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MINERS' RESIDENCE AREAS AT
KORUMBURRA.
to the editor of the age.
Sin, — Will you kindly allow me b space io
your valuable paper to bring under the publio
notica an injustioe that is inflicted upon us,
Some three years ago wo were allowed by the
coal oompanics to build homes upon the leases,
Not long since the various companies handed
over to the Government part of the sur
face of tho leases. This was in dn
time surveyed into quarter aore block?,
some loss, and nllotted to those who hnd
already built upon them. This land was thickly
studded with gum trueB and covered with im
penetrable scrub, costing from £5 to £10 to
clear tbc allotments independent of the
labor dono by the occupier himself. We
have recently received a circular from
tbo Lands- department notifying that upon
payment of £1 for rent per nnnum, the right to
ocoupy would be issued, and if it was not paid
upon a certain date proceedings would be takea
against us should we still bo in possession. It
has caused us much anxiety and annoyance to
find that after all our trouble and labor we art
nothing more or less than trespassers, and are
to bo treated as suoh if we do not agrse to pay
the exorbitant rent, namely, £4 per acre an
nually. I am sure there will be a large number
object to this, especially when lend equally a»
good and as near the railway station cau be
purchased at the present time for £3 10d. per
aero. There upon the same lease, only a
few ohainB from us, the Government ' has
allowed people suoh as ourselves to seleot
10-aore biooks, and has provided them with
the necessary funds to oultivate and build
houses for thorasclves. Rent is out of the ques
tion. Sir, why should not a ooai miner enjoy
the same privileges a» a gold miner, by holding
n miner's right? The effeot that this official
circular has produced is demonstrated only too
plainly nround us. Every week people aro re
moving thoir little homes, determined not to
1>ay an unjust and iniquitous rent, and the
ilooka that were once ringing with merry chil
dren's laughter, and the gardens smiling with
flowers, aro left to become once more the home
of the snake and wallabv.— Yeure. &c.v
CHARLES RICHARDSON.
Korumburra, 6th March. .
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