THE STRIKE AT MOUNT IDA.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 53, 4 February 1870, Page 3

THE STRIKE AT MOUNT IDA.

(Communicated to the ' Evening Star.') The strike of the miners at Mount J'c> against the water companies is a most serio - f matter. Some hundredg of persona are throv. n out of employ, and it will make -a- different, says the local journal of something like £2OO a day to. the place.. But'notunly is;it serious as affecting the one place, but 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 miners in other places are sure to follow. It cannot but.be matter for that the dispute has come to this pass. Tnero .can be little doubt there is good ground for complaint. The price charged at Mount Ida for water has been very high. £2 10s. has been the price charged for a Hogburn head, which i is very much smaller than a ground sluicelA eatl > according to Government regulations, and: jbhe.race companies have been "receiving dividends amounting to as inuch as sevent vfive per cent, per annum on their capital; while the miner, although oil the average doing well 'even after paying these, high prices, has in -many cases found insufficient returns for his labor.

Still, there are 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 dari may lay thein open to hoary damages, as wrs the case only the other day with one company at Mount Ida"! . Their returns, therefore, ne.-l be large to induce anyone to go into the cut-tin* of a race as a speculation. Then, of course, it is a question of supply and demand; and wat« r is a commodity which may be sold, like ever-. - thing else,; to. the highest bidder. - No one em blame the owners of a race for trying to mate 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 e.» cheaply as he can. " The only occasion fo? blame seems to be when, by combination, im.fair advantage is.taken to fores a thing below its proper value.. It.is well known that tho** companies who have large claims of their own, can make more out of working them than by supplying others with water at the priev* hitherto current, and we do not expect that any who are in that position will submit to » reduction, in theirrai.es. Whether it ;was wise to give them a monopoly is another question; and; it sefems' doubtful, whether atrr 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 thera 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 some cases, loss results ; and this has to be taken into consideration in calculating their revenue. Finally, the co3t of repairs-and maintenance, the heavr 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 308. a-head; or little-more* than one-half the present- charge, the miners are unreasonable ; had they contented themselves with £2, na proposed by one miner, they would have had a better chance of buccoss. As it is, there is » deadlock, which seems likely to last some time. It is not to be supposed that the companies TOuld consent to a rate that would le'ave 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 be in direct proportion to his returns. If 113 had little, he. would, pay h.ttle for water j if as Bad much he .would, cheerfully pay a larger ,suai and the average rate would pay the rles -companies. Suppose then, 80s. were adopted as the minimum, and say ten per cent. add:-, tional of all the gold got, a solution of the question might.at once! be. made. As regard? Government aid, it is quite hopeless to expec: 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 meats.-to give a guarantee to any company of eight per cent. on certain conditions. Meantime, could not the Government instruct the Warden or soma other public officer to endeavor to mediate between the. contending, parties. .. " It will be asad'blbw to mining enterprise if capital, is driven away by a persistent refus if 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 the end on themselves.