The Lambing Flat riots

We are now, I may safely say, on the only gold-field in New south Wales which has the appearance of being a permanent one — the only one on which the hard-working miner (the mainstay of the colony can eke out more than a bare subsistance. (Hear, hear.)

You are, no doubt, aware of the state the other gold-fields are in — instance Kiandra, Araluen, Turon, Meroo, Tambaroora, &c., in short, gentlemen, they are all in a state of insolvency, and the only solvent one is the one on which we are striving for an honest livelihood.

(Hear, hear.) Now the livelihood is about to be torn from your grasp; but how, and by whom! By the Curse the plague of the country, namely Chinamen. (Shouts of “Never. never; down with them.” I am certain that the Burrangorang gold- fields will be a diggings for years, capable of supporting thou- sands upon thousands of poor men. (Hear, hear.)

But how long will they continue to be the support of thousands who have no other way of gaining homes: livelihood but by begging, if the Chinese are allowed to pour in upon us in such countless numbers. Why, six months will smother them.

What, tben, are they to do! Where are they to go! God help the poor men who have wives and families depending on them for support at such a time.

Well, I will answer,—why, starve (Great uproar, and execrations at the Chinamen.) Mr. Stewart then in a humorous vein sug- gested a remedy, by telling them if they were good working men they might obtain seven or ten shillings per week from the squatter, with rations,—which produced a tumult of hisses, groans, and anything but flattering exclamations. In conclusion, he said—It doesn’t require second sight to see into the future.

It is quite evident to all what the result will be if we do not take some measure to stop this gross outrage upon our rights. (Hear.) Then, men and fellow-miners, let us assert our rights before God and man—in the clear face of day—like free-born Britons and prevent ourselves from being trampled to the dust like dogs. (Great confusion.)

But, gentlemen, I would strongly advise you to keep within the bounds of the law and not commit a breach of the peace. (Cheers from the Commissioner and numbers In the crowd.) Mr. Stewart then read the following resolution:— Since the Government will not protect us, ourselves, families, society, and necessary occupations from the incursions of a race of savages, we bind ourselves, to a man, to do so: and for that pur- pose we intend to give all Chinese or descendants of that race two days notice to quit the Burrangong gold-fields; and in the event of their not complying with that request, to take such measures as shall satisfactorily rid the mining community of the Barran- gong for ever of pests and nuisances.”.

Amidst the greatest excitement and confusion a respectable miner named Dayton seconded the resolution. Several other speakers endeavoured to be heard, but an over- powering majority were for instant action, and “no notice” was the general cry.

It having become rumoured amongst the mining-community on the Burrangong for some time past that the Chinese intended assembling on that gold-field, all armed, and in such numbers that they could make a determined stand against any European force that could reasonably be brought against them, and that their intention was to make it a Chinese territory, several respectable miners issued a notice calling for a meeting on Sunday last, to take into their serious consideration the best means of nipping the Mongolians’ friendly intentions in the bud.

Such a gathering has scarcely been seen in these colonies assembled on Sunday afternoon, near the Golden Point, Lambing Flat, fully determinad to settle the matter then and forever.

The meeting was originally announced for twelve o’clock, and before that time several hundreds had scattered themselves round Golden Point, discussing the probable results of their movement.

Owing to the impossibility of their friends at Stoney Creek to arrive by that hour, a postponement to three in the afternoon was found necessary, and during the interval the majority re- paired to their abode for refreshment.

About two o’clock a large body came in from Stoney Creek, headed by a brass band playing martial airs, with the Union Jack on either side floating over them.

They came on horseback, on foot, and in vehicles, and the band occupied a “jaunting car” drawn by two-fine horses, with a digger acting as John. The only arms they appeared to have were sticks looking in many instances like shovel and pick handles, which were flourished more or less as the shouts of the Lambing Flat men greeted them.

Soon after, a party from Spring Creek; was led up the main street by a fine burly young fellow carrying the Union Jack, and by another beating a drum made out of a tin case, whose shouts gathered along with them all stragglers.

The arrival of this last party was the signal for busi- ness. By this time there could not have been less than fifteen hun- dred men on the ground; but so orderly and determined were they to preserve peace, that not a solitary breach occurred.

Several boxes were placed together on a small hillock, with the Union Jacks on either side of them form a platform around which the dense assemblage collected, the Commissioner, with his seven troopers, all well armed, with detectives Carnes and Scarlett, occupying a position a short distance away.

The band opened the proceedings by playing a martial air, after which Mr. Charles Allen, storekeaper, of Lambing Flat, was universally appointed chairman. Who read the following notice convening the meeting :—

Notice.—A public meeting will be held on Sunday, the 27th instant, at ten o’clock. in the vicinity of Golden Point, Lambing Flat, for the purpose of taking into consideration whether Burrangong is an European gold field or a Chinese territory.

A numerous attendance is requested. He then alluded to the good order always maintained by the diggers in their movements, and hoped that day’s proceedings would be no libel on their past conduct. The aasault on the shanties and gambling homes, he said, was a sufficient guarantee that they only desired a good state of society, and their previous affair with the Chinese was proof that they only wished to be rid, as peaceably as possible, of a nuisance to them all.

Should any breach of the peace occur, he would be the first man to aid the Commissioner and his staff in quelling it, and he was confident that the originators of the movement would do the same. (Cheers from the Commissioner.)

He then introduced Mr. Stewart, who would address them, and claimed for him a quiet and impartial hearing. Mr. Stewart on coming forward, waa assailed by a perfect volley of cheers. He said—Mr. Chairman, gentlemen, and fellow miners,—Before I go into the business for which we have met, I wish to state that had it not been for some treachery on the part of a person unknown to me, who pulled our notice down, we should have had six times the gathering here to day.

(A voice—”It was the Commissioner,” and loud cries of “There he is.” Commissioner or no Commissioner, it was an uncon- stitutional act, but it matters little now since we are sufficiently numerous to do what we want to do. (Vehement cheering.)

Well, Mr. Chairman, gentlemen, and fellow-miners.—A meeting has been called this day—and proud I am to see you have to nobly respond to it.(Hear, hear.) We have assembled for the purpose of discussing a very important and serious question. (Loud applause.)

I presume you are all aware what that question is. (Cries of “Yes, yes; go on.”) The question is— shall the Burrangong Gold-Field (as you have no doubt seen on the notice) become a Chinese territory or an European diggings. (Shouts of a European diggings” and “Down with the pig- tails”)

The question is really becoming so serious that it is now intolerable. (Hear, hear.) To my own certain knowledge there cannot be less than fifteen or sixteen hundred on the Lambing Flat and its vicinity, and the greater number, if not all of them, have arrived within the last fortnight.

(Cries of “Down with them.”) I also have it from reliable authority, that the Chinese are on the road to these diggings in thousands. (Cries of “Stop them,” “turn them back.”) N

ow, gentlemen, shall the Chinese monopolise the gold-field that we have prospected and deve- loped! (Cries of “No, no;” “down with them,” — and shall we as men and British subjects stand tamely by and allow the bread to be plucked from the mouths of ourselves, our wives, and children by those pig-tailed, moon-faced barbarians.

(Shouts of “Down wilh the pig-tails,” “drive them before us,” —men who would not spend one farthing in the colony could they possibbly avoid it!—men, did I say—oh, my prophetic soul, my comrades—monkeys I ought to have said. (Laughter and cheers.)

No, gentlemen. Were it possible for them to get what they daily consume from China, and to be able to avoid all con- nexion with British or foreign traffic, they would glory in being able to do so. (Cheers.)

Now, gentlemen, you see what they expend in the colony, and the benefit derived from them is compulsory, which plainly signifies that they cannot help them- selves. (Hear, hear.)

It is a well-known fact that not one Chinaman out of five thousand, when he accumulates what he considers a sufficiency in his own country, but verifies the words of a well-known song written by the celebrated Charles Thatcher-— “And blow’em, I say; scores arrive every day, Get all they can, then hook it away.”—(Cheers.) And these are the beings whom the Government class as the companions of civilised Christians (Cries of “ We won’t have them.”)

These are the beings who, in a court of justice, are allowed to rank side by side with the European whose life, before to-day, has trembled in the balance of one of these miscreant’s oaths. (Shouts of “Away with the wretches.”) Oh! horrible mockery—disgrace to the British Constitution—on the oath of one of these miscreants—now, gentlemen, keep your ears open)—this oath that a Christian’s life may be as affected by, is neither more nor less than cutting cock’s head off, breaking a saucer, or blowing a match out after it is lit, which is now proved to be a complete piece of humbug in their own country. (Vehement cheering and cries of “Shame.”)

So you see you have got nothing but a Chinaman’s word against a Christian’s oath in a court of justice. (Cries of “Shame, shame.” and “Away with the pig-tails”)

We are now, I may safely say, on the only gold-field in New south Wales which has the appearance of being a permanent one—the only one on which the hard-working miner (the mainstay of the colony can eke out more than a bare subsistance. (Hear, hear.)

You are, no doubt, aware of the state the other gold-fields are in —instance Kiandra, Araluen, Turon, Meroo, Tambaroora, &c., in short, gentlemen, they are all in a state of insolvency, and the only solvent one is the one on which we are striving for an honest livelihood. (Hear, hear.) Now the livelihood is about to be torn from your grasp; but how, and by whom! By the Curse the plague of the country, namely Chinamen. (Shouts of “Never. never; down with them.”

I am certain that the Burrangorang gold- fields will be a diggings for years, capable of supporting thou- sands upon thousands of poor men. (Hear, hear.) But how long will they continue to be the support of thousands who have no other way of gaining homes: livelihood but by begging, if the Chinese are allowed to pour in upon us in such countless numbers. Why, six months will smother them. What, tben, are they to do! Where are they to go! God help the poor men who have wives and families depending on them for support at such a time.

Well, I will answer,—why, starve (Great uproar, and execrations at the Chinamen.) Mr. Stewart then in a humorous vein sug- gested a remedy, by telling them if they were good working men they might obtain seven or ten shillings per week from the squatter, with rations,—which produced a tumult of hisses, groans, and anything but flattering exclamations.

In conclusion, he said—It doesn’t require second sight to see into the future. It is quite evident to all what the result will be if we do not take some measure to stop this gross outrage upon our rights. (Hear.) Then, men and fellow-miners, let us assert our rights before God and man—in the clear face of day—like free-born Britons and prevent ourselves from being trampled to the dust like dogs. (Great confusion.)

But, gentlemen, I would strongly advise you to keep within the bounds of the law and not commit a breach of the peace. (Cheers from the Commissioner and numbers In the crowd.) Mr. Stewart then read the following resolution:— Since the Government will not protect us, ourselves, families, society, and necessary occupations from the incursions of a race of savages, we bind ourselves, to a man, to do so: and for that pur- pose we intend to give all Chinese or descendants of that race two days notice to quit the Burrangong gold-fields; and in the event of their not complying with that request, to take such measures as shall satisfactorily rid the mining community of the Barran- gong for ever of pests and nuisances.”.

Amidst the greatest excitement and confusion a respectable miner named Dayton seconded the resolution. Several other speakers endeavoured to be heard, but an over- powering majority were for instant action, and “no notice” was the general cry.

Groups collected, and all tried to speak at once, when the band, striking up, and moving slowly away, was the signal for the breaking up of the meeting, and on the gathering rolled in one heavy cloud in the direction of Little Spring Creek, alternately harangued and cautioned by the Commissioner and the sergeant against using violence, and the crowd promising, in the event of such taking place, to apprehend the delinquents.

As one man expressed it, “We only want to sweep them before us like chaff before the wind: “and so tbey did. Scouts imme- diately started up the creek and in every direction; and arriving at the destination, a sight that baffles description presented itself. On the opposite side of the creek one or two tents were in flames, which was generally believed to have been the work of the Chinese themselves.

Along the bed of the creek one mass of celestial life seemed to agitate it with all the marks of haste in its movements, carrying such burdens that even Chinamen might grew weary with. The banks on either side were lined with Europeans who hurried China’s brown sons on by occaaional remarks and strong intima- tions, the band playing the whole time. Up the steep on to the flat they came like the flowings of a never-ceasing river.

Not leas than from two to three thousand came up in single file and marched along silently in the direction the Europeans pointed out. One sick Chinaman was found, who was permitted to remain, with one of his countrymen to attend him, and one of the best huts offered as a residence. When the others had all cleared out of the creek, the band turned the tide in the direction of the township, through which they escorted the whole of the Mongolians till they came on to Blackguard Gully, where a similar scene was gone through.

Here a tent or two was burned, and another sick Chinaman protected, and the whole mass drifted away from the diggings according to the directions given by the Europeans, who shortly after returned to the Flat, when the proceedings were supposed to have terminated.

Late in the afternoon, a cry fluttered over the Lambing Flat that Stewart, the speaker of the previous meeting, was appre- hended. It did not require a second summons to bring the lin- gering and self-satisfied agitators alongside the court-house.

It was like the rise of a slumbering volcano. Although the Stoney Creek party had mostly left the place, there was sufficient left from the embers of the late affair to raise a blaze to the name of Stewart.

But, fortunately for society and everything else on Lambing Flat, it turned out to be a kind of a “bye-ball” of the name of Smith, who had certainly proved himself rather uproarious in the great event of the day. But the crowd were not to be disappointed.

They had come for the release of their best man, and they found it an inferior one. But as they had pledged themselves to live or fall by the sacrifices made by any man in that days proceedings, so they felt, so long as he was attached to them, he was bound to receive their support.

At whoevers instigation the man was arrested, under the circumstances, it was condemnable. The whole proceedings had passed off without a solitary breach, and for Government officials to be the first to do anything to create that breach was, to say the least, censorious.

All Government officials, and all men who love law and order would have been justified in taking any step to quell a threatened disturbance of the peace, but no man is justified, let him be Governor himself, in raising a storm that has for a certainty lulled. We will veil the after proceedings, and conclude the affair by stating that the man was let loose on respectable bail, and bound over the following day to keep the peace—a proceeding which might have been adopted when the excitement had died away with much better effect, if necessary.

Tuesday morning about midday, some forty Europeans assembled at Blackguard Gully and drove off soma 201 Chinese, burning several tents, blankets, and goods.

The Chinese resisted the attack, but were obliged to surrender. Three Chinamen were maltreated and one seriously injured on the head.

They were robbed of their picks, shovel», and cradles and other good!, , which were carried oil’ hy some Europeans. C

aptain Zouch, Mr. Chief Commissioner (îloete, Mr. Commitsioner Dickson, and Mr. Inspector Single- ton, «willi six foot police, proceeded to the spot, and arrested fifteen men, who were immediately marched to the camp, end an oxaniinatiaa opened.

The Chinese evidence wa« very unsatisfactory, and in consequence the Court was adjourned till thi» morn- ing, the prisoners being ali admitted to bail ia one surety of £»0 each.

Scouts were then sent out to Stoney Creek mi Spring Creek, to bring the st hole body of miner*. Sion twter ten o’clock last night, nearly 4800 men lud aftembled, many of whom «ere under arm«.

They conttnuid shouting and pesambxlating the town the whole night, frequently firing volley». They were occasionally harangued by the leader» «f _ the Miners’ League, who, to some estent, quelled the excitement, urging the men to stand fait tul the decision of the court was ascertained.

The troopers under Captain Zouch and the’ foot police tuite Inspector Singleton, remained under arms the whole night. The excitement was beyond description. A large number of men were armed with revolve«, and this morning they were patrolling the streets openly armed with rifles, muskets, bowie knives, and sticks.

This morning the fifteen prisoners were brought up and all discharged, se no »atisfactoty evidence could be brought against them. A complete cessation, of business is the consequence of the riot. The townspeople are engaged in protecting their fro petty. Seine of the minere are sworn to »weep off the Chinese, and for that purpose they are going to Roberts’ station and other encampment».

The present police force is quite insufficient, if the Chinese are to be protected ; and nothing short of 200 or 300 soldiers «iii suffice. The mob are headed by a band, aad a flag flying, and many of the worst characters are amoogst them. The main body of the men were camped for on hour or two during the night, but numbers are patrolling the afreet drinking and shouting.

Unless the Go- vernment take a decisive stand at once there will be bloodshed, for they are sworn to clear the digging» of every Chinaman. Tooday, noon. Another foi ce of about 150 horgeinen, said SOO oat foot, have arrived from Spring and Stoney Creeki,a»vl have just entered the town amid h urah* from the people. The excitement is intense. , There cannot be less than .1 to 6000 people mMCtisf I round the town.

They are always “waiting for something to turn up,” and, whether it comes in the shape of a riot or a revolution, they are gratified by a sense of movement in favour of anarchy.

The people of the colony who honestly earn their bread will have nothing in common with them.

The moment a systematic opposition presents itself to law, all sympathy becomes treachery to the community r.t large. We have one task to fulfil-to strengthen the Govern- ment in all efforts to restore order, and to maintain rights.

When this is done, whatever may be the lesson to be derived from the past, it may assume a legislative form, and come before us in the shape of political redress. We are not,! however, to be deceived with respect to the character of those who have originated this disturbance.

To confound them with the digging population, is to defame it. On- all the old gold-fields there has been an accumulation of such men.

Their career of indolence, blasphemy, drunkenness, and crime, exposes them to the detestation, of all indus- trious diggers. They have passed under the eye of the police, and have gone through so many ordeals as to find their movements con- siderably obstructed. Thus the opening of a great gold-field is to them a new career. They rush in hundreds and in thousands!to the sphere of fresh operations.

They are the vendors of ilhcitdrink-the receivers of stolen goods-the plotters of sticking-up and gold robberies-and generally the main strength and stay of all schemes for the demoralization of the people. A popular grie^ance therefore is to them a centre of operation, and assuming the character of reformers they disguise their latent purpose, and ghc something like eclat to their career of crime. Collected about these men are all those who are weak-minded or naturally turbulent, or whose antipathies to, any class provoke them to discontent.

In the presence of such combinan tions when there is no adequate police force the real mining population can only be silent. Perhaps even this refuge is not permitted, but drawn against his will and judgment the peace- able digger is made to assume an appearance of complicity, however desirous he may be for the repression of that outrage which he seems to countenance. It is to be greatly lamented that the Govern- ment was not thoroughly conscious of the origin and ordinary manifestation of these disorders.

The lamentable letter of Mr. ZOUCH, and the toleration it implied, of drawn swords-the riotous demolition , of shanties, and , so forth-was a blunder as dangerous as any ever committed by a public ‘officer. Nor tan we even now account for the pub- lication of such a letter as a justification of Government indifference or as an explanation of a distinct ‘violation of law.

It was at that ‘ time the Government should have awoke to the true “’character of the movement, and at once ‘have placed force sufficient in the hands of’ trustworthy authorities to put down these in- ‘ Burrectionary proceedings. But instead of all this, weeks have elapsed-reports of the most contradictory nature nave been spread-the respectable press has been snubbed-^etatements whlch’at all events were written in good faith have been called in doubt-and the whole thing har) been glossed over until it can no longer be denied, and until now we are compelled to an armed demonstration such as ‘the colony us never hitherto required. , No doubt the position of a Government con- stituted like ours is difficult.

It is necessary for its political inteiests seem to demand-that there should be such manifestations of disorder as to silence the sympathisers and compel the acknowledgment of the necessity for coecion. Looking at it in this point of view, no doubt the Government felt that any energetic movements’would call down upon them the reproaches of their friends. They would be accused of calumniating the honest digger-of yielding to some aristociatic pressure-of pro- voking the very outrage they pretended to sup- press, lhat they should haye felt “this dan« gerous, is perhaps not co much to be reproached as to be lamented. It is the great fault of our system, and will follow us everywhere when Government has to act against disorder and insurrection.

There can be no doubt of what the Government is bound to do-te maintain in their rights all whose rights have been assailed -’to refuse all intercourse’ or compromise with armed men-to take ‘into custody if they have the Ipower, and bring* to justice those who have threatened its administration, or who have been the leaders of the insurrection.

If all this is done, tbVbest reparation perhaps may^be made which the ciicumstances admit of, and the’ lesson will not hereafter be forgotten. This is the business of the Government, and not to philo- sophise about Caucasian dignity or the rights of free-born Englishmen. We have no rights save those which > the law has given, and others are entitled to claim whatever the law^ has allowed.

This must be the rule of the’ Government in its’ executive capacity, “and this alone. While, however, it may be the aim and effort of the Government to put down insurrection, and * while it should forbid its officers to hold ‘ any parley with insurgents, except to receive thejr absolute submission, it’is not the duty of the Government to meet an armed insurrection with inadequate force. – , ,

It is quite possible that neither our soldiers nor constabulary may be in sufficient strength. It would then be the duty’of the Government to warn all British subjects of their danger and to forbid intercourse.

There are’other methods by which insurgents may be reduced than the sword. Their provisions will soon be exhausted. Ihe respectable diggers would feel that their place was no longer with men in arms against the QUEEN, and either the insurgents would meit away or soon be reduced to such numbers as to admit of a gcod account. ‘

It is, perhaps, by such events as these that great practical lessons are given to the colony. Every man who promotes disorder is imposing a burden as well as a danger -upon the country, and increasing the difficulty of subsistence to his neighbours.

These riots will occasion a heavy expense to the public treasury ; and with a declining revenue it will certainly be impos- sible even to look at the question of the aboli- tion of the gold duty for the next twelve months, even1 were it otherwise admissible.

The effect of disorder on the7 gold-fields must be to render . provisions dearer. Although for a time insecurity will induce men to part with provisions for cash at a lower rate, future sup- plies will be arrested, and the cost of risk will finally fall upon the consumer.

Thus, every digger on Lambing Flat will suffer in his cir cums’ances from the disorder which is said to be created in his cause. It is a remarkable fact, that almost, all the tumultuous and riotous proceedings of these colonies hae arisen from the antipathies of race or nation. Five or ,aix years ago, for instance, the Irish were denounced at Victoria, and wherever an Irishman was seen on the diggings he was hunted with fero- cious pertinacity by a population, to a large extent, composed of libirated thieves, but who, of course, c were particularly concerned about the purity of race.

Every one knows the antipathy-amounting to persecution-which arose against the Germans, particularly in Ade- laide, where they are settled in numbers, andaré among the most saving and industrious of the population. The people of this colony will remember the perfect detestation with which all immigrants were regarded-how they could not pass the streets, or go into any public place, without being insulted by the “ real proprietors,” as they deemed themsehes.

Strange as it may now, seem, it was ne* ertheless the fixed doctrine of the original settlers of this country, that it was intended for them and theil children, and that all “jimmigrants,” as the immigrants were called, were interlopers and intruders-the sweeping of workhousesand gaols. So it goes on. The old and new settlers of the colonies the “jimmigrunts” and the “jail grunts” al} the pure blooded races who ha>e made this country their place of meeting, now lovingly set I themselves in antagonism to the Chinese nearly half the human race !

* Some excuse may be made for grossîgnorance, but to find men of position-who pretend to love liberty-who talk sometimes about Christianit)-giving countenance to these prejudices, stimulating them, and embodjing them in distinct propositions ia sad to every consistent friend of humanity and liberty. It was always so. When there were but two men bom into the world the’ youngest was deemed an interloper by his brother, who asserted his right to exclusive occupation by shedding the “intruder’s” blood.

To the Editor of the Herald. Sir, Having arrived from the above locality only a day ago, and finding so many foolish and contradictory reports regarding the treatment of the Celestials by the hands of the European population promulgated in town, I hasten without delay to lay before the pnblic, through the medium of your influential organ, a true statement of this all-en- grossing affair.

I sojourned at the above gold-field for nearly three months; I had, therefore, ample opportunity to make myself acquainted with this unpleasant question, and I am very much apprehensive if this matter is not fairly explained and properly investigated, the results might be of a serious character, and destructive to the prosperity and developement of this magnificent gold-field.

It is a great pity that the Press is so unguarded as to propagate infor- mation of a doubtful nature. I will only mention one in- stance in particular, which, if true, must give to the whole affair quite another complexion.

I refer to the account, so industriously by nearly all colonial papers circulated, that the Chinese have been the first discoverers at the Lambing Flat – an assertion I must beg to contradict. It was not the Celestials who opened that field, but a party of Kiandra returned diggers, and after the latter had been there for some time at work the former swarmed there from the surrounding diggings.

This fact is so generally known, and so clearly evident, that it excited no small merriment when this fiction was read at the diggings, and really no one would take the trouble to contradict such a gross fabrication, and I believe there is already one party who intends to claim the reward of the discovery.

It is now abont five months since the Chinese have been, on account of the scarcity of the water, expelled by the Europeans from the Flat; but it seems that they managed to retire again to the land of promise, and that in larger numbers, and were never molested by the diggers till the latter saw themselves compelled out of the same reason, to proscribe them again ; and I can assure you it was not out of any hatred or jealousy on the part of the diggers, but the whole motive was, as I stated, that they consumad, ap- propriated, and spoiled the water, and that is the only reason that the European population is as determinedly re- solved not to tolerate them any longer.

Water was always a scarce commodity at this field, and without that element the richest diggings are of very little avail.

I have no antipathy against the children of the flowery land, nor have I time or inclination to demonstrate the policy of the introduction or expulsion of that people. I leave that to abler pens and wiser heads ; but so much I can say, that if they are permitted to work at their usual mode of operation, the consequence must either be blood- shed or the interruption and abandonment of one of the best gold-fields ever discovered in New South Wales.

I will not excite the unwary with golden visions, but every one who has visited that diggings must confess that it is what we call the poor man’s diggings. Every one who is able and has the will to work can gain his subsistence, and have every week a pound or two, and if has a little success he can make from £5 to £20 a week, and if he is lucky, why, he can make money.

The field is very exten- sive, and has every appearance to be a per- manent one. Sinking is from three to fifty feet. The cost of living is less than 15s. per week, and there are no less than from 8000 to 10,000 diggers, and very little grumbling to be heard.

I do not deny that there are blanks; but if the comfortable clerk forges his steel pen into a pick, the showy counter-jumper his iron yard measure into a shovel, and the flash tailor’s scissors into a spade, and this interesting trio lavish the same ratio of physical strength on their respective imple- ments that they used to bestow on them when they were yet in their origtnal shape, why, sir, they have no business to curse their stars, and blame the gold-field.

But real hardworking men will find the Burangong a thorough good, honest, hard-working, gold-field. I must, therefore, say it would be a great moral wrong that a few hundred pagans should deprive such a large portion of our colonists of their bread. Undoubtedly it is an undeniable fact that the Government, by receiving from the Chinese 10s a year, is pledged to protect them and assist them to be enabled to work, but do ther not owe the same duty to the Europeans also? or how can they carry out that obligation towards the latter, when they force the former upon them ?

Let us suppose that some of these days there will land in our good harbour of Port Jackson several ships loaded with several thousands of Hottentots, and these several thousands of Hottentots will establish themselves to the no small dismay of our citizens in our honest city of Sydney as shop and store keepers, merchants and bankers.

The non-commercial portion of our fellow citizens would perhaps rejoice – opposition is the life of trade, they would say. But, in course of time, our European shopkeepers, &c., discovered that these several thousands of cuuning Hottentots carry on their mode of business on such a system, that it destroys their whole legiti- mate commerce and ruins the security of credit altogether.

I ask you, sir, would our shrewd shopkeepers, &c., submit to be cheated by a parcel of Hottentot rascals, with their oriental resignation – It is the will of Allah ? Why, sir, we would have monster meetings by day and torchlight, petitions witn twohbundred-yard-signature tails, and many an oratorical genius who now, alas, slumbers on the hard bed of obscurity, would rise like a meteor to save his countrymen ; every ship in the harbour would be pressed to take away from our shores this cursed burden.

Hu- manity, which would very likely be a non-shopkeeper, %c would drop a bitter tear of grief, and lament over the wickedness of the age ; and Tolerance, a retired shopkeeper, &c., but invested his capital in the squatting interest, would do ditto ; but their charitable moans and sighs would soon be drowned in the mighty sea of popular indig- nation.

The diggers at the Lambing Flat, who are simil- arly situated, do not wish to go to such extremities,- all that they wish is, that the Celestials should remove to some other diggings, and if the Government undertakes to protect the Chinese, let them remove to some other of our numerous gold-fields, for at the Flat they will never be protected. The diggers are determined to one man not to tolerate them any longer, and why create rios and bloodshed, when all can be amicably settled ? In conclusion, I trust that the authorities in power will listen to moderation. Apologising for monopolising so much of your …. space. I remain, your obedient servant, A. …………… Sydney, February 18th