WATER RESERVE ON THE BLUE SPU .

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 122, 9 June 1870, Page 5

WATER RESERVE ON THE BLUE SPU .

(To the Editor of tlie Tuapeka Times).

Sib, — The old stale subject of a reserve for the water-races on the Blue Spur has been again revived by a section of the miners, headed by Messrs. Hinde and M'Kinlay, who have been round getting signatures to a petition in favour of a reserve. Tt is well known that signatures in abundance can generally be obtained in favour of almost any object, provided parties take the trouble to solicit them, and I believe that Messrs. Hinde and M'Kinlay have had the usual success.

I am not aware what part of the Spur is suggested as the site for a reserve, or what compensation it is proposed to award to the owners of the ground, but I well know that the holders of mining leases along the present courses of the water-races are decidedly opposed to any reserve on their ground, and they have neither signed the petition nor aided the movement in any way. A reserve on the top of the hill would be a palpable absurdity, as already the ground is slipping away in many places from the effects of workings many hundreds of feet away.

However, a water reserve might be made on the Gabriel's side of the spur, commencing immediately below Mr. P. Uren's residence, and crossing the lower part of Morrison and Co.'s slope, and from thence in a straight line across the Perseverance Company's ground, the strip of ground belonging to the Great Fxtended Company, and the lower end of Hales and Co.'s upper lease. From the lower end of Hales and Co.'s upper lease the water could be conveyed to the different claims by means of races, tunnels, pipes, and fluming. Compensation would of course have to be paid for the ground appropriated, but no doubt Messrs. Hales & Co., and others in favour of a reserve, would gladly yield up portions of their ground for reasonable sums, and aid the movement in other "ways. A portion of the money required for shifting the races and compensating the claimholders could be subscribed by parties in favour of the scheme, and the remainder .provided by Government out of the proposed loan of £650,000. The undertaking in point of public utility would bear favourable comparison with the Wetherstones Deep Shaft, or the projected embankment of the Taieri River. — I am, £e.^ ~

Onlooker.