The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1871.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 765, 19 January 1871, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1871.

There is one part of the financial scheme agreed to last session, which is at present being discussed by the miners at the different reefs in the Inangahua district, and that is the water supply on the G-oldfields. With them, however, the question is not one of obtaining water-power but steampower, the locality referred to being stated to be altogether impracticable for the application of'water as a motive power. Under such circumstances it is felt, and with some reason, that the object for which assistance is demanded, being in its chief features identical with that contemplated under the goldfields water supply, that the miners of the Inangahua have a reasonable ground on which they may base ■their claim to government assistance in beneficially .working the various reefs already discovered in that locality. As the vote at present stands, however, the £IOO,OOO allotted for annual expenditure upon the goldfields, can be devoted to no other purpose than that of conveying water to various centres of mining industry, and until provision is made to meet the special circumstances of the Inangahua, or districts similarly situated, recourse must be had to the Provincial Council for assistance. The latter in any case must be applied to, since from the governments of the various Provinces must emanate any recommendation as to the direction in which the money voted by the Assembly is to be spent. No doubt, any representation made by Nelson, contributing as this Province does, perhaps, a larger proportion than any other division of the country to the gold export of the Colony, would receive due weight; and once the Government became impressed with the importance of the subject, and. fully determined to set aside all local jealousies, used their best endeavors in forwarding the material interests of the country, a great deal of good might be accomplished. As it is, the hitherto rival interests of mining and agricultural and pastoral pursuits are likely in certain districts tobecomesoblended, that the interests of the two industries will be inseparably connected; and, such being the case, everyone in the Province, irrespective of place of abode and occupation, is interested in the furtherance of any measure which is well calculated to render a wider area of country capable of profitable settlement. The position of the miners on the tpuartz-reefs of the Inangahua is precisely one in which a small measure of assistance, judiciously applied, offers every likelihood of being abundantly repaid. A number of meu hold claims which, so far as they have been tested, show every indication of richness, but unfortunately the holders do not possess the means to enable them to t;)ke advantage of their good fortune. At the Murray, the Cement Company have a battery which is said to be altogether unadapted to the crushing of quartz, and the position of the battery, if even it were adapted would not enable the various claimholdeis to use it to advantage,

so that the quartz claims in the district may be said to be entirely devoid of the means of becoming productive. The generally admitted principle, that a government cfthi.ot with justice to the entire community enter into undertakings calculated to prejudice private enterprise, cannot be deemed perfectly applicable to tbe circumstances of the present case. If the miners of the Inanguhua are suffering from impecuniosity, the complaint prevails, though perhaps in a form somewhat less malignant, in Westport. It was with no little difficulty, some months back, that a mining company was set afloat at the Lyell, and we are quite certain that, if left to our own unassisted efforts, a very long time indeed would elapse before the means would be afforded of working the reefing country of the Inangahua. "What the men require is the erection of a powerful battery and an engine on the ground, and for this a moderate sum, say £2OOO would suffice. No doubt, an arrangement could be come to with the men by which they would undertake to recoup the Government for the outlay, within a given period, and, until this were done, would consent to pay a moderate figure per ton, for the stone crushed. In the absence of any local capita!, the course indicated would appear the only one by which the speedy progress of a very promising district is any way likely to be assured.