THE WATER STRIKE AT MOUNT IDA.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2096, 24 January 1870, Page 2

THE WATER STRIKE AT MOUNT IDA.

(COMMUNICATED.) The strike of the pjipcrs at Mount Ida against the water companies is a most serious matter. Some hundreds of persons are thrown out of employ, and it will make a difference, says the local journal, of something like L‘2oo a day to the place. But not only is it serious as affecting the one place, hnt it is likely to unsettle the miners in other places—St Bathans for instance, where water is also high in price ; and if successful in obtaining their demands in one case, the minors in other places are sure to follow. It

cannot but be a matter for regret that the dispute has crao to this pass. There can be little doubt there is good ground for complaint. The price charged at Mount Ida for water has been very high. L2 10s has been the price charged for a “ Hogburn head, which is very much smaller than a ground sluice head, according to Government regulations, and the race companies have been receiving dividends amounting to as much as 75 per cent, per annum on their capital; while the miner, although on the average doing well, even after paying these high prices, has in many cases found insufficient returns for his labor.

Still, there arc two sides to the question. The race owners have incurred great risk in bringing in the water: and, in fact, are always incurring risk, as the breaking away of a dam may lay them open to heavy damages, as was the case only the other day with one company at Mount Ida. _ Their returns, therefore, need be large to induce anyone to go into the cutting of a race as a speculation. Then, of course, it is a question of supply and demand ; and water is a commodity which may be sold like everything else, to the highest bidder. No one can blame the owners of a race for trying to make as much as they fairly can out of their property. But on the other hand, no one can" blame the miner for seeking to get water as cheaply as he can. The only occasion for blame seems to be when, by combination, unfair advantage is taken to force a thing below its proper value. it is well known that those companies who have large claims of their own, can make more out of working them than by supplying others with water at the prices hitherto current, and wc do not expect that any who are in that position will submit to a material reduction in their rates. Whether it was wise to give them a. monopoly is another question, and it seems doubtful whether any grant for a water race ought to be made without first fixing by law a maximum scale of charge for water to the miners. Still there would be something arbitrary in preventing a company from acquiring and working a claim of their own, and as long as they had that, they would sooner work it than submit to a very low scale of charges. Again, we believe a considerable amount of credit is given by the water companies, and, in sonic cases, loss results, and this has to be taken into consideration in calculating their revenue. Finally, the cost of repairs and maintenance, the heavy damage which has to be repaired after a flood, the constant supervision which is needful to keep the race in working order, and the precarious nature of the tenure, all render it absolutely necessary that large returns should be got, in order to tempt persons with capital to enter on the speculation. It seems, therefore, that in demanding an immediate reduction to 30s a head, or little more than one-half the present charge, the miners are unreasonable ; had they contented themselves with L2, as proposed by one miner, they would have had a better chance of success. As it is there is a deadlock, which seems likely to last some time. It is not to be supposed, that the companies will consent to a rate that would leave them a positive loss ; and there seems but one other alternative —viz., that an agreement should be arrived at that the payment should be a certain minimum one, with such and such a proportion of all the gold got; an officer representing the companies being present at each washing-up. This at all events would do away with the complaint that the miner could not afford to pay the price demanded, as the payment would bo in direct proportion to his returns. If he had little, he would pay little for water : if he had much, he would cheerfully pay a larger sum, and the average rate would pay the Race Companies. Suppose then 30s were adopted as the minimum, and say 10 per cent, additional of all the gold got, a solution of the question might at once he made. As regards Government aid, it is quite hopeless to expect that the Government can buy up the water rights, as has been suggested ; they have neither money nor power to do it. The utmost they will be able to do is to obtain power, when the Assembly meets, to give a guarantee to any company of 8 per cent, on certain conditions. Meantime could pot the Government instruct the Warden or some other public officer to endeavor to mediate between the contending parties. It will be a sad blow to mining enterprise if capital is driven away by a persistent refusal on the part of the miners to pay a legitimate price for the use of it; and if they push their advantage too far, it must inevitably recoil in tbe end on themselves.