MR. STEWART'S LETTER.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 270, 9 May 1874, Page 3

MR. STEWART'S LETTER.

(to the Editor of the Mouot IdaGSibonicie.)

' , • ■ Sib,—My attention lias been drawn to a ■ letter which appeared in your , last , week's issue, signed "Janies Stewart." I read it with pleasure,.as it affords ine the opporlum'v to expose a network of monopoly. • sd overreaching greed and selfishness, winch has long been carried on on (he Hogburn by a company' in which Mr. , Stewart is , a- shareholder. Most of your readers are conversant with the fact that some years'since'a race was granted in the Main Gully, which, in the interests of the body of miners at Mount Ida, never ought to have been granted, except subject to such conditions as would t hay* acted as a bar to the monopoly the position of the race naturally gave them. The owners of that race being, by the grant (as occupying the principal outlet for tailings from all the workings), placed in a' position to stop all others on the watershed of the Main Gully from work,orimposc their own conditions. This was not immediately seen, as the difficulties of the position have grown up gradually, until it has assumed a most alarming appearance. Now, what with the constant building up of protection walls along the course of the race, and the with- • drawal of the tail water from that'part of - the gully into which the majority of the '-,, miners discharge their tailings, they rob it of its scouring power (or, in other 4 words, of its vehicle for carrying them •' forward), and thus largely increase the .'rapidity of accumulation, so much so that many of the races are unworkable. In point of fact, they have the command ,oi all the workings on both sides of the Main Gully, from Baxter's Gully to a ' quarter ot a mile above the township. ■ Thus, by granting the race applied for by -Stewart the other day, tho Warden ' strengthened and assisted to extend that monopoly. Mr. Stewart pointed out that he and his party had spent a considerable sum of money in connection with the ground applied for, and that it was to Work a claim in Moore's Gully that the extension of his race was sought. Said , race will cost probably not less than £SO, and this outlay is to be incurred to work a bed of tailings (for the gully has been worked already) deposited from the hill workings, which tailings could be all sluiced away in a woek after the race is 1 hat reason for the application is too transparent to obstruct the vision of a bat. It must be borne in mind that the company previously referred to are proprietors and lessees of water races, and that tho control over the workings which tho race ii: Main Gully gives them enables them to secure any or all of those Mho discharge tailings into Main Gully as customers for Wf ter. Thus to some they

say, "If you buy water from the companies that we are at variance with, or are jealous of, you shall not discharge tailings into our race." To others they say, " Take water from us, or stop;" and they so time their prohibition that the party, having incurred considerable labor and outlay of capital, has his claim in working order, must either comply or suffer great loss. A case in point is die race discharging near Mr. do Lautour's residence. The owners of that claim have been discharging into the gully for several months, bnying'water from the Hit or Miss Company, to supply whom the Company constructed ; a race probably nearly two miles, and erected the flume near the Welcome Inn. These works will now be therefore next to useless to the Hit or Miss Company—the claimholdcrs having the alternative given them either to purchase water from the Dead Level Company or expect an action for discharging tailings into the gully, they continually finding their way into theirtail race. Mr. Stewart finds fault with those who took advantage of illegal marking on his part. •I would draw his attention to the fact that though he holds interest in two claims in Enterprise Gully ; two in Moore's Gully and that neighborhood; the monopoly of the Main Gully and all the tail water therein; and one or two claims on Surface Hill, yet the manager of his company a few days ago took adrantage of an alleged similar omission on the part of Mr.' H. Anderson, wno had just completed a tail race which cost him upwards of. £4OO, to mark off as much of his claim as their water was high enough to work, the said claim having been wrought by Anderson for two years or more, and still occupied by him. .Referring again to Stewart's race in Moore's Gully, the tailings have accumulated (said accumulatiofl arising chiefly from their diverting the water from its natural course to flow in their race) to such a degree at the junction of said gully with Main Gully that the races terminating at that point will no longer carry through the debris. This has been the case for years. The parties interested have therefore, as no one was injured thereby, discharged into Moore's Gully, where they have 'accumulated—the lighter portion only passing on to Main Gully. Here, then, was an opportunity to retaliate on Moore for maintaining his rights in connection with his residence area, and seeking to keep Stewart and party to the verdict of Mr. "Warden Robinson in connection.therewifh, of which he is not slow to avail himself. He (Stewart) says Moore took up an abandoned race in the gully. '1 his is untrue,, as he purchased it* from those who constructed it, and produced the original certificate on Monday last. He has extended it from time to time, as the position of his work required, allowing anyone working in the same neighborhood to run into it without charge or conditions imposed. A race was applied for in same position as Stewart's, both in Mr. Warden Wood's time, and in that of Mr. Warden Bobinson, both refusing to grant it. They, sir, took the trouble to visit the gully, and acquaint themselves with the peculiar circumstances of the place, and seeing to keep the gully open was a convenience to scvc'ral parties, very wisely refused the application. Messrs. Stewart and Bremner, arc, however, great srrategists, and brought their application when the Warden's seat is occupied by one who is shrewd enough to decide all matters brought before him on the information his ability enables him to draw from the chaos of words advanced by applicant and objector, knowing wellhe would not visit the ground or enquire if the grant would probably stop the work of several parties. Mr. Stewart further tries to reflect in a most contemptible manner on'the President of the Otago Miuing Association, as though the fact of that office being filled by his opponent had the most remote connection with the matter at issue. Thi3 may safely be dismissed, however, with the remark that a man so unscrupulous as the writer of that letter very readily adopts any dirty tools to pi'osecute his work. If the Committee of the Mining Association had attended to their duty they would have opposed.it officially, in the interests of the mining com--1 mumty, who has placed them in- that position to watch over their interests—their chief duty, as I take it, being to oppose , undue monopoly, whether it be on the part of miner or squatter. But I have all through been "writing of the wrong man, for I have dealt with the tool, when I should have dealt with the man who wielded it. I hope Mr. Stewart will accept my apology.—l am, &c, A Diggee.

(To the Editor of the Mouira Ida Chronicle.)

Sie,- -I have been pondering in my mind (since the refusal of the license of the Commercial Hotel,! Naseby) to arrive if possible at some conclusion why the license was not granted. After laying out close on £IOOO on the premises I applied eighteen months back for a license, which was granted, the Bench remarking at the time—" "We grant this license because the house is a superior one on Naseby, and we consider it an acquisition to witnesses and others attending the Court, and other public buildings." Since then, miners and others attending tho Court, and entertainments at the Masonic Hall, have availed themselves of the accommodation placed at their disposal; and when required paper, stamps, &c, "have been procurable. The accommodation, furnishing, and conduct of the house are too well known to require comment.

It appears because I am struggling to overcome difficulties, caused on the expenditure of opening the hotel—and am occasionally working at my trade with that end in vitw, and to assist in rearing a large 1 amily—l am to be deprived of the opportunity of meeting tHese difficulties. It is true that occasionally I work at my trade as a carpenter when I can obtain work, but no carpenter on Naseby, working day labor, can average £2 per week all the year round. 'Every sane man knows that that amount is insufficient to maintain a wife and family of five children at the prevailing high prices. Is the reason of the refusal, then, to be looked for in the supposition that the house is not wanted as an accommodation when it is situated in the midst of more private householders than all the rest of the public houses of Naseby; and- at a- considerable distance from any hotel? "Is it reasonable to compel people residing in the neighborhood to travel through the slush in winter a considerable distance for-their jug of beer or small quantity of '-spirits through my house being Closed ?•"'--It'-is just as reasonable to close' houses in and about Loven stre'eVfo give me a license, and to compel everybody to come to my house for what they may require. Had the Bench, instead of refusing my license at once, given me twelve

months to pay off the heavy expenses incurred in opening my hotel, and to prepare in some other way to make a livelihood, the hardship would not have been so much felt, and in thejmeantime the necessity of the house might have been seen. As it is the hardship is severe.—l am, &c., Joseph Hex by Gason. '