[Editor: These extracts, regarding the Miner’s Right, were published in the Report of the Commission Appointed to Enquire into the Condition of the Gold Fields of Victoria, &c. &c. (1855). The report was produced by the Gold Fields’ Commission of Enquiry, which was commissioned after the Eureka Rebellion of 1854. The extracts comprise sections 23, 49, 95, 96, and Appendix E from the report, being those sections which deal with or relate to the Miner’s Right. The headings in square brackets are the section titles or explanatory notes printed in the margins of the document beside those sections.]
[Substitution of the “miner’s right.”]
23. It is not desirable that the character of public property in the gold of the soil should be abandoned, although the present system of a license fee be given up. The views of the Commission are, that a revenue must not be derived mainly from a direct tax; this they propose to accomplish by a fairer and less obnoxious method, namely, a moderate export duty, or, to use a more suitable term of English mining, an assessment upon the gold produce. They would, however, impose a small charge, ostensibly for the privilege of mining for gold, and with the object of some revenue being derived, but mainly for recognising the public right in regard to the gold of the soil, and for other collateral and highly useful purposes, such for example as enabling the miner to qualify for the franchise by means of some annual payment, in terms of the New Constitution Act. This charge would comprehend the registration of the miner, and the issue of a paper conveying his rights. The document may be taken out for the term of a year. The Commission agree in recommending a charge of £1 It is not intended that any active search be instituted by the authorities as to whether a miner has or has not taken out this qualification; but without it, he has no right to the gold he may acquire, or to claims or digging ground he may take up and labor upon, and cannot be maintained in the possession of either. The Miner’s Right, as it is proposed to term this annual document, would be a means of distinguishing the well-disposed on the Gold Fields, and of aiding the police and authorities as a special constabulary; thus throwing the conservation of the peace during any possible emergency upon the people themselves, whose chief aid will probably consist in their preventing such emergencies from ever arising. The Miner’s Right, as well as the licenses leviable on other classes of residents upon the Gold Fields — a subject to be treated of under its proper head — should qualify for the franchise.
[Expedient for present representation.]
49. As delay may still intervene between the miner and his direct franchise rights, a virtual representation as far as practicable should be awarded. Thus an electoral roll should at once be made out, of all persons possessing the franchise upon the Gold Fields by right of sold lands, to be available on the earliest occasion to meet any new electoral arrangement that the law as it now stands will permit of for the representation of the Gold Fields. And the Commission would further suggest an extension of the plan proposed by His Excellency, with reference to nomination vacancies in the Legislature, which in one instance he was willing to fill up in accordance with the miners’ selection. They advise that the Miner’s Right be available for the selection of persons for these vacancies. Eight elective and four nominee members for all the Gold Fields might thus be added to the present Legislature, thereby giving virtual representation to the Gold Fields until the arrival of Imperial powers. As the sold lands are not generally held by actual miners, but commonly by retired miners or storekeepers, the elective proportion of these new members would not be held as fully representing the mining population. By the arrangement here recommended, this office would be performed by the nominees. Such a mark of confidence on the part of the Government would not be lost upon the mining population.
[Stipendiary to be aided by honorary magistrates.]
95. In the further pursuit of economic arrangements, a few of the more prominent and respectable amongst the miners should be invited by the Executive to act as honorary justices, and nominated accordingly, in aid of the stipendiary magistracy. With reference to mining differences, lists of jurors, qualified with the Miner’s Right, should be made out, and from these the Executive might nominate magistrates for each Gold Field, and fill up places at the local boards proposed for framing by-laws suited to each district. These boards might therefore be expected to be composed of the officers in charge upon the spot, assisted by intelligent miners. These arrangements, which no system of general legislation could properly provide for under the various and changing circumstances of each Gold Field, are calculated to promote general harmony, and an efficient and pacificatory as well as an economic management.
[New sources of revenues: Miner’s Right & assessment.]
96. The Commission now turn their attention more particularly to considerations of revenue. Although abandoning the present license fee, they would still retain, on the principle already stated, a charge upon the miner for the privilege of mining gold. But its amount would be so unimportant, and the benefits to be derived from paying it so conspicuous, that the authorities may be saved all the expenses of an active collection by leaving to the miners the care of providing themselves with the “Miner’s Right.” The Commission do not, of course, anticipate much revenue from this source. They have in view that a moderate amount of revenue shall be derived from another and an indirect source, namely, a duty on the gold produce. The advantage arising in both these cases is, that while they together involve the payment of a smaller amount by the public than that of the present license fee, the payment falls more equitably as regards the successful and the unsuccessful, and it is collected at much less cost, and without the occasions of social disturbance that seem inseparable from the present system. It is therefore in every respect a change for the better, and a gain instead of a loss.
Appendix E.
Miner’s Right.
As this proposed Miner’s Right is a document of importance, the Commission will here elaborate their views upon the subject. The intention is that it shall confer
The right to mine for gold and to hold a claim or portion of auriferous land for that purpose; to sufficient ground for a tent or dwelling, and to firewood where it can be spared off Crown lands; the right to the franchise.
The free use of the Escort service should not be given unless the Miner’s Right be produced, notwithstanding that the other regulations may have been complied with; nor can any miner take a part in the framing of local by-laws, or in any other local institutions, unless provided with this right.
The miner should not be confined to the place of issue of the document, but be permitted to prospect or dig anywhere on Crown lands within the Colony not otherwise reserved, and for purposes inconsistent.
The Right should be conveyed by an annual document, which should be composed of parchment, subject to a fee of one pound on each issue. It should contain the miner’s name, and not be transferable. The document should be for one entire year and no less; but there should be frequent opportunities, during quarters, to take out the document for a year, including such quarter.
The franchise in virtue of the Miner’s Right should be exercised only for the locality of the qualifying document, requiring personal presence at time of voting, but not proof of continuous residence. In these respects it is only fair and necessary to consider and make allowance for the features of mining life. In others there may be a conformity with usual rules, and the date of the qualifying document should, therefore, be the usual six months prior to registration as a voter.
Source:
Gold Fields’ Commission of Enquiry, Report of the Commission Appointed to Enquire into the Condition of the Gold Fields of Victoria, &c. &c.”, Melbourne (Vic.): John Ferres, Government Printer, 1855, section 23, pp. viii-xiv [PDF pp. 14-15]; section 49, pp. xx-xxi [PDF pp. 21-22]; section 95, pp. xxxii-xxxiii [PDF pp. 33-34; section 96, p. xxxiii [PDF pp. 34]; Appendix E, p. 364 [PDF p. 439]
Editor’s notes:
Crown land = land which belongs to the Crown (the governing power of a land operating under a constitutional monarchy, which is said to govern on behalf of the Crown); public land
Escort service = (also known as a “Gold Escort”) a government-run escort service, consisting of an armed body of police, who would escort gold (being transported in a carriage) from goldfields, towns, and regional cities to a major city, such as Melbourne or Sydney
See: 1) “Gold Escorts”, eGold (Cultural Heritage Unit, University of Melbourne), 27 May 2015
2) “Gold Escort”, Wikipedia
Executive = the political executive of a state or nation; the body of administrators and/or politicians which has administrative, decision-making, and supervisory powers over a state or nation
His Excellency = a title of respect used regarding male heads of state (other than monarchs), heads of government, governors, ambassadors, high-ranking church officials, and various other aristocrats and officials of high rank
Imperial powers = (in the context of Australia) powers held by the British Empire; powers granted by the British Empire or the British government (referring to the legal right to carry out functions, conduct operations, make laws, etc.)
Miner’s Right = a mining license; miner’s rights were first issued in Victoria in 1855, replacing the earlier gold licenses (which were introduced in 1851), and gave their holders a range of legal and political rights (the other Australian colonies subsequently followed the Victorian system)
See: 1) “Miner’s Right”, Eurekapedia
2) “Miner’s Right”, Wikipedia
pacificatory = pacifying, appeasing, conciliatory, promoting peace
stipendiary magistracy = a system of stipendiary magistrates (magistrates paid with a stipend, i.e. those receiving regular payments, as part of a salary or to defray expenses), distinct from a system of unpaid magistrates (the roles and functions of unpaid magistrates were typically performed by rich men and landowning men)
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