatetic Warden who has to do the wotk and cover the ground that Mr Revell has, and it is, indeed, surprising that he gets through his duties so well. The extent of the district he has charge of is enormous, whilst the country he has to cross is the roughest, tuid the roads some of the worst in the Colony. He sits at Westport, has to visit Charleston, Reefton, and the Lyell, and he must spend a large proportion of his life in the saddle. The district is not only too large for any one man, but it is exceedingly unreasonable to expect him to do all that is required, whilst the public at all these places suffer. It is generally admitted that one man cannot be in too places at one time'i and. Stt^sp^^Yfche^ease he cannot rbpld In^SSlnon, £(* instance, only, fortnightly. This is unavoidable under the present arrangements made by the Government, but it is a great hardship to a number of miners and those interested in mining ventures of various kinds, as it means in case of disputes arising their determination being postponed, and delay and loss of time in many cases most serious, following as a matter of course. The districts of Reefton, Ahaura, and Lyell, are of quite sufficient importance to have a Warden to themselves, and with the duties of R.M. would have no idle time 'on his hands. The mining interests of the districts, that of Reefton especially, represent an enormous amount both of capital and labor, and any stoppage of works isrunious, even though it be for afew days only. Were honorary justices appointed, as we suggested the other day, a great deal of inconvenience, as far as the business of the R. M Court is concerned, would be put an end to, thoug still LI 00 jurisdiction would only be given to a Resident Magistrate, and plaintiffs, seeking to recover anything like large sums, would be subjected tc the same delay as at present. An instance of the actual wrong that may be inflicted through the want of justices, is shown in the case of the man Cox, recently charged with passing a spurious coin. There is only one Magistrate at present in Reefton who, beyond remanding the accused till the Resident Magistrate comes on his next visit, has no power to hear the case. Had Cox not been able to obtain bail he would have been incarcerated till that date, and have been punished to the sanje extent for the alleged offence, whether guilty or innocent, and even now, though at liberty, is under a cloud, his case hot being dealt as it should have baen, It is altogether too bad that such an important district with its goldmining industry, should be treated with such disregard, not to say contempt, whereas numberless small places without the slightest approqchingly equal claims on the ground of either revenue or population, have a full staff of officers of every grade who can- < not fill a third of their time in the discharge of their duties. It lias been the custom of respective Governments ' when retrenchment of any kind was to be undertaken, to make the Goldfields suffer first, though froni them so large ■ a portion of the Colonial revenue is de- \ lived, both directly and indirectly ' i

1 ■ —»————— The Inangahua district has been a special suffarer in this respect hitherto, and It is high time it had an innings now. Amongst one of its wants is a local Resident Magistrate and Warden and wetrust that the honorable member representing the district will, at the earliest opportunity, urge on the Government the wrong that is now being done, with a view to its rectification. Parliament will meet in about six weeks and it would be easy to make provision on the Estimates before they are submitted to the House in the direction we suggest. That the needs of the community are now adequately supplied cannot for a moment be saidj and the application, on full explanation been offered, is so reasonable that we should think there will be little hesitation in its being granted.