The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1875.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1997, 29 May 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1875.

Thb recommendations of the Select Committee re the Pumping Association grant were fonnded, we presume, on the evidence given before it. by mine managers and others, and they (the committee) find that transactions have hitherto been conducted an a very loose and irregular manner. This same idea has struok many persons down here, and there are some who go the length of saying that the money has not been expended with that due regard for economy which should have marked every detail connected with the work, which is being carried on with public money. We confess that we are not in a position to say tint such has not been'the case. We only know that it is expected the, Government will keep a watchful eye over the expenditure in the future. People now feel a much greater interest in the Pumping Association than they did. They want to know whether the work done since the Association commenced to draw on the loan has been equal to what would have been got for private expenditure, and they want some guarantee that in future Buoh will be the case—in fact

that the public vote will bo expended with the same care as the private funds of the Association; and the Select Committee evidently had this in view when drafting their roport. Another point in their report was a recommendation that the Government would take measures to secure repayment of the principal amount of the loan and. the interest thereon. This will have to be done by levying the contributions fixed by the Warden's award some time ago, the collection of which j has, we are informed, been altogether ! neglected except in regard to some j amounts received by the Bright Smile Company as their share of the awards. The longer companies enjoy an immunity from payment the less inclination will they have for paying; and it would be better to have the question settled at once, because it is not unlikely that the Assembly will be called upon during next session to amend the drainage laws, which are" not at all suitable for the present circumstances of this district, however applicable to the other mining districts of the Colony. __^