THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1873.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 232, 15 August 1873, Page 4

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1873.

The debate in the Assembly on the motion of Mr Tribe, that a portion of the £300,000 for Water Supply should be applied to; the construction of a race to convey water from the river Mikonui to Clearwater Gully, near .Koss, Westlund, was of more than usual interest From what fell from Mr. Yogel, we really think our water race owners may take heart, and cease inundating the Provincial and General Government authorities with petitions for their rights—another of which documents was, we learn, presented through Mr. Macandrew,■? a copy of which we hope soon to be in a position to publish. The Government, we gather, are quite aware of the difficulties iu the. way, and intend to meet them fairly. Mi\ Yogel said-—" There "were many questions in relation to " this subject which it would be well " for honorable members to consider " before coming to a conclusion. In " the first place, there was very great " difference of opinion between the " residents of a district as to the value " of worka-to.be carried on outside it "and as to the value of those to be " carried 0:1 inside "it. What led to " the decision of the Government in ■" this matter was the fact that, before "carrying on a work, they had to con-

" aider the limited amount of money i " for works of the same character " which was at their disposal, and that (i the expenditure of the money was to " be balanced between different parts | " of the country.. . . With regard to " Westland the evidence was decidedly " in favor of the Waiinea Wuter Kace " being carried out. lie had no doubt " that the honorable gentleman who " had moved this motion would tell the " House, as he had told him (Mr. " Vogel), that it was most inexpedient " to carry out that work, and that " nothing . but loss would ensue from " doing so.. In fact, there was no " work that could be carried out on " any Goldfield which the people of " another Goldfield would not consider " useless. This was just the difficulty "in which the Government were

" now plaeed. If they went to the j " inhabitants of Groldfields, and asked, " 'ls this work in your district neees-1 " ' sary ?' the answer would be, 'Most! " ' decidedly ; go on with it.' The " Government, consequently, had to " give this ma,tter most careful consi- " deration, and they nad arrived at the " conclusion of which he had informed " the House. However, if the House " thought it expedient to make to the " Government the recommendation " asked for by the honorable member, " so let it be, but the Government " could not accept it as more than a " recommendation. Besides, he was " not at all sure that the money re- " quired for this particular work would " be available, supposing the Govern- " were to carry out the other work " upon which the House had already " expressed its opinion.—(£3o,ooo for " a race from Randall's Creek, in Nel-

" son.) There now remained a balance " of £BO,OOO out of tbe £300,000 which "'the Government was authorise-i to " expend on works of this kind, and the '■ Government were, very anxious lo " see cum pie Led some of the works " already commenced, in order to as- " certain whether the expectations held " oat with respect „to them would be " realised: to see bow they could be "put to useful purposes— bow they " could be let, and so on.". Mr Shep.herd, opposing the vote, said, " He " should like the G-over'nment to eon- " sider whether'they could not initiate " a better system, namely, to subsidise " individual miners and parties of " miners ; whether, in fact, it would " not be wise to. call upon miners to " take a share in the -venture; to say " to them. ' If you believe in the race, " 'give us some proof of it by investi." 'ing in it yourselves; we will adj " ' vance you one-third of the value of! "--' the race, and will take security over j '•■' the entire race for repayment of the j " ' advance." Tie had spoken to prae- " tical miners on the matter, and they " heartily endorsed the scheme, and " said they believed it would work far "better than the scheme which had " been in force up to the present time." Mr. Mervyn, too, '* saw clearly that " where the Government constructed " lame works and let out water to " miners, they must necessarily let out " the water at a reduced rate, and cou- " sequently interfere v\ ith the rights of " persons who possessed water rights " in the same district. Therefore, if it " were at all possibie, v.\q Government " should encourage private enterprise " to step in and construct these works " instead of doing so themselves. If " the Regulations were at all defective, " the Government should endeavor to " meet the miners and give way in '• some instance". The miners should. " be able to get the subsidy speedily. " At the same time, there were cases " where they could not get men to " band together—where the works were " too large to be carried on by private " enterprise —and in such cases it " wuuid be necessary for the Govern- " ment to step in and construct these " works." Mr. Mervyn, in his clairvoyant powers, of course sees nothing new. No scheme of Water Supply could be in the least degree beneficial that did not reduce the price of water. The obvious remedy is to allow the present monopolists—who.have, to a l certain extent, a prior right—to pari ticipate in the benefits to such a «dei gree as to, at any rate,' prevent their j being losers by the general prosperity I of the majority. Mr. Mervyn spoke

bettor when, earlier in the same day,he pointed out that the Government might wisely increase the vote' to £500,000, as recommended by the Goldfields Committee, " because he " was quite "satisfied, speaking.for the " G-oldfields of O'tago, that it would " pay the Government handsomely to " expend an. unlimited amount •of " money in bringing in water for the " purpose of developing mining indus- " try in that part of the Colony. And . " even assuming that, in the course of " time, the mines would be exhausted, " he believed it would pay admirably " to bring in water for such purposes, " as the water at first intended for de- " veloping the mining resources of the " Colony would be ultimately used for i " irrigation and other purposes.". Probably, in some localities, owners of water races ' not requiring their ' water right for mining purposes, overlook the value of the channels for irrigation purposes. There is an old abandoned race known as the Shag Valley Race, that was never completed, but would make an invaluable agent to open up a large tract .of country for. agricultural purposes, if a scheme of irrigation were entered into in connection with it. Where water is no longer required for mining purposes, it j could be made a permanent source of ! wealth by being devoted to irrigation. This, however, is not at present understood in this country —year after year farmers being content to go on, in many cases raising crops that will" not pay to cut, on account of the effocts of drought."

The usual mode of appointment of Local Committees to direct management of philanthropica-l and other public institutions does not so-.'tn to us. very satisfactory. We refer especially to tiie Co mini? tees managing Churches, Schoois'and ,\theu£eums." The system of L- anagment,, so general in the Province, by honorary Committees, no doubt is a good one, and, on the w'hoie, . work's well. This has. lately been recognised with regard to the Hunedin Hospital —ail agree that that institute, would "work better, and more creditably, under a Committee: 'Hospioai Committee elections a're, indeed,, conducted with some degree of strictness —as a special Ordinance provides ; but other Committees appear to be appointed vary much by haphazard and chance. * Ihere is a feeling, too, very prevalent, thai the whole duty of "a good citizen is to shirk all share whatever iu local administration. This is easily accounted for by the ariu'oyance that must arise on all matters of disputed opinion in small.communities. No Committee can escape from severe and often unjust criticism, and this naturally, in small places where Mrs. G-rundy is paramount, is excessively aggravating to any meuiber more than usually tender-hefted, who perchance has done not only his best—but the very best —for his Committee. A good deal of this unjust criticism we have hinted afc arises from the want of system in appointing Committees, and also from perhaps a similar want in the Committees' administration. The, public do not.know what can and sv-b'at cannot be done, and consequently are often so unfair in their remarks that they paralyse the Committees, making them afraid almost to do.any-" 1 thing from fear of being misunderstood. At present the election of Committees is conducted much in this fashion: A meeting is hastily called together —a tew attend; Jones proposes Hodge, and Hodge in turn proposes Jones, and so on, till the number is complete. There is no effort to obtain the services of the men best specially adapted for the particular purpose, as there should be, but a mere haphazard selection out of those whose leisure or whose idleness has permitted them to attend on the particular night in question. We would suggest that any Committee about to retire or resign should obtain the names of a number of gentlemen who will volunteer to act, and that these names, with any additions the public meeting may wish, should be subjected to the ballot at that meeting. This would get over a disadvantage that is constantly occurring. A meeting insists on a person—say A —who has

well known as a good worker ■ formerly, being p-ut on a certain Corn- - inittee in spite of inV remonstrance and 'assertion that he' 'will not be able to attend to the work. This is do 'while very probably a willing hand—B '7—who, from his zeal, would make a much better member, is left out. A bad system appears also to be in force, by which'a paid Secretary is selected by the Committee from among their own number, the Secretary so 'selected remaining still a member of the. Committee. This is really an abuse that should be rectified, for it is impossible for any man to carry out • the Committee's instructions in correspondence and personal intercourse 'without reflecting his own somewhat strong views as a member of CommitJ "tee.- A better system of electing, and more publicity to proceedings, would tend-very greatly-to' do away with the constant backbitings and misrepresentations that are always on at the expense of the best Committeemen who can be chosen.