New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4443, 16 June 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1875.

We express no opinion regarding the success or non-success of the "public "works on goldtields," about which several of our contemporaries are just now sorely exercised. In the nature of things, disappointment was to be anticipated. If ever there was a " speculative expenditure" of public money, it was the expenditure under the Public Works Loan within goldfields. " Give us "water," the promoters cried, " and we "will show you payable gold." Now, the answer was obvious. "If gold, in "payable quantities, is certain to be "found by a given expenditure on lead- '' ing water to particular workings, the "Banks will assist private capitalists " to realise these large profits by making "reasonable advances." But the Banks did not make any advances for thepurpose. Possibly they were applied to and refused : mayhap they were not applied to, which would argue against the paying nature of these works as a whole, or in detail. We are aware that efforts were made to float companies with more or less success, but as a fact, private enterprise undertook very little that might be called speculative expenditure. Water was Jed for many miles, in various directions, by the miners themselves, but it was to sluice proved ground; it was left for the Government, out of loan, to make the speculative expenditure on water supply. And now we find an outcry from the extreme West to the Thames in the North, and Mount Ida in the South, that the result has been disappointing. Golden sands have not yet run over the ripple boxes, depositing their precious burden to enrich the miners, and forthwith the Government is censured. Surely this is unreasonable in tho extreme. Let censure fall where censure is deserved; but the Public Works department is certainly not responsible for the absence of gold in washdirt, whatever may be its shortcomings. Then again, labor is scarce and dear on the goldfields, and the Government, if it had pushed the construction of water-races, as if time were the sole element of success, would have paid enormously more for the work than it was intrinsically worth. If the gold be in the earth, it will not vanish without hands, and a few months delay in the completion of the water-races could make comparatively little difference to the country. But it made all the difference to storekeepers, and the large and motley crowd of non-producers who live complacently upon the miners, and agitate in their name for their own selfish ends. We are led to make these remarks in consequence of recent articles in the Otago Guardian and Inanqa7i.ua Herald. From the former, we find that the Mount Ida tail-race will not be completed for the sum appropriated, although the Hon. Mr. Richaedson stated that Otago "alone " had been able to furnish a reliable " estimate, and that her works, [water " supply on goldfields,] bid fair to be " completed at a cost very little in " excess of the original estimate." In Juno last, an application was made for more money, but as tho vote was exhausted, no more cash was forthcoming. '' What will be done now "wo do not know," remarks tho Guardian ; " whatever may be thought now of " the policy of entering upon works of " this sort, it is absolute madness when " they are so near completion to refuse " the money necessary to make them " self-supporting." Perhaps so ; but the Minister for Public Works cannot sanction an expenditure in excess of vote, and it remains with Parliament to say what is to bo done. "At present," remarkßthe Guardian, " about forty-five

'' miles out of about sixty, of the head- " race are completed, and the balance is, " for the moat part, under contract. "Some connecting links of special difli- " culty remain, as yet, to be specified,, " and the forty-five miles, although com- " pleted, will require to be gone over " again, as, from the length of time which " has elapsed since portions of the race "were passed for payment, there have " been slips that a disused water-ditch is " always exposed to. These maintenance " expenses will accumulate by the spring " months till a maintenance sum of fully "ss. a chain upon the whole forty-five " miles will be needed before the ditch " can bo cleaned out. This expense is " entirely caused by the length of time " the work has been in hand, and should '' be added to the cost of the contracts. " Before all expenses are told up, it will " be found that in the acceptance of ton- " ders at too low a price a very great " financial mistake was committed. An- " other expense will be needed, which it " would not be right to charge to main- " tenance, as it will only occur once, " namely, 2s. 6d. to ss. a chain for gradu- " ally staunching the ditch before a full " supply of water can be turned into it. " With regard to the sludge channel, " which is part of the scheme at present, " there is no extra expense needed to " complete the work so far as it is laid " oft', that is, if the present contract is " carried through without being neces- " sary to give a bonus to the contractors " for work of special difficulty encoun- " tered." The real difficulty, however, we are told, is " the completion of the " head-race, reservoir, and flushing-race," for which there are not sufficient funds. Without these it is evident that the rest of the outlay is simple waste. This is undoubtedly a matter of colonial importance, and raises the question how far the colony, in its present financial condition, is justified in going in heavily for works of this nature. As we have already said, we express no opinion either way, being content to place the facts before the public. While the Otago Guardian says that Westland, Nelson, and Auckland were wise in their generation, and .had their respective votes increased, the Inangahua Herald, a West Coast paper, brings a sweeping charge of incapacity against the Public Works department. " There " appears to be (it remarks,) one class of " expenditure under the Public Works "policy of New Zealand which is very " badly managed, and the most familiar " instances of this bad management are "to be found on the West Coast. We '' refer to the expenditure of the money " voted by the Assembly for providing a " water supply for the goldfields. In the "instances referred to not only has the " expenditure been lavish and wasteful "to an extraordinary degree, but the " works have been kept back by a series " of departmental blunders and delays " which have seriously endangered the " ultimate success of the undertakings." This accusation is sustained by the "time " argument," to which we have already alluded. The Government is too slow ; " miners wearied of waiting for the " completion of the Nelson Creek and " Lake Hochstetter water-race, have been " compelled to turn their backs upon the " district." But our contemporary does not take into consideration the fact that pick and shovel labor is scarse at 15s. a day on the West Coast, and that this is at best a ruinous rate at which to construct public works out of loan. But our contemporary furnishes the best possible argument why these works should never have been undertaken by the Government. It remarks :—" The Government " race undertaking having almost wholly " discouraged private mining enterprise at " Nelson Creek, many of the best sluicing " claims have been exhausted without " any effort being made by the holders " to bring in water at higher levels so " as to give them the command of fresh " areas. The men have been depending " upon the Government race for their " water supply, and failing this they " are constrained to suspend operations. " How long this state of affairs is to last "it is hard to predict, but we see that " the inhabitants of the Grey Valley are " straining at the leash, and are about " to bring the subject under the notice " of the Government. The contractor " for the work appears to have got out " of his depth, and there is not a little " distrust among the workmen as to " whether the race can be completed for " the contract amount."

This comes of the Government giving way to political pressure and log-rolling, and interfering with what should have been left to the ordinary combination of capital and labbr. Private enterprise would have done all that was necessary much more efficiently and much more cheaply than the Government can possibly do it, and if any Government aid were needed it should have been given by the provinces which enjoyed the fruits of the expenditure in the shape of goldfields revenue.. This is all the more strikingly brought home to us by the cheerful intelligence, which we find in our West Coast contemporary, to the effect that the appropriation for the Waimea water-race will be insufficient. We agree with our contemporary in thinking that " political undertakings on " the West Coast have proved an un- " mitigated failure."