TUAPEKA NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 11626, 10 July 1902, Page 4

TUAPEKA NOTES.

[From Our Own Correspondent.]

There are as yet no indications of a start being made by the 0.P.Q., Waipori, which has been shut down for the last couple of months. Mr Inder, the general manager, is still at the mine, bnt the bands have all been paid off, and most of them have left the district. There must now be a considerable depth of water in the mine, as the pumps have been stopped for some weeks, and under such circumstances it will be strange if there has nob been a certain amount of dislocation and shifting of the timbering going on underground, with whatever damage that, may mean. It was understood at the time the mine closed down that work would bo resumed in September, and if so the first work to be taken in hand will lie the sinking of the to a considerable depth, as at the present depth the stone, from various causes, frequently gave out, and I believe they also came upon, a good deal of old workings. Tho closing down of ■the mine has been a very serious matter for Waipori, as there was a big pay-sheet, and consequently largo circulation of money in tho township. At one time, away back in tho days before the various claims had been amalgamated, and worked by one big company, the Blue Spur supplied an endless crop of litigation for the courts, and provided a rich harvest at frequent intervals for tho “Devil’s own” in Lawrence. Waipori now seems in a fair way of rivalling tire Spur in this respect, and there is scarcely a sitting of the Warden’s Court in Lawrence at which there is not a mob of litigants from Waipori, principals and witnesses, suing for justice or harrying each other on various pretexts, usually in connection with water rights or races of questionable ownership, abandoned or in use.

I have seen very little, if anything, in the Dunedin papers in reference to the long-drawn-out contest between the Tuapeka Dredging Company and a small settler named Franklin, whose holding adioined the company’s claim in Tnapeka Fht. twelve months ago the company, seeing that- they were getting rapidly towards the end of their claim, applied for Mr Franklin’s land, which was held by him under occupation license. Ho opposed the application, and Warden Stratford appointed arbitrators to decide whether the ground was sufficiently gold-bearing to warrant handing it over to the company. Tlie arbitrators failed to agree, and the application was adjourned from court to court over a period of twelve months. On the retirement of Warden Stratford, his successor (Warden Oruickshank) went on the ground and assisted to bring about a settlement, by which the company gave Franklin £l5O for the right to dredge the ground. to do so they had first to dredge through a railway reserve, and on thei r attempting to cio“ so Mr Franklin lodged an objection in the Warden’s Court, ami also appealed to the Minister of Public Works. In this way he blocked the company, and held both money and land. It should l>e said, however, that ho offered to hand back the money, hut the company refused the offer, and meanwhile the dredge was stuck and dredging operations suspended for a couple of months. The Undersecretary for Public Works then came to Lawrence. He opened an inquiry, and after the lapse of soma weeks permission was granted to the company to go through the reserve, on condition that Mr Franklin should receive £2 a month, paid in advance, and that the dredged ground should bo levelled to the satisfaction of the district engineer. The company lost over £ooo in legal and other expenses. The ground, however, has already been proved to be though not likely to prove very profitable.

There has been a. good deal of local feeling over the dispute, many people holding that good land, under profitable tion, and hold bv a small, industrious settler for the support of his family, should not be sacrificed to the greed of a mining company. The Minister of Public Works appeared to f.nke this view of the matter but could not. it is said, resist the evii influence brought to bear. Of course, the dredging community took an opposite view of the question, bolding that even the destruction of good agricultural land, and the loss and hardship involved to the occuniers. should not be allowed to stand in the way of the dredging industry The winding up of the Eclipse Dredging Company tew hit Lawrence very bard something like £5,000 representing the local shareholders’ losses. The failure of the Long Valley dredge will also come home heavily, one investor alone dropping a cool thousand. 1 °

The dredges in the Lawrence district continue to give good average returns, and dividends are regularlv distributed. The Gabriels, especially, has been an agreeable surprise, and as she has a largo area of ground to work, there should bo a «ood time for the shareholders when they once get their feet and have recovered from the heavy indebtedness with which the dredge started. With the exception of the Happy Valley, which luu? not so far come up to expectations, the Wetherstones claims' are paying splendidly. Perhaps this hardly applies to the Local Industry, though I bebeve under the new management the prospects are very bright, and an earlv dividend is spoken of. The old dredges at Miller's Flat continue to reap a rich harvest from the river, but the same cannot be said for those companies that came into existence during the boom period.

A public meeting was hold in Lawrence recently, and an association formed for the purpose of petitioning Parliament to have Greenfield’s Estate, the property of Messrs Smith., taken over for small settlement. A petition has since been circulated, and very largely signed by all classes. As agricultural settlement has been at a standstill for many years in Tuapeka, there is a strong feeling that something should be done by Government to meet the demand for lands for settlement

Mr Bennet, the sitting member for Tuapeka, will have as an opponent Mr Robert Gilkinson, solicitor, of Clyde, at the General Election. The cutting off of a lanm portion of the upper' end of the electorate has shorn Mr Bennet of much of hie strength, and Mr Gilkinson believes that he sees a good chance of winning the seat. The contest promises to bo a lively one, and probably will he close whichever way it goes. On his previous candidature Mr Gilkinson stood as an Independent, and if he is to succeed he will have to take a more decided stand, and let the electors know exactly under what banner he serves.