THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1871.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 132, 8 September 1871, Page 5

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1871.

We call attention to a petition of some importance, which is at the present time in course of signature in this town and district, and which we publish below. It has reference to the expenditure of the sum of £300,000 which has been set a>dde tor the Increase of Water Supply on the Gold fields of JSew Zealand. It would seem that at the present time the expenditure of this sum is arbitrary —that is to say, that it can and must be expended upon Water Supply on Goldfields, and for that purpose alone. The petition supposes certain, districts wherein all the available means of Water Supply have been already exhausted by private enteprise, or wherein additional water can only be introduced from a very long distance, or at an expenditure of capital quite beyond any means which such districts are likely ever to have at their command, from what source soever arising or likely to arise. It is shown also by the petition that such districts, however largely contributing to the revenue, would be virtually excluded from a fair and equitable participation in any Governmental assistance under the loan. The petition then proceeds to show that there may be in many districts other mining works equally necessary, and not less important than Water Supply, and which would contribute vastly to their progress and advancement. Sludge Channels are particularly alluded to, and it is sought by the petition to induce the House to insert a clause into the Increase of Water Supply,. Act whereby any sum which may be eventually allocated to any district from the £300,000 mayhe devoted to such other mining use as may be best suited to the wants and requirements of any particular district. We think the prayer of the petition a very tit and proper one, and we doubt not that the document will re ceive almost universal signature. li must not, however, he-supposed that, should such a diversion clause be inserted as prayed for, there will be anything to prevent any allocated amount being expended upon Water Supply in each and every district, should such a course prove necessary or practicable. . As a rule, however, we may, we think, say that when water is available it can and will be brought in by private enterprise, as the sale of such an indispensable adjunct to mining industry has hitherto, throughout the Goldfields, with few exceptions, proved a vary remunerative speculation, and will, where found } ractieable, continue so to do With Sludge Channels, however, the case is very different, and the results of their construction problematical and uncertain, and less likely therefore to find favor with the seekers after a safe and remunerative investment for capital. While, therefore, increased water could and would, when practicable, be accomplished by private enterprise sludge channels might require aid and assistance from the Government. So far as we understand the drift of the petition, it is simply that an option, under certain conditions, should be given to each district to expend am sum, or portion of sum which may fall to their share, under the Increase of Water Supply Act, upon such mining works as may be best suited to its wants and requirements. The following is the petition alluded to above: To the Honorable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives of New Zealand in Parliament assembled. The Petition of the undersigned Miners, Residents, and others, of the Mount Ida portion of the Otago Goldfields, Humbly sheweth: 1. That your petitioners have learnt witli pleasure that it is the intention of your Honorable House to allocate from the contemplated Loan the sum of £300,000 for the " Increase of Water Supply " on the various G-oklfields of New Zealand. 2. That your petitioners are thankful for the proposed action on the part of the Parliament of New Zealand, as indicative of a desire to do an act of justice to a neglected but, at the same time, one of the most important, remunerative, and permanent industries of the Colony. 3. That your petitioners, while heartily co • curring in, and extremely thankful for, the boon contemplated. to be conferred, are of opinion that there exist exceptional cases, and exceptional localities, wherein the application

of any portion of the Loan of £300,000 to such district would be of no practical benefit whatever, for the reason that many of the (J-old-fields Districts have already utilised, hy private enterprise, all such streams that coul i command their various workings, and which could be brought in at a sum likely,'for years to cotne, to be within command.

4. That, such being the case, the districts to which your petitioners have referred, and to which no " Increase of Water Supply " could be introduced at an expenditure of any sum likely to accrue from such portion of the Loan as might be allocated to them, would be virtually deprived of any participation in the ad vantages to be derived from the contemplated action of your Honorable House. 5. That though the i-.crea.-e of the present Water Supply might be impossible in such districts, within any means likely to be at their command under the contemplated allocation by your Honorable House, such districts nevertheless are in want of other mining appliances, such as Sludge Channels, &'■.. of at least equal importance to the progress and advancement of that important branch of New Zealand industry.

6 Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that your Honorable House will take the premises into your serious consideration, and suffer the introduction of such a clause in the Increase of Water Supply on Goldfields Act as would allow any sum to be allocated to any districts to be diverted from the original purpose of Increased Water Supply to such other use and purpose as to the majority of the miners and others of the district might appear most useful and expedient—the expenditure of such sum to be nevertheless subject to the npproval and supervision of the Superintendent and Executive Council of the Province in which the district anxious of such diversion may be situate. And your petit loners, &c.