PUBLIC MEETING.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 282, 31 July 1874, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING.

A public meeting of- the residents of the district was held in • Pinder's "Empire Hotel on Saturday evening last. His Worship the Mayor occupied the Chair. There were about 150 present, the room being crowded.

.In opening the proceedings, the Chaibman said that he had called the meeting at the request of the Mining Association Committee, ;who had received from the Provincial Government a copy of a letter from the Colonial Secretary declining, on. part of.the General- Government, to accede to the proposition made through the Superintendent to alter the Channel. The Committee, feeling the responsibility of taking action as being great, had de-. cid'ed to obtain an expression -of the general' opinion: T ' ' • : J Mr. o>E Latttoue said he had been asked to propose the first resolution —he supposed the Committee of which he was Chairman had "had further communications with regard to the Channel. -Those communications printed,: aiind were well • known. He might say that the Secretary of the Association had ! kindly shewn him the Government com.munication ; and, acting-jipoterthat, the. had instructed...him; to telegraph' dirqcjt to, Wellington,: to save time, and also to support Mr."Mervyn in the action he was taking. The Premier, in alluding to the Superintendent's proposals, i which were.. different "from those . telel graphed, ho doubt, alluded' to, the letter of i which Dr. Pollen's letter of wa's a ireply to,' in refusall ■ The ;! telegrams, would.* hot, he thought, bear, any other |tbeir telegrams very strongly;, because, the jtime for 0&. Government, ,to, stop their jwork was'nbV.past.,'. He had. that evening received word from the Gpldfields Secretary that he. would come to Naseby at, ah'Sarly-dafce; "to see abouiS. local matters. It might be well for a deputation to be ! aj>especially with regard ?ito the r iChannel. He thought there could; be no' idifferencepf,:opinion•.with regard,to, .the motion he would.now move :—. V

That this meeting records its thanks ; .to;.the; Premier for his prompt reply in /reference to' the deepening of the Channel, /and hk recog-: initiori of the necessity of the alteration. ; . ; ! Mr. Wade seconded the motion,'which was carried f " h: ".-'-' ; -- :i - ; •-' ; - i: ' ; - i^-:; -- !;;:

i - ; Mr... Shannon said 1 be thought''it was not altogether good*policy:to reston what the telegrams said.,h There: was-> nothing: very, definite in them/not sufficiently SQitp ■be satisfied with.,,; .He ri thpught.some, more strenuous action would, be needed •Aiuith^maftt^^ ~,.. .\That this, meeting v|ews • w|th x fllarm.- the idea'of the Chahnef being brought up as bri; ginaUyplahrredj andlaysert 'that)' if iiot v filtered, there will be.an immense loss of reveJnue>fco the country, s and-the district will fae-l 7 i:.,v ■■s-.-mU f:nt;t '■' ■"■ifv.T.'l He thought such an expression of opinion might hurry them on in the-steps necessary to be taken in the matter. Seconded by r andfcarriedi c Mr: A. J Simpson'" laid' he"" did hot see : there. waSf anything definite ..before the 'meeting/' '\ up in "a; 'few : dky-s> ! Tney did hot 1 MioV'what amount of funds hadyetto be expended', neither did they;know' what the Government was going; to. do>... It had. been: sng- r gested that a. Committer should. see . Mr. MacKellar about the they, would know better;' '""• ' : ' ;, V ' if'!" ?;'".'■* Mr. Bbemneb thought-that before Mir. : Simpson sat down he would ihaVe-pro-l posed a Committee. ?,:<_,.-,; :: J'/; v/rf-r-j; Mr. Simpson certainly mittee was necessary r, a. Committee * of? practical miners—not *a who knew nothing' abbilt'it:' '* - -" '~'' iu ' ;; --" Mr. Bbookes.thought it,, would, a good thing if Mr., James Hore, who-pros-; ' pected the ground, would •{matioh as to-the'value of iti. •■ y --" "= s -^ ■■■ • Mr;-James-Hobe! would ih'ave \muc& preferred hearing from the, members„of. the Association Committee —as, being the 'selectedamqngjthe mme>s,ffheyl should be-leadefs'. He'might say v 'thav as was y well known, he had prospected tkhe,grqund ' —areport was sent in.' Tin's : was' so'oioT >a matter, and so well known, ( seemed, nonsense., to ,allude to., it- The grbund'prospected'wbuid'"be all worked some day ifr the .43hanhelvwas.•"deepened. It was not rich ground- T but. would: payfrom 50s. to 60s. per man a'weekf "About' 500 acres could, easily, be /Wbrkedn' iTheL Channel would be quite useless .to, work this at the present levels. • iili ;r ° i marks would not be/ considered as being out of place. He took'a greatinterest in Naseby. hoped iK would be' a large place: r Should the ■ alterations in , the Channel not "be"effected/ lie thought it was a general expression of opinion that it would, be a small place. - The .Government cciuld hot have been posted up in, .their, requirements. = The GoldnmSs have" made the country what it is. ; 'The Goldfields interest was, in his' opinion,, the firsti( not'; a-; <secondary ■'• interest. ; -a£ strong;representation of dpinienfbe-made; j The Goldfields Secretary would be in; Naseby soon; he was their servant, and, j

a£s a matter of right, must give attention ,to*a matter of-such importance. . y'\ \ ' believed was Weserit, ~%ho/had prospected the Vgrbund for the Provincial Government. _ Mr. Yes ; the ground I prospfectgd,s_and: found gold, ill. "throjugft it. The ground Teas about .twelve feet-deep. Every hole- iie/sank shewed- payabhVgold. To Mr. Leys, who was passing, heshoweda prospect, which was a fair averager*" He" could testify to what, he was saying. The ground reached for about four miles down. Mr. Bbemneb-:' l What- ; about Enterprise Gully ? Mr. Gbeen had found'payable ground' uj> Enterprise Gully—all the way to Coal Pit Gully. He had found gold in pigjrootings, when looking not for gold, but for mushrooms. c .; (Laughter.) They might be sure this" madei him give his attention to it; and, if-he could have got water on, he would be "working at it. The Head Eace would command all that ground. Mr. Shannon thought that the Secretary of the Association-would have been present with papers which would have shown "what, the Association had been doing. Had he been'present it would have been manifest'that the Committee had not been dilatory. In reply to a question from Mr. Shannon, Mr./ djb" Lautoub said that he did not know when Mr. MacEellar would be up. As to the- deepening, he might add to what he had said, that the Committee took the bolder course of writingastothe necessity ofdeepening, because they were sure that, if made efficient, the Government would bring the Channel far enough for every miner's requirements. There was no fear of it

stopping at'F- . -y's; but, if not altered, nQ. w^->wer_ -o> -pressure would mate the engineers take up their own paving-stones, and own the whole thing a failure. Mr. Kichai-dson, in his Public Works Statement just made, had said that" the Mount Ida Public Works were the only ones out of the Water Supply : Vote keeping at all within the estimates. We have as much right to consideration as other districts, and would get it if we only opened our mouths to ask for it. Mr. Simpson thought the Committee should be appointed from the meeting. Mr. Hat would propose —" That.a_deputation be appointed to wait on.. .Mr. MaeKellar on his arrival in Naseby—two members of such deputation to be known prospectors of the ground." It was moved that Mr. A. Simpson's name be also added. Mr. Jambs Hoke thought it would be bad taste to select any that were not I members of the Association.

Mr. Simpson reminded the meeting;'_ that when the Associations Committee was elected only about twenty persons were present, and the Committee sort ofelected themselves. ' -'

Mr. Hat's motion was put and carried. ,Mr. Glenn moved that.the-number 'be seven. >

Mr. Paeme'e would"like to know more about the levels. ' He knew when they, brought up the first tail race the f depth of ground was about six feet.

Mr. Hoee said thatall'the holes* he! sunk —with the exception of one, which' was nine feet —were twelve feet six. '

The following names r were thenwadded-' to "Mr. Glenn's motion, which. I was,>se-s conded by Mr. M. Brookes —Messrs. Jas. Hore,. J. Green, T> JackV son, J. Shannon, J. Bimpsbn' M.Cooper. • ; ■■'lf~'-''\ i . ;v""l-' !^ Mr. Bbemneb-said''lie' bad much! plea? sure in proposing •;= the next resolutiohy which to ■ hirav -At - the samelimerhe WQuld say that-ifs Provincial Engineer was up with,.; Mr. .Bastings"some two.and a half years ago, the advice of a Few who knew the ground had been taken advantage of, the present difficulty would not have arisen. SoW ever, there could be no doubt we ; were indebted to the Engineer for the alteration' recommended and for his recommenda;tion to the Government. He had much pleasure in proposing the resolution;

That a vote of thanks be recorded to the Provincial Engineer for his readiness in preparing, at considerable labor, the proposed alterations as recommended to him by thesis-: trict; and also for his strong recommendation of the same to the Provincial authorities.' f

From the action taken by the Engineers he was sure they were acting for the interest of the district in deepening the Channel. -,.

' Mr. i>B IjAtrTotrE, seconding the motion, would take the opportunity to say of what value the papers prepared by the Secretary of the Association, founded upon the prospectors' labors, had been to the Government. Mr. Reid had said that he was convinced, after perusing them, that the work must be done. The district was certainly very much indebted to the Association in this matter.

Mr. Coopeb would supplement Mr. de Lautour's remarks in saying that the Mining Association had done all in their power, so far as influencing the alteration of the levels. He thought the position of the Channel should.be also altered. ,

After some further remarks, a vote.of thanks to the Chairman proceedings. ~ <