MOUNT IDA PUBLIC WORKS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 320, 17 April 1875, Page 2

MOUNT IDA PUBLIC WORKS.

- cojimssioxEß'sl kepo:rt. On tlie sth June, 1871, Mr. Haughthe ,a~dvantage of the special report of Mir. Yincent Pyke, then Goldfields Warden, reported to the Ofcago Council as one of three works in the Dunstan District Goldfield which, with the assistance of Government, might prove advantageous to the public:—" A large head race from the Manuherikia iiiver, below the junction of the Dunstan Creek, proceeding along the slope of the ranges to the Dunstan Gorge. This would be a work of great magnitude, and would take time to complete. It would, however, be utilised all along its course, and would be available for mining almost from its head." Mr. Haughton—having before him the reports of Mr. Pyke, and Mr. Barr, C.E., on the Naseby tailings difficulty, and having consulted the resident. Warden, Mr. H; W. Bobinson—also reported the advisability, " if found possible, on survey (of bringing in), a supply of water, say ten heads at least, , from the Little Kyeburn to the workings above Naseby, to be used as flushing water for a main Sludge Channel." MA3TUHEEXKXA. . AMD LITTLE KXEBUEJf

: STTBYEY. .. • . On _tlie 15th. February, 1872, the following memo, was placed, in Mr. Kobinson's hands" The question of water supply to the Goldfields district haying received the serious attention of the Colonial and Provincial Governments, the information up to this time available r is placed in the. hands of Mr. B;o"binson, who, with the aid of his im- . mediate,, personal andlocal knowledge, will be good enough to advise generally .upon-the subject. - ... . It is in .the report Mr. Eobinson returned to this memo, that we have the first official suggestion of the Manuherikia as a source of water supply for Naseby. . Mr. Kobinson remarked that the length of a race commencing at a point-indicated by him 2,600 feet above the.-sea. would' be probably between fifty and sixty miles This race, coming along the contour of the ranges, could be made te intercept the waters of several streams." The suggestion thus thrown out was neglected at the time, and shortly after Mr. D. It. Simpson surveyed and reported on the cost of a flushing raje from the Little Kyeburn, in his repoit strongly recommending that no action should be taken until the alternative race from the Manuherikia, suggested by. Mr. Bobinson, had been examined" The scheme of water supply from. the. Kyeburn is practicable, but expensive; and I would therefore suggest defering further consideration of it until the Manuherikia watershed has been ex- - amined and reported upon." The result of this further examination and report, as is well known, led to the adoption' of the Manuherikia scheme, as at the same time furnishing a valuable supply of water additional to the supply rendered necessary for flushing purposes only—the total estimate for the works being at the first £42,375 Bs.; though in the statement of 1874 the works are only credited with £40,000. Why the £2,375 was struck off after approval we. do not know. It is right to say that the Trade Association, during 1872, were indefatigable in their efforts in publicly urging on the initiatiop of these works —the memorials seiit by that body to every member of the Legislature m the month of July, 1572, being excellently framed, and full of facts and information likely to influence.the Assembly in their decision. . It must not be thought that the money for these water-works'was given to Otago as a; mark of especial favor; that the Assembly overflowed with affection to Otago ; or-that the superhuman efforts of Mr. Macandrew or our own members were ~ so zealous as to force thfs vote in our favor. The local representations made with periodic regularity by the Warden, and the spasmodic efforts made by the local bodies kept Mount Ida before the General. Government as a leading alluvial Goldfield, and when Otago had to be considered equally with Auckland, Westland, and JS'elson the district's claims and prior efforts for ordinary recognition were ait once allowed. Nor must it be thought f the Provincial revenue is to .be called; upon- for a single penny of the money that will be spent —which is a very common idea. In 1870 Mr. Dillon Bell and Dr. Peather?ton were despatched as special Commissioners by -Mr.- Pox's Ministry, principally to endeavor to float a loan for public works. On the 14th of May of that year they telegraphed to the Premier that the .English Government bad agreed to guarantee a loan of: £1,000,000, conditionally that the money raised should be expended on immigration aud public works: The Public Works and Immigration Acts of 1870 and 1871 were accordingly introduced into the Assembly, and passed. In these Acts it was provided that £IOO,OOO a year for three years should be expended, at the request of Superintendents and. Provincial Councils, on the supply of water on the Goldfields. It will thus be seen that the £300,000 voted for Goldfields - was granted as a fair • equivalent to the Goldfields tax payers .. for the main railways to be

knade in and through settled agricultural districts with the balance of the loan, for clearly every rninbr is a Colonial tax payer, and entitled to reap more than an indirect benefit for money raised on the public securities, and for the payment of which he ip jointly liable. This vote out of public loan is not to be taken in any seilse as a return for special taxation, the fruits of which go solely to Provincial revenue. Nor were railways all that were considered public works under this loan, for main roads and bridges in the North were also included. This vote then granted to the Goldfields throughout the Colony has been expended —or liabilities incurred for , works in hand—as follows : AUCKLAND. Shames Race £60,098 Bs. . ■ ' ■, WBSTXiAWD. ' V Waimea Race £103,000 Kaieniri Race £IO,OOO . . NEMON. Randall's CM Race £51,417 lis. 2d. , tiTAod. . Moiinfc tcla<,. Rdco And . Channel £40,000 Waipori Channel ... £12,996 4s. Bd. The balance' of 'the vote has been expended in subsidies to private 'companies, principally in w estland ahd Otago, £26,107 2s. lid. being the to- " tal so appropriated. It is worthy of note under this head that the Mount Ida works were approved at an estimate of £42,375, and instead of being increased by tho requirements of the case as in tho Channel deepening, which we will-deal in its place, have been decreased to £40,000. The Waimea race, approved at £61,235 has been increased, according to the requirements as they have occurred, to £103,000; Eandall's Creole race has been raised from £30,466 to £51,417; and tho Thames has also been advanced from £48,594 to £60,098. If this appearance of injustice to Otago had been in connection with railways instead of water supply we fancy ,we should have heard a little more about it. ■ .

V. ' PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT, 1874. In the Public Works statement made last year, referring to the item, Water • Supply on Goldfie-lds, Mr.. Richardeon said :—; 1 (The estimates for these works wore for the most part based on information supplied by , - the provincial authorities, and a reference to the table accompanying this statement will show that tho wliole amount of £300,000 authorised to bo spent in works of this nature is already spent, or liabilities incurred which will absorb it. Tho great increases are on the Waimea, Nelson Creek, and Thames racoß. Tho Provincial Government of Otago have superintended tho carrying out of the MoUnt ' IdnrVater raco and sludge channel. This forms a notable exception, inasmuch as it was tho only one in reference to which we had .anything approaching a reliable estimate, and it will bo completed at a cost very little in «xoess.

The Government do.not proposo to undertake any further works of this nature till time has proved how far tho3e, now in hand have succeeded.

£ s. d. The amount expended is ... 95,937 2 0 And tho liabilities are ... 201,454 13 10 If large water works had not. been undertaken in Otago, it will, we hope, be seen what an injustice would have been done to the first and as yet the most permanently productive of all the Provincial Goldfields. We may add to this that last year £50,000 wa» ■ granted to the Thames, on the securit of the Province of Auckland, and alst of the machinery on the goldmines to be benefitted.

•VISIT or HIS HONOtt THE SUPEttINTEIT DENT.

On the 28th of January, 1873, tho Superintendent and Mr. Bastings (Secretary for Works), accompanied by Mr. D. L. Simpson (the Provincial Engineer) visited Naseby. At an impromptu luncheon which was got up at the Victoria Hotel, hia Honor said, " He was very glad that tardy justice ■had at length been done to Mount Ida, and that now a better day >vas dawning for a district that deserved to be prosperous. It might not be out of place to say that Mr. Bastings and himself had accepted a tender for ten miles of the Manuherikia race. He wished he could also say the same about the Channel, but at tho desire of parties resident here, the time for this contract would be extended. The district would see that the Government was thoroughly in earnest. No time would be lost. He had always held that without some such works Naseby must collapse, and he believed his strong representations to the General Government to that effect had had weight in bringing about these desirable results." This ten miles of race thus let nearly two years and a half ago were contracts No. 1 and 2, formally let to Mr. Pearce on the 3rd of, February, and both contracts were, by the specifications, to be completed in three months—that wns, the Ist of May, 1878. As a matter of fact, as - we shall see, these contracts were not completed until late in 18 4. SLUDGE CHANNEL. The Channel was not so early started. Originally offered in sections, the .date of acceptance was postponed until the 21st [February, , and .then again postponed, tenders being finally required to ho in by the 15th of March for the whole ten miles.. It is here right to mention that writing on the ,10th of '.February, 1872, five months.before Mr. D. L. Simpson's plans and estimates of the channel were prepared, Mr. Robinson pointed out, referring to a possible arrangement with the Dead Level Company as to the purchase of their race and right—that, " to enable the low ground to be worked, tho race must be brought up at a lower level, and this the Company will certainly not do at their own expense." Yet as is .-yyell known, the original plans for the channel were so prepared as to . gain nothing on the levels at present

available'. • peauce's contracts. Meantime contracts 3 and 4, being another ten miles of the head race, were again let to Mr. Pearce, at prices (as in the first contracts) absurdly below the engineer's estimates, to be completed by, the _ 25th of May, 1873 —twenty miles thus being in Mr. Pearce's hands. Ori the 7th of March, as first results, the 4 Chronicle' reported that one chain of the twenty' miles was done, three men having been beguiled into a subcontract d,t 355. per chain, while eight-, een men. were waiting about for tools. It was also pointed out a week later —" it wis only a matter of common prudence thai any tehders should be very carefully considered, for a speculator on a foundation of sand might hope possibly to gain something, and in no case could he lose what he had

not got. . .-~. lt is the principle the Provincial Government have adopted that we dislike, a principle that, if persisted in, will very likely prevent the carrying out of the works altogether." On the 21st March one mile was reported as done in fragments, and thirty men only at work. In spite, however, of making play of work, «arly -.in June, con-" •:u l 5 was let to Pearce, being a long bu .1 vui the' source -at the river. On the 3rd of October Pearce had abandoned all his contracts, having done four and a half miles, and oh the 7th of November the balance of the contracts 1 and 2—five and a half miles —was dgaiti offered by public tender. Mr. "Dillon obtained the contract on this 24th November,, which he cdihpleted on the 11th of May, 1874—these ten miles, owing to the blunder ill their original acceptance haviiig taken nearly fifteen months, instead' of three?; DEEPENING Or THE CHANNEL. The. original contractors for the Channel, whose tender was accepted on the 20th March, 1873, were Messrs. Earner, Creighton Brothers, and Green—the price being £18,000,. or over £4ooobelpwthe.original estimate. After the first two mile and a half were completed Farmer and Green retired from the company. A week or two after the commencement of the work, advantage was taken of the presence of Mr. Bastings and Mr. Simpson to point out that at the depth it was proposed to. bring up the Channel the benefit wotild' ; Be very slight, and the, "loss immense; - The Mining Association, at their own expense, appointed a Committee, to.prospect the fiat below Naseby, which was'i'ound to be payably auriferous in nearly every hole put down. On the 2ad of April the Chairman and"Treasurer waited, upon Mr.Bastings, and Mr. Simpson, introduced by Mr. "Robinson. On the following day.the Committee were told; to prepare a report, based on careful observations, as to the extent of the : auriferous ground that lay below the channel, as originally,planned. This report was prepared from data arrived at after a considerable expense had been incurred. The report was.in the hands of the Government by the 38th of April, 1873, and,the alterations were, considered as settled. It afterwards transpired that the evidence forwarded, and the difficulty upon which it was furnished, were alike allowed to mellow quietly shelved in the Public Works Office, and the precious time—when the Provincial authorities of Auckland nd Nelson, and the Councillors of were obtaining the increases

a the sums authorised to tl£eir,.Pro<vincea and County, out ; of the- ■ was allowed to pass by. r The- Min&ter for Works, in granting the balance of the £300,000 to the North, would, naturally conclude that, as it it had not asked for any, Otago required no more to complete efficiently her Goldfields works. More, than a year: afterwards, with a coolness peculiar to Otago officialdom, the following memorandum wa& forwarded to the Secretary of "the Mining Association. ......

Sib, —By direction of the Government, I have the honor to request that .you-wilL-. su{rply me, with written evidence in rogard'to the existence of payable gold at a lower level-'than the present Channel in Hogbiirn G-ully. Statements in writing by the various prospectors — particularly the evidence of persons who have been recently employed to test the ground—and the result of their prospecting'will bo very useful ; also localities at what depth bottom has been found, &0., &c;, H. A. Steactobd, Warden. George Clarie, Naseby.

This proof of official zeal was produced under spur of the Provincial Council, then in session. The Executive, instead of wasting their : valuable time prior to the meeting of the Council in such an indifferent matter as the supervision of the expenditure of £40,000 of , Colonial money, wero disputing about branch.,railway contracts, and questions of Executive precedence—the members refusing to meet one another, even for the necessary conduct of Provincial business. Then followed the return to office of Mr. I'eid, who certainly was hot responsible for the bungle and neglect so .far, .except, that, as former Minister for Public W oi"ks he was aware of what was due to Otago (not Mount Ida) in the proper distribution of the Assembly's vote.' ' Indeed, in his Public Works statement in the session of 1872 he said that " the Government (Mr. Stafford's) were fully alive to the.import&nce of the subject of water supply on Goldflelds, and to the necessity which exists for providing an adequate water supply to the principal gold-bearing districts of the Colony at'the'earliest date. . . . The ultimate success or failure of tho works to be undertaken must, to a largo extent, depend on circumstances, which cannot be accurately ascertained or determined beforehand." The Associations Secretary admirably replied to the. official request, furnishing for the

second time the results more than a year previ usly placed in the hands of the Government, and approved of by the then Secretary for Works, and not without a gleam of irony reminds the Executive that their own officer had made, under instructions, a similar and corroborative prospect along the line of the Channel. No better information was possible on the question, and this again was accepted as satisfactory.. The altered plans had long before this been prepared, and the engineers had almost exceeded their duty in delaying the contractors from going on with work that would they knew have to be done over again. It was never dreamt that the Provincial Government would still refuse to urge the alterations upon the Minister for Public Works. This, however, was the case. The session of the Assembly was allowed to pass, and there is no record that any provision was asked by either Mr. Macandrew or Mr. Eeid to complete the works in an efficient manner, or to rectify the consequences of the former negligence in 1873. By the 2nd of July in 1874 a tardy halfhearted request, wrung out. by the Provincial Council, had at length arrived in Wellington through the Superintendent, which was replied to by the Colonial Secretary, who, on behalf of the General Government declined to authorise the alterations in the Channel. In course of time this letter .(by the courtesy of the Goldfields Secretary) was forwarded to Naseby. The decision was accepted in Dunedin as, final, and the contractors were instructed to proceed with the works on fchtr original plans. - ,

PUBLIC MEETING- AT KASEBY. The district was not, however, inclined to be sat upon by such indifference —alike to the interests of the Colonial money as of the resident miners, and a public meeting was at olice convened to consider what should be done. This meeting was convened at the request of the Mining .Association, who felt the responsibility, as their silence might be interpreted to sanction an act of folly and their remonstrance, after two years of battling, they feared would avail nothing. As an upshot of the Government changed their mind, and agreed to the alterations, so far as the money would carry the channel—it b.eing intimated that the point that would be reached would be a little, perhaps half a mile, belowthe one mile peg. It was considered much more preferable to make sure of a perfect Channel, wherever it might stop, than ,have a shallow Channel that would merely skim the surface cf the best auriferous ground, and indeed of-; fer no other advantages than does the ; present private race: The contractors' were accordingly invited to Dunedin,' and a- fresh arrangement was' made with them to bring the Channel up from, a little below Enterprise Grully at the altered depths. This work' was commenced in September and was to be completed in six months—one statement said ten months. At this the question has remained, and there appears no more likelihood of the Provincial authorities applying for more aid in this, work, than there ■ was two years ago .when the question of depth was pointed out—much less chance, because then there was: money available out of the original vote which, not being applied for by Otago, went away to the more watchful centres, and now there would have to be another special volfs of the Assembly. The Channel up to.a point a little below Duncan's farm, about-.two miles from T Jrase£y, -"and • stone is'laid along its course to that: point. The length to that point will, it is thought, exhaust the available fund; With an outfall at so short a distance the miners would quickly'en'ough get a race down to it, bflji the profit .would be theirs, and not the Governments, while those who did not participate, in the carrying down of the head would be at the mercy . of. the monopolists that did. The position has been repeatedly pointed out, and for the present we leave it. Against ; their will, the Provincial authorities have been made parties to the carrying out of an efficient work so far as the Channel has gone.

ABBOTT'S CONTRACTS. About the 7th of .November contracts : on the Head. Race N0.;7 and 9 were let to Mr. Abbott, being thirty-eight miles of the race, the length'of the contracts being twenty miles and seventeen and a half, and the prices reported to be £5494 and £4,38t5. These contracts Mr. Abbott undertook'to complete by the 22nd April, 1874. No. 7 was contracts 3, 4, and 5, which ware re-let, having been abandoned by Pearce and Eraser. No. 9 was a middle gap of about seventeen miles, adjoining at its low end Dillon's nine mile contract. : Of this thirty-eight miles five miles were sublet: With this specinl subletting to H. B. M'lntosh and Co. we have nothing to do —the original contractor being answerable. Some two months after contract No. 9 should have been completed a reliable correspondent to this paper reported that " one mile out of seventeen was constructed, contracts 3, 4, and 5 were completed, No. 1 (Dillon's) was nearly so. Why section No. 2 should be allowed to stand over, and retard the progress of the whole undertaking requires an explanation. Surely the Government cannpt be blind to . the fact that the obstruction precludes the. water of several large and important streams being turned into profitable account." On September 4 three miles were duly reported done, and it had taken eleven months to do these three miles. To .cut along story short, No. 9, although reported finished, has not yet been pub into such a state of completion as to enable it to. be passed hy the Inspector, while several miles of the further contract re-

let from Peai'ce remain still to be done. dillon's coxiu.icis. It has been already noted that Mi', Dillon tendered to complete portions of contracts x> os. 1 and 2, abandoned by Pearce, which he completed last May. But, five months before accepting Pearce's deficiency, Mr. Dillon had successfully teridered for an original contract, No. a ten mile section of the .race, specified to be completed in September, and actually passed early in 1874. Mr. Dillon, at the beginning of last year, also accepted a further contract —No. 10 being ten miles near Naseby. This contract was slightly altered by tunnelling a considerable distance through a spur: Both tunnel and race were completed early in the spring. A further single contract for a few chains of special difficulty in the head of the "Wetherburn also fell to this contractor—being a connecting'gap in Mr. Abbot's No.' 9 contract. In a,ll the work Mr. Dillon has had to do he has shown that, in spite of the excessive laxity shown to contractors by the political heads of departments, the work when tendered for at a fair price could be done satisfactorily, - and in good time. Mr. Dillon has : proved that there is no reason whatever why the Head Race should not have been a year ago completed at prices slightly under the Engineers estimates. johnstone's contract. This notice would not be complete without reference to a section let to Mr. Robert Johnstone of two and a half miles between No. 2 and No. 6. This section was offered to Mr. Johnstone by and was efficiently and quickly executed—so much so, indeed, as to induce the. engineers to recommend the Government to secure Mr. Johnstone's services as an Inspector of Works on the race generally. EKGINEEM. When completed the race and channel will be a practical testimony to the genius and talent of Mr. D. L. Simpson, upon whose plans and reports they have been carried out. Unfortunately, as is well known, in January the Harbor Boards —who have secured Mr. Simpson's sendees—refused to allow him any longer to supervise these works. Consequently /they are nominally in the hands of the Provincial Engineer, just appointed, ; who has never seen them ; and, without any disrespect to his talents, cannot possibly know anything, about them, Mr. Ki-i chard Browne,, who has been ever since the commencement of the scheme Resident Engineer of the works, has done his work with skill and perseverance. It-is no.'doubt a recognition of. Mr. Browne's services that has led the Government to appoint him District Engineer. , , ■ ■ , •

coxciTrsiox. It will be . seen by any one who takes the- tremble to. master the facts we have brought together that these works have been superintended by the Provincial Government-without the least enthusiasm.: There has been no wish to take any advantage of the Colonial scheme of Public Works to accelerate goldraining.; A T o.t only has enthusiasm been wanting, but even plan or design. As a matter of engineering construction if: may be at once admitted that do difference exists whether the race w;as commenced in the middle or either oncl—so many miles of race could not be done under a certain time. In a work of peculiar nature a very great difference in the results obtainable under different plans: of construction does often exist. In'this case, if the commencement; had been made' at Naseby, there would have been no twelvemonths delay in one contract which has postponed for one year the utility of the race, while heavy costs for maintenance - of-the finished but :unused lengths were being incurred. Water would long ago have been available for completing the Channel all the way to Naseby at any depth at which a fall could have been obtained for the same cost which is now incurred in bringing it to the terminus -below Duncan's farm, two miles at least from Naseby. On a systematic' plan of construction the race as it proceeded would have been gradually staunched by the small streams intercepted as it proceeded. The value of such a gradual tightening of the race is not yet known. It would be very soon found out if it was attempted to suddenly turn in twenty heads or more of water into a dry ditch of the dimensions of the Head Race. All such difficulties and many others have been ; otally unconsidered. it has been no part of the engineers business to make such works as these a political or economic, success. In the absence of all economic supervision by the-Otago Government the' body, whatever shape it is to take, in whose hands the future management is to vest shoiTd have been constituted to consult with the engineer as to; the best way to proceed with the works in order to bring in revenue, without general hardship, for maintenance; also as to the best way to connect the Head Race with the Channel, to the most advantage, having in view future mining works, while not needlessly destroying. the value of existing water rights or competing with them. \\?e are of opinion that a resident salaried officer, acting in concert with the Warden, would form a more elhcient mode of management than a trust, and prove'more economical to the Government. Trusts are apparently popular among Governments, although the Harbor Boards and Dock Trusts existing, and. which have existed of late, do not flatter the peculiar administration of honorary Boards. We readily grant that Colonial works of such magnitude were not intended for the benefit only of a

small resident population,- as at Nasebv. Yet it cannot be sai i that even residents at Naseby were to be starved out by systematic neglect, or in deference to the influences exerted in Dunediri by a single contractor.