No sooner was a party of police
seen approaching than the diggers raised the cry of "Joe! Joe!" The cry
was taken up, and presently the whole length of the gully rang with the
shouts "Joe! Joe! Joe!" and of course all defaulters instantly made off
for the depths of the forest.
The dissatisfaction was exasperated by the method of collecting the
license fee. The collector did not call on the tax payer, but the latter
had to seek the collector. The digger was compelled to walk from his own
gully to the Commissioner's Camp--distant, perhaps, several miles--and
then often wait for hours under a fierce sun while a crowd of others,
who had arrived before him, were paying their 30_s._, or weighing their
half ounce of gold. Greater facilities were indeed subsequently offered
for the payment of the fee, but the mode of enforcing it continued the
same. The diggers complained loudly and unceasingly of these harsh and
un-English measures. "First you tax our labour," said they, "and then
you collect your tax at the point of the bayonet.
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