PAPERS RELATIVE TO

a—No. 1

8

No. 11. Copy of a Petition from the Mayoe and Town Council of Clyde and Inhabitants of the Dunstan District. To His Excellency Sir George Grey, Knight Commander of the Bath, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Islands of New Zealand, and Vice-Admiral of the same: The Petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth— May it please Toue Excellency,— Tour petitioners, being a large majority of the miners, merchants, and agriculturists resident in the Dunstan District, have heard with unfeigned satisfaction that your Excellency has determined to retain the management of the Gold Fields in your own hands. The Provincial Government have almost always turned a deaf ear to our very moderate wants, — have also absorbed thousands of pounds of revenue from this district and spent it in Dunedin, doling out to us with niggard hands only the most trifling sum for local works. Interminable delays have also arisen in obtaining our leases, &c, caused solely by the double system of government. All this will doubtless now be altered, and a fair proportion of our revenue allotted to us for local requirements. Under these circumstances we trust your Excellency will continue to withhold the powers under " The Gold Fields Act, I860," from the Provincial control. And your petitioners also pray that your Excellency will establish the management of the Gold Fields at Clyde, it being the centre of all the Gold Fields, and within one day's reach of all the Gold Fields District. And your petitioners will ever pray. J. D. Feeaud, J.P., Mayor. Jno. TJ. Cambridge, "1 James Hazlett, Chaeles Goodwin, [-Councillors. Edw. a. Ryan, Henry John Cope, J L. Wm. Carter, Town Clerk, and one hundred and twelve other signatures.

No. 12. Copy of a Petition from the Mayoe and Town Council of Clyde. To James Benn Bra'dshaw, Esquire, Justice of the Peace, and Member of the House of Representatives of New Zealand, and Government Agent for the Gold Fields Department: The Petition of the Inhabitants of the Town of Clyde and District — Humbly Sheweth :— That the Town of Clyde is the most central town of the Gold Fields of Otago. The want of quick communication with those in charge of the Gold Fields Department is severely felt by all engaged in mining pursuits, and imperatively calls for some alteration. The present heads of the Gold Fields Department are located at Dunedin, far away from all mining operations. Tour petitioners humbly pray that you, as Agent for the Gold Fields, will take such steps as you may see fit to have the Head Department removed to Clyde, the most central of all Gold Fields Town of the Province, so that we may have yourself and the Secretary of the Gold Fields resident in our midst. And your petitioners will ever pray. [Here follow seventy-nine signatures.] Clyde, Ist May, 1867.

No. 13. Copy of a Petition from the Inhabitants of Hyde. To His Excellency Sir Greorge Grey, X.C.8., Governor of New Zealand: The Memorial of the undersigned Miners and Inhabitants of the District of Hyde, in the Province of Otago— Respectfully Sheweth : — That your memorialists, at a public meeting held at Hyde in the beginning of February last, unanimously resolved that a memorial should be forwarded to His Honor the Superintendent jjraying that a block of land of 5000 acres should be reserved for agricultural purposes, and open for selection to bond fide settlers on the run occupied by Messrs. Gardiner and Main. Your memorialists respectfully beg to inform your Excellency that in accordance with the unanimous resolution of the meeting aforesaid a memorial was signed by every inhabitant in the district, and forwarded to His Honor the Superintendent, asking that His Honor would be pleased to declare the lands applied for open for selection, which he promised to grant, and has not yet been carried out. Tour memorialists hail with satisfaction the fact of your Excellency taking the management of the Gold Fields of this Province under your own charge. Tour memorialists humbly sheweth that Hyde is the central place in the Taieri District; that it is in contemplation to run the mail1 coaches from Dunedin by McCrae's, Hyde, Naseby, Hill's Creek, via Dunstan ; and that in the event of the land applied for being thrown open for selection it will induce men of small capital to take up allotments, and raise produce which they can supply the various districts on the Gold Fields as enumerated, at a much cheaper rate than as at present supplied from Dunedin. •