PETITION.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 233, 22 August 1873, Page 5

PETITION.

Petition of Proprietors of Water Eaces in the District of Mount Ida. To the/Honorable the Speaker and House of Representatives. t This memorial humbly sheweth: v ■1; That your petitioners are .proprietors of water .rices in the district of Mount Ida. 2. That they have, at great outlay of capital and labor, and frequently under groat difficulties, ■ constructed water rr,ces and dams, and have thereby developed the great 'sluicing resources of the Provtn.ce; further, that in many instances the whole property of your petitioners is invested in ventures of this class: ' '• 3. That the intention of the framers of the Goldfields Act under which the'rights'of youv petitioners have been obtained, was to confer all the rights and privileges held under a water license in perpetuity, subject to simple conditions. -' 4. That for the Government to undertake large water schemes, and enter into competition with private enterprise, is tantamount to a resumption of tlie rights granted under the water license, and can only be done subject to the provisions made in clauses xxvi, and .xxvii, Goldfields Act, 1866. 5. That-the Government, by diverting and selling water at a low rate, confer a benefit on the least energetic and most improvident ■ppj-tion of the Golditelds communities chiefly, to the'exclusion of the pioneers of the Goldfield, thereby discouraging private effort and self-reliance, which your petitioners submit is, for the future welfare of the Goldfields, a very obstructive and pernicious policy. 6. Th e.t when the Government contemplate undertaking a scheme for the siipply of water where private rights exist, it would accord more with equity to first buy up the vested rights, and thus afford all without distinction the opportunity to participate in the benefits of the scheme. 7. That, for the above reasons, your honorable House will be pleased to take "the general question of Government Water Supply—especially the scheme for the supply of water to the Mount Ida Goldfield—into your very serious consideration, and adopt therein such measures as shall be just and equitable to your petitioners. And your petitioners will ever pray, &c. (Signed) J. B. Bradsjiaav, And 101 others.