EMPLOYMENT MINISTER’S TOUR

Evening Star, Issue 21715, 9 May 1934, Page 7

EMPLOYMENT MINISTER’S TOUR

CENTRAL OTAGO COUNTIES TRAVERSED REPORTS OF MINING EXECUTIVES The Minister of Employment (the Hon. A. Hamilton), accompanied by .Messrs .lessep and Bromley (members of Ihe board), completed his tour of Otago Central yesterday, proceeding to Queenstown in the evening. The visitors recoiled full reports from the Vincent and Maniototo mining executives. These disclosed steady production in most districts, with good average returns, which put this branch of the board’s activities in the unique position of being able to pay for itself in part at least, but a further feature of the meetings was the fact that at every centre the local executive spent more time thanking the board for what it has done than to criticism and requests. it was stressed that mining in the district can be greatly increased when further supplies of water are made available to the miners, and in this the Unemployment Board promised to render all the assistance possible. Mr James Ritchie (of Bannockburn) emphasised the fact that there is plenty of gold for the unemployed to win, but he also warned the board that if it wanted local executives to find the gold and the employment it must furnish both money and plant. That should not be as difficult as it sounded, us gold mining alone of ail the board’s projects returned something at least of i,ho capital spent on it. There were many propositions at the present time going begging because unemployed men bad no money to develop them. In the Vincent County the executive had tried everything within its resources, but further progress depended on the board. The speaker then referred to the excellent class of men engaged on gold mining m Central Otago, and said the district need not have any fears about tbe effects of being flooded with such men. The Maniototo District Executive brought a large number of proposals to the hoard, ami these were discussed Fully, assurances being given that they would all be looked into. Certain minor grants for the delivery of water for sluicing were approved, and . members of the executive expressed themselves as completely satisfied with the intentions of the board with regard to relief mining in the Maniototo County. About 160 men'are engaged on relief gold mining, involving the payment of just over £l6O per week in subsidy. It is estimated that the gold winnings over the whole county average I.lßoz per man per month, and it .is expected that as a result of the visit of the board the facilities for gold mining will be considerably augmented. Mr Hamilton, addressing the local committee, said that the board was gratified at the success which had attended its gold mining scheme. _ Relief miners were generally a satisfied lot, and were certainly more contented than any other class of worker on the dole. Their subsidy of 30s per week, pins 90 per cent, of the gold won, put them in a 1 letter position than most relief workers, and nearly all of them seemed to recognise that the future held-some hope of better things. Mr W. A. Bodkin, M.R., urged on behalf of various mining organisations that the royalty of 10 per cent, payable to the board should be remitted. He said it was causing a great deal of dissatisfaction, but there was a widespread demand for its remission. Mr Jessep questioned this and said that, with all due respect to Mr Bodkin, he did not think more than a very small percentage of miners really demanded the remission of the payment. After all, why should they) They were merely paying to the board money which was immediately given back to them in wages. He stressed the fact that the Government received not a single penny of the royalty. It all went to the board, and without the board’s activities gold mining would bo seriously hampered. He intimated that there was no possibility of the royalty being discontinued for some time at least.

Mr Ritchie, on belialf of the Vincent Hospital Board, asked the Unemployment Board to consider giving some' assistance to hospital authorities who were compelled to care for unemployed men who became ill. In the Vincent Hospital there were always five or six relief workers, and some of them had run up huge accounts, which they could not hope to pay. In some cases the Vincent Board had been compelled to send such men to Dunedin for special treatment, and had had to pay ±l4 *ls a week for them. Moreover, many of the men treated wore not really the iesponsibility of tbe board in the district where they happened to be engaged on relief work, but the hospitals could not close their doors to them. He asked that the board should make some allocation for such cases out of its funds. At least it could authorise the hospital boards to take, say, (Id per week out of these men’s wages, and as a further suggestion he would put it to the board that it could afford to provide half a dozen beds in the larger hospitals for unemployed men. This matter did not find favour with the members of the board, and, without actually refusing to consider it,.they let it be known that the idea did not appeal to them, in fact, the request was virtually ignored. At Cromwell, on their way to Queenstown, the party were welcomed by the Mayor of Cromwell (Mr J. Roberts), who complimented the board on the work it was doing in gold mining districts. and said that Cromwell welcomed the type of men who were taking up this subsidised mining. Cromwell, as a matter of fact, was not bothered by any serious unemployment problems, and at the present time it was not always easy to get a couple of men when they were wanted, because everyone seemed to have' something to do. and those engaged on subsidised mining were not anxious to drop it for something else. Mr J. . Stewart Wright referred to the development of gold mining which bad followed the institution of the board’s subsidy scheme, but complained that tire best was not being got out of tiie Cromwell Flat because the Government would not facilitate the opening up of the Flat licenses. These had been held up for months, and looked like being held up indefinitely, notwithstanding that a promise had been given to the applicants that if they signed an agreement they would receive a license, and also a copy of the geophysical survey of their claim. The promise had not been fulfilled, and if miners went to the Mines Department they were sent to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, where they were told that geophysical surveys cost money, and could not be given away. How long this was going on he would not like to say, but he could assure the board that if it could do anything to put an end to these stupid delays it could place a lot more

of its men on lucrative work of the kind that was now being engaged in by 1,000 men in Central Utago. Mr Budkin also stressed the urgency of this matter, and said that Mr A. H. Kimbell, as Under-secretary of the Mines Department, had made a definite promise, which had not been carried out. The difficulty was that the .Mines Department had no jurisdiction over the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and it was also possible that Mr Kimbell was not authorised to make such a promise. In reply to this, Mr Hamilton said he was not familiar with the position, but he suggested that it would be very unwise for the Government to give anything to miners which might savour of "a guarantee of results. Geophysical surveys might, be. construed as such, and the Government might easily find itself in a hole. The survey had been in the nature of an experiment confined to the Cromwell Flat, ami the department probably hesitated to offer it as a guarantee ,of gold. Still, if a commitment had been made, that altered tlie case, and he would certainly look into the question. What he would like to know, however, was whether mining would increase to any extent if the surveys were made available to claim holders. They had to remember that mining laws wore not easy of operation, and ho could tell them that Cabinet was now considering them from that aspect, largely on the advice of the Unemployment Board. There was a genuine desire to minimise the restrictions on the development of gold mining, and the board was doing its best by trying to push other departments into doing their duty. Mr R. Vercoe brought up the question of a system of subsidy for approved syndicates and parties of gold miners who were prepared to sink a certain amount of money in a claim, but who could not afford wages for the necessary labour. He suggested that the board should subsidise wages shilling for shil-. ling up to 30s per week, making it possible for such parties to pay £3 per week. The usual royalty on gold would be payable, and the next charge oh gold would be an amount necessary to bring wages up to standard rates. Mr Jessep said that this was already being done under what was known as the No. Sb scheme. It had been done freqnentlv in the North Island and on the West Coast, and snob assistance was ready for anyone requiring it. provided the cases wore approved by the Mines Department. Every case must, *of course, be considered on its merits, but. be could assure them that the board was more than willing to help such syndicates provided they would take men off its hands at 30s'and pay them ajiother 30s. or. in the case of single men, 1,5 s in each ease. ERECTION OF DAMS. At Clyde, a deputation sought' the erection‘of a dam on the Store Hut Creek to supply water for sluicing. No estimate of the cost has yet been made, but it was suggested that the structure would cost not less than £20,000 and not more than £40,000. The local engineer of the Public Works Department estimated that tlie storage in such a dam would, deliver twenty-five heads of water for sluicing on an area of granite deposit which he estimated to be at least 4.000 acres in extent. The Unemployment Board was asked if it would erect the dam and have the field vested in the unemployed gangs. Working several ■ shifts a day, 100 men could bo employed for at least twenty years, and an assurance was given that the board would very quickly reimburse itself for its outlay. . Not only would the goldfield be opened upi but after the gold had been cleaned* up the water storage could bo used for irrigation, as it commanded a very wide area of irrigable land on the Galloway Flat. There were no special engineering difficulties to worry about. Subsequently, it was announced that the board would have the proposal fully investigated with n view to its adoption as an'unemployment. relief measure. Urgent pleas for the closing of the outlets of Lakes Ha wen and Wauaka were made at both Alexandra and Clyde. The expectations of local miners and settlers were freely expressed, one old miner stating emphatically that the damming of these lakes would result not only in the payment of the dominion’s national debt but that of iC'rcat Britain also. The only reply the board could give to this request was that it was a proje.et that could not be regarded lightly, and it looked too much of a gamble. Even £I,OOO to tost the idea was a lot of money, but the settlers cquld rest assured that full consideration would be given to the representations made. The Minister, however, stressed the fact that the board would prefer to devote its funds to less ambitious undertakings, which would absorb a maximum of labour and a minimum of material. The board was met by two more deputations asking for the erection of danis on Butcher’s Creek and the Fraser River. Both wmild provide water conservation for mining as well as irrigation, and would give work to a large number of men and greatly increase the productivity of Central Otago. ' i Mr H.* Stevens, speaking on behalf of the Dunstau Mining Association, said (lie ffraser River dam proposition was a much better one than the Butcher’s Creek project. It was; not a new idea, and was admittedly a good proposition, it would cost in the vicinity of £30,000, and would not only supplement the irrigation supplies, but would also supply water for sluicing along the banks of tlie Molyneux River from Alexandra to Clyde. • Mr Hamilton said his advice was to bring their respective propositions to the local executive, and have their merits thrashed out locally. The best undertaking could then be submitted to tlie board. He could assure them, however, that both the Butcher’s Creek and the Fraser River dams would be carefully considered.'