It is not on this part of the gold fields the pruning knife is re quired, for there is not an overpaid and underworked official in the district. When we 3ee items of hundreds of pounds squandered and misappropriated — we had almost said embezzled — for obtaining bogus signatures to anti-separation peti tions, and accounted for under the head, or tagged to the tail of "Contingencies," wo begin to discover where the' money goes to that should be spent on the, gold, fields. When his Honor the Superin * tendent makes one of his royal progresses, an expenditure is made at so much per day for himself and his suite, which could very well be dispensed with for all the benefits the gold fields communities have ever reaped from any one of his Honor's visits. And as Mr William Gibbs, the Chairman of the Estimates Committee remarks, " it does not become the dignity of the Superintendent of the Province to put down such sums as L 2 odd for a constitutional drive up the ; Waimea road, to inspect a bridge," and then find the item charged twice as for travelling expenses in the convenient "contingent" account. Anyone who has noticed the reports of the proceedings of the Wardens' and Resident Magistrates' Courts in the Grey Valley, as they have appeared in this journal for the last few years, will have an idea of the amount of work and the responsible nature of the onerous duties performed by the Warden of the district. Courts were held at Ahaura, Napoleon Hill, Camptown, No Town, and Cobden, and, besides this, personal visits had to be made to decide disputes where they occurred, when it was found impos sible to get sufficient evidence in the regular Courts. The population of the Grey District of the Nelson Gold Fields' is now estimated at upwards of 3000, and when the contemplated water supply scheme is fairly started, it is reasonable to suppose that the number will be at least doubled. 