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Chartres Brew. 111

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will be of little or no value till the storekeepers living on the street are
forced to abandon the street and locate themselves on town lots.?

I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,

(Signed) C. Brew,
Chief Inspector of Police,
Ass. Chief Gold Commissioner.

W. A. G. Young, Esq., Colonial Secretary.

Fort YALE, Bice
23rd April, 1859.

Sir—I have the honor to state that since this day week $580
taxes on miners and water privileges have been collected at Fort Yale
and Mr. Smith at Fort Hope has collected $195.

I beg leave to submit a report received from Mr. Saunders, Assist.
Gold Commissioner, stating his proceedings on the different bars.

On one bar several miners refused to pay Mr. Sanders, and as he
is not a Magistrate I am to proceed down the river with him early
next week and sign summonses against the defaulters on the bar. At
the same time I am not informed of the punishment which may be
imposed on them for offending. I believe they are trespassers and as
such may be fined five pounds before a Magistrate, but there is no
penalty attached to a breach of the law in the proclamation making the
levying of the Miner’s Licence Tax legal.

As trespassers on Crown lands, I think that miners refusing to
pay Licence tax might be arrested on the spot; but I fear that such a
strong measure would lead to a serious collision, and I should be most
unwilling to resort to it without special orders of His Excellency the
Governor.

It is proper to inform His Excellency that from information I
received this evening I have good reason to believe that there is a
strong feeling arising against the Licence Tax, and that an agitation has
already commenced to resist the payment of it. I fear that next month
very little will be collected without resorting to coercion.®

(2) This difficulty originated in the conduct of Mr. Hicks. Judge Begbie’s letters show the
carelessness with which be had performed his duties.

8) In Mr. Hicks’s correspondence it will be seen that he had been making efforts to reduce
this tax, and that the miners were aware of that fact.

9