TRAGEDY OF FAILURE

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 July 1930, Page 3

TRAGEDY OF FAILURE

RUINED MINING CENTRES -«

Chillagoe and Mungana, the townships which were most concerned in the leases scandal, are mining centres in the hinterland of Cairns, in North Queensland. They have taken an important place in Queensland politics for more than a decade, during which a live Opposition frequently from the public platform, and in the. Legislative Assembly charged the Labour Administrations led by Mr. Theodore and Mr. McCormack with gross mismanagement of State mining enterprises.

Both townships are again arousing public interest by the sensational findings affecting Mr. Theodore, Mr. McCormack, Mr. P. L. Goddard, the former manager of the State smelters at Chillagoe, and Mr. Frederick Reid by Mr. Justice Campbell, who was appointed by the present Country-Na-tional Party Ministry to inquire into the sale of the Mungana. mining leases to the State for £40,000. During the last. Queensland election campaign, which resulted in an overwhelming victory for the Opposition, the leader of the Country-National Party (Mr. Moore) made one of the main planks of his platform his pro-

mise of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into transactions at Chillagoe and Mungana, and his promise was certainly a factor in the decisive defeat of Labour after 14 years of office. Matters preceding the sale of the leases to the State had been the subject of-many charges by opponents of the Theodore and McCormack Ministries, and it was as a result of these allegations that Mr. Moore, during his election campaign, declared at Ipswich on May 8, 1929: “IL is absolutely essential to the honour of the State that this matter should bo cleared up.” After the crushing Labour defeat, the Moore Ministry, to relieve the serious unemployment in the district, reoommended work at the smelters. When Mr. Moore visited the locality last year the townships were falling into ruin and the tragedy of failure was apparent. Scarcely a shop was occupied, houses were falling to pieces, and herds of goats browsed in what were once busy streets. Mr. Moore frequently asserted that he had never looked upon a scene 'of greater desolation and degradation than that at the once prosperous mining centres. The Mungana mining leases, the Lady Jane and the Girofla, were those which supplied seven-eighths of the ore to the Chillagoe smelters a few miles distant. The smelters were opened by the Chillagoe Copper Mining Company, Limited, in the 80’s. The company built the railway from Cairns to the hinterland, after having bought the two mines from prospectors. It had a chequered career owing to its inability to obtain sufficient ore, and to its obsolete process. Debentures were issued, and the railway, the smelters, and the mines fell into the hands of the debenture holders, who worked them again with disastrous results. Ultimately the mines, the railway, and the smelters were closed, and they remained unoccupied for maiiy years. Later, the whole property was offered to the Government unsuccessfully for about £500,000. The mines were held by prospectors and a small syndicate. After a fire at the Girofla, the works fell in, and they appeared to be wrecked. The syndicate bought out the other shareholders cheaply.

About 1917, the Labour Ministry, led by Mr. Ryan, began negotiations for the puchase of the mines. The syndicate, however, failed to pay the rent and the mines were forfeitable as abandoned mines, and they became vacant Crown lands, inasmuch as any applicant could peg leases and apply for the ground. Mr. Reid then pegged the lands, and applied for the leases, but. before that the Theodore Ministry had signed a contract for the purchase of the railways and the smelters for £701,000. The warden recommended, on Mr. Reid’s application, that the leases should be granted, and the papers were sent to Brisbane. Mr. A. Jones was Minister of Mines. A hitch occurred, however, and Mr. Reid went to Brisbane. A new syndicate was formed and registered, and it was that syndicate which sold the Mungana leases to the State for £40,000.