The Warden's Department.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4350, 9 December 1882, Page 2

The Warden's Department.

The following is the purport of a letter addressed by Mr J. H. Nicholls to the County Council, and read at last meet* ing :—

" Sir, —Allow me to draw the attention of the Thames County Council to what I conceive to be a matter which materially affects the most important interest of your County. I allude to the difficulty but too, frequently experienced by miners and others in obtaining any required information from the Mining Department of this goldfield by reason of the frequent absence of the officials whose various duties call them from time to time to all parts of the Goldfield. Under the present state of affairs it frequently happens that the Survey Office is closed for days and weeks together, when neither plans nor other documents are accessible to the public, and consequently not only loss of time but unnecessary expense is incurred by those who may require to do business with the Department. I am aware that these drawbacks are not occasioned by any laxity on the side of the officials, but simply by an inability on their part to cope with the onerous and varied duties imposed upon them. I therefore deem it to be a duty which your Council owes to the public to call the serious attention of the Government to the present very unsatisfactory state of affairs in order that speedy means may be adopted to supplem-nt the present staff of officials. There can be no doubt that on a goldfield like that of the Thames, and which is now making rapid advancement, the Mining Department should be put on a thorough workable basis, while every facility should be afforded to the public for obtaining information in connection with the goldfield, in order that the mining industry, which is now doing so much for the prosperity of the country, may be properly fostered and advanced. Looking at this question from an important point of view, I do not believe that there is a goldfield in any part of the world, where the prospects are so good, whose administration is so utterly neglected as that of the Thames, and when it is considered that the whole onus of the Mining Department is now thrown upon the shouldeis of three individuals, viz., the Warden, the Mining [Registrar, and Mining Inspector, and that the latter gentleman has not so much as a clerk nor an Underviewer to assist him in his work, there is little room for wonder that the complaints against this unwarrantable neglect on the part of the Government of an important branch of the public service are beginning to be both loud and widespread. In conclusion permit me to point out that during my experience of the Thames Mining Department, I have at all times found the present staff of officials in every way capable and willing to supply every information, and to advance the public interest as much as lay in their power, but that they are at present ridiculously overtaxed, and are unable to cope with their daily increasing duties there can be no doubt whatever. li' is, therefore with a desire to remedy this evil, and to do away with what is now simply a disgrace to the administrative capacity of the Government that I have ventured to forward this communication to you." . •