The Kumara Times Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1886.

Kumara Times, Issue 2952, 16 April 1886, Page 2

The Kumara Times Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1886.

The approaching visit of the Hon. Mr Larnach, Minister of Mines, to Kumara would no doubt be a favourable opportunity to impress upon that gentleman the fact that the Government price for water for sluicing pm poses is still exorbitant. There is no substantial reason why the price of water should be higher here than at Waimea. It has frequently been proved, beyond doubt, by statistics published in these columns, that in place of being higher, the price of water on the Kumara goldfield ought to Ire considerably lower than at Waimea. The Government water-race is known for a certainty to be paying handsomely, theaefore no stone should Ire left unturned which may induce the Government to relax the present high price of water. The prosperity not only of the individual miner but a great portion of the population of the district depends in a measure upon the fair and equitable charge for this useful commodity—water. The chance of interviewing a Minister of M ines does not occur every day ; and, if this one is missed, such an advantageous occasion may be looked for again in vain. In some other districts railways are the prevailing want, and, where established, become as a rule highly valuable to the residents through whose districts they pass. We have not so far felt the beneficent and civilising influence of railway communication in this district. Thousands upon thousands of money have been wasted on land carnage. Provisions, clothing, tools and almost every necessary of life have paid 200 per cent, more for freight than they would have done had we been blessed with railway communication to the sea-ports a few miles away. Cheap tools and mining appliances, with an abundance of provisions at a low rale, have much to do with the production of gold, as well as the well-being of a mining community like Ivumara. Ground that cannot now be looked at, owing to the extortionate price demanded for nearly every daily requirement, would, under a new order of things, become workable and payable. The fi ■ in rs and s-quatteis in oilier parts of New Zealand agitate for the reduction of the tariff on the

Government railways—railways which we, one and ail, have gone security for, and are paying our quota towards the immense amount of interest sent yearly to England. Those same farmers and squatters pay barely enough to the Government for the carriage of their grain and wool, to buy oil to grease the axles of the trucks. Here the miners pay such a price for water that thousands of pounds of gold extracted by hard graft from the earth go into the public exchequer—never to return to the pockets of its rightful owners—the miners. It will not he too much, therefore, to respectfully ask (be Minister of Mines to give the reduction of the price of water his most serious consideration, and charge from this out £2 per head.