12 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



ing at every one ; to ask a man quietly whether he had a licence was 

 quite out of the question, it must be accompanied by some low-life 

 expression, making, of course, respectable men extremely indignant, 

 and if they remonstrated they would handcuff them! and swear 

 they resisted them in the execution of their duty ". 



This emphatic indictment is not the statement of an aggrieved 

 digger, or an excited newspaper scribe, but of a man who had to do 

 much of his work with such a discreditable force of assistants, and 

 who made himself unpopular by his efforts to check them. 



At first the Crown Lands Commissioners for the several dis- 

 tricts were assumed to be able to carry out the provisions of the 

 new Mining Act; but when a man whose administrative duties 

 had hitherto been limited to dealing with a couple of hundred law- 

 abiding squatters found himself called upon to supervise, with the 

 assistance of half a dozen policemen, the proceedings of from two 

 to ten thousand diggers, all strangers, and most of them regarding 

 his work with hostility, he had soon to admit that he was overtasked. 

 The feebleness of the administration, which arose out of the deci- 

 mated condition of the Civil Service, enabled large numbers of 

 miners to evade the payment of the fee, and as fast as fresh Com- 

 missioners' camps were formed, all but the very successful diggers 

 moved back into the ranges, toiling stealthily in unexplored gullies. 

 If they were lucky, well and good, they would register to ensure 

 their rights. If they were unsuccessful, they could not be made 

 to see that they had wronged any one. But however mistaken in 

 its inception, the law had to be upheld until repealed or amended. 

 The Government was not slow to see that the number of licences 

 taken out very inadequately represented the number of diggers 

 known to be on the field. So a batch of Assistant Commissioners 

 was appointed to aid the seasoned old officers in getting in revenue, 

 in bringing offences home to the evildoers, and in upholding the 

 majesty of the law. 



It is to be feared that the last of these duties had too much 

 influence with them. For the most part they were young, and all 

 were inexperienced in the particular work required of them. With 

 no special qualifications for the post, they had to act judicially, 

 and to decide, without the aid of juries or assessors, disputes 



