THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1871.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 864, 4 May 1871, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1871.

The more we consider the scheme of the Government with regard to water supply uponjthe Gold Fields, the more we are convinced that a very radical alteration of the scheme as it stands will require to be made. From the first, we have pointed to the imperfect character of the Public Works Act, in its provisions relating to this subject, and have apprehended that serious difficulties would arise in giving effect to them. That part of the Act was never properly considered, either by the Government before it was submitted to House, or by the House itself. Most of the Gold Fields members were simply content that the Government proposed to vote money for water supply to the Gold Fields. They paid little attention to the legislation which was to apply the money, and the clauses were hurried through with that thoughtless haste of which too often the New Zealand Legislature is guilty. The most important question connected with the subject was scarcely, if at all, discussed, namely, in which direction would the aid of the Government be most useful and efficatious ? The idea seems to have been that as the Government was to construct railways, ib should also construct water races. But no machinery whatever was provided for carrying out this branch of public works. In respect of the railways proposed to be constructed, the General Government at once instituted surveys under confidential engineers, and will be prepared when the Assembly meets, with full and reliable information regarding every line of railway for which the sanction of Parliament may be asked. But with respect to the water supply, everything has been left to the local authorities, and we have no doubt that next session the Assembly will be inundated with proposals of the real merits of which the Government itself will know nothing. The proper course for the Government to have taken, should have been immediately to appoint a Commission, under the best professional and scientific guidance, to co-operate with the local authorities of each gold-producing Province, to institute a thorough and searching enquiry into the whole subject, for the guidance of the Government and the Assembly. The want of the assistance which such a Commission would have afforded will be seriously felt when the House meets. This question of water supply is altogether too important to be dealt with in a slipshod fashion. The money to be expended may be productive of enormous be ae fits to the mining industry of the Colony, or it may as easily be wasted on ill-digested profitless schemes. It is the fear of the latter, and of the expensiveness of all Government administrative machinery, that constitute our chief objections to the scheme of the Government. We may also point out that the very first difficulty the Government will experience in carrying out its plans will be the inadequacy of the amount to meet the necessities of the Gold Fields. Three hundred thousand pounds seems a vast sum of money, but it would go only a short way in the construction of the works needed for an efficient supply of water upon all the Gold Fields of the Colony. And it has to be remembered also that only £100,000 of this amount can be expended in any one year. If this sum be I equitably divided amongst the gold-pro-ducing Provinces, the sum to be spent in each will be ridiculously small compared with the expectations which the Government scheme raised when it was proposed. This difficulty has already presented ' itself in Otago. Not only has it been seen that the amount of money is too small, but the Provincial Government finds itself in a fix as to which works to propose. As in the Assembly each Gold Fields Province will clamor for a share of the moneys, in each Province different districts are contending for a preference. Those Gold Fields which do not so much require water as other works of utility, still demand that their wants shall be supplied equally with those to whom water is a necessity. We shall not be surprised to see this kind of squabbling in the Assembly when the distribution of the money has to be decided. We shall

have ODe Province fighting with another, and the members of some localities striving with members for others. Had the Government dealt with the question in a broader and more statesmanlike manner, they would have been able to effect more general good throughout the Gold Fields with their money and have secured its more beneficial expenditure. We consider the idea of the Government assuming the entire construction and management of water-races brother water works to the exclusion of private or public enterprise as one that is not only false aud uneconomical in theory, but impossible in practice. What should have been done was to provide some simple machinery for assisting private enterprise — either by lending a portion of the capital required at a low rate of interest, or by guaranteeing a reasonable profit on the undertakings. There is really no want of capital on the Gold Fields or in the Colony. What is required is to encourage its investment. Let the Government divide the risk in some way with those who would undertake water works, and capital would be forthcoming. The Government should only step in exclusively with respect to special works of great magnitude. If, for instance, the .£300,000 voted by the Assembly was applied in advancing say a third of the capital required for approved works, or in paying any deficiency of profits, we have no hesitation in saying that it could be made the means of representing works of over a million instead of £300,000. Under such a plan there would be no conflict of Districts or Provinces, but every work, wherever situated, would be decided on its merits. Further, a system of lending a portion of capital at low interest would recoup the Colony and relieve taxation. Hundreds of works would be constructed if the Government rendered aid in the manner we describe, and as the money came to be repaid gradually, it would be again available for further distribution. All that would be required would be to administer the assistance by a properly constituted Board, which would ascertain in the first instance the character of the work proposed to be constructed ; that the bona fides of the persons or Company was proved by a fixed proportion of the capital required having been subscribed ; and would then make the advance on proper conditions as to payment of interest and security. We propose to go further into the subject in a future issue, but we lave said sufficient to show that a much more widely useful measure is required than is represented by the Public Works Act in reference to Gold Fields water supply.