Ministerial Visit,

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXV, Issue 1929, 20 March 1905, Page 5

Ministerial Visit,

The Hon Mr McG-wan, Minister for Mines and Justice, visited Cromwell la-t Saturday afternoon, arriving about 5 p.m. At 7 p.m. tbo Minister was waited upon by the Mayor and others wishing to bring matters of interest under his notice. His Worship the Mayor, Mr Murrell, brought under the notice of the Minister the question of obtaining •water in this district by mems of arieslan wells. Many people thought that water could be i-ot by boring and, if so, the district would be greatly benefitted. The borough had an endowment of 800 acree, for which it now received a yearly rental of sa, the borough being glad to get rid of the responsibility for keeping down the rabbits, but with water this reserve would be a garden of Eden. The Courthouse fence needed attention. The sand had I een cleared off the pol'ce and courc ground*, and the constable had effected great improvements, but the fences still require attention. The mining reserves alona the river bank had been squatted upon and he thought v- would be a good things if these were veet-id in tho Domain Board. It was a general opinion in Central Otago that the district should be represented on the Land Board. The borough Wi uld like a vote for further removal of sand. Another burning question was the wear and tear on the main loads in the town, which had been gravelled twice during the last two years. The present Post Office was unsuitable. The borough had cff-ired the Govern* ment a section for a new office, but no reply as yet bad been received. Mr Holden pointed out that boring for artesian water woto'd also test the land for minerals. Mr McGowan was personally of the opinion that it was doubtful if artesian wa'er ccull ba got in the district. BoriDg f.r a'teeian water would not tie much of a test for gold. The district hid, he believed, a good supply of surface wa'er, and it would be better to utilise that than to bore. Regarding the mining reserves he would look into the matter. There was not much use in reserving land that was not autiferous, but he was not prepared to say whether it would be wise to make these reserves a borough endowment. He thought Central Otago was quite justified iu wishing for a local representative on the Land Board, and he would bring the matter under the notice of the Minister of Lands, As foi a grant towards sand removal, he could promise nothing as a vote must appear on the estimates. He could hold out no hope of a grant for the upke< p of main roads pas-ing through boroughs which must bemfit by the traffic passing through them. Mr McGowan referred at some length to a new policy being inaugurated by the Government of making regularly geological survey of the colony. They hid a good geological staff. It was intended to divide the colony iato blocks. If a survev leads the geologists to believe that ortain country was auriferous, then the Government would prospect it, and if they found anything they would let in the geneial miner on ttrmp. By the union of scientific and practical knowledge the mining industry should make great strides, for ho himself was of the opinion that New Zealand still contained plenty of mineral wealth. He was pleased to see that the goldfields were looking more prosperous now than at his last vint about five years a^o. Mr Jolly said that another J.P. was greatly needed ir the town, as he and i he Mayor, ex officio were the only ones, »od if one or the other were absent on tusiness or pleasure much inconvenience was caused. Mr McGowan said that J.P.'s did good woik for which they got little credit He would make enquires and utend to the matter. Mr Cockburn brought under the Minister's notice the fact that for about a quarter of a oentury th'B district had received no aid in the way of promoting grants. He gave the hUtory of the efforts of a party, of which be was a member, to prospect a deap had on the Kawarau. Th-\v hid spent £250, end then bad to dcaist, although they had got some gold and very promising indicatiot s. These patches of old river bed could bo traced al along the Kawatau and Olutba liver*, and if one proved payab'e this fact would stimulate enterprise in otber pait?. Mr McGowan replied that the Government could not assist piivate enterprise. They could only assist where the expenditure promised to open up large tracts of new country. Mr Harris brought up the slur cast on dredgemasters and dredgemen by the deputation thu waited on the Minister in .Dunedin re gold pilferior. He was secretary of one of the largest companies in the district and he was wi 11 aware that his directors reposed perfect confidence in the honesty of the dredgem-ster and crew. There were a couple of d rectors of ether companies ,n the room and they could corroborate his statement. The attitude taken up by the Dunedin depu*ation was a vile aspersion on the iotegrity of as honest a body of employees as the colony conl i show. Mr McGowan hoped that dreJgera wouM not rega-d the expressions and the requests of the Dunedin deputation as a general libel on their calling. A lir.e number of men were employed in the industry, and considering the trust reposed ia them, it wao, to his min r l txoeediig'y creditable to the almrst universal integrity of the dred;<inn fntern ; ty th*t only one or two Cioe. of pilfering had occurred, nnd hey nm t remember there were hi ck sbeep i" eveiy flock. There wan no necessity for a special law to prevm void pilfering on dred.'fM. No I w would preveir a <hief from tki«vi . The only couiae w*a for ihose i authority to weed nut «ny suapic >u p»rPon who got a b 11 t on a dreg . But he could assure "hose dredge.a 11 resent that the Dunedin deputation

did not intend to throw any aspersion on the characters of dredgemen generally. Mr Harris brought up the question of reducing the rents paid by dredging companies. Mr McGowan replied that a reduction had already been made and he could see no reason in favor of a further one. The companies must run a little risk and the rent was a mere bagatelle. Mr Little suggested that whfn a geological survey was made, it would be a good thing to delimit the auris ferous ground so that the non-auriferous could be sold to settlers for orchards and farms. Mr McGowan was opposed to sell* ing the freehold ot any ground on goldfields. The minerals belong to the people and should on no account bo sold with the land to private people. Applause. On behalf of the OromwellAthenseum Mr Warburton brought up the present state of the endowment belonging to that institution which is in danger of being destroyed owing to dredging operations on the Olutha, which was a a declared sludge channel. Mr McGowan said that the dredgins companies had no right to deposit tailings in such a manner as to diveit the stream on to other people's property so as to destroy it. If the institution was not inclined or could not afford to undertake expensive legal actions, it should approach the Minister of Lands for an exchange »f the present endow> ment for another elsewhere. The various deputation then thanked the Minister and witbdiew. On Sunday morning the ministeml party left for Roxburgh and intends to proceed to Lawrence to-day.