GREY VALLEY GOLD-FIELDS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1701, 16 January 1874, Page 2

GREY VALLEY GOLD-FIELDS.

[from our own correspondent.] the hoohstetter race. Mr Higtrinson, the engineer sent down from Wellington to report upon the Hochstetter race, visited Nelson Creek, in company with Messrs Geisovr and Lord, surveyors, on Saturday. These gentlemen during their visit examined the losality where it is proposed to construct the supply dam, near the outlet of Lake Hochstetter, and made a cursory exploration of the country through which the water is to be brought. It is not known what course Mr Higginson will recommend with reference to the rejection of the tenders for making the race, but if the suggestion of your correspondent "Aquarius" be fairly considered, it will be seen that further delay need not result in commencing the work. The statement that if the first two sections of the race were made the principal object of the work would be accomplished, namely, the raisin? the water to a sufficient elevation on the ranges, is perfectly correct. In fact, it is only of secondary importance that the extension of the race should be carried out at present beyond the point where the first branch will leave it, which would be within the limit of the second section, because if there be any good basis for the estimate made of the value of the ground along the proposed course of the ditch, there will be a sufficient area o£ country brought within reach of the water to give employment with it for years before the northern boundary of section No. 2 is reached. Although the work is known as the Nslson Creek and Hochstetter Race, the major portion of the auriferous country to be worked by the water lies in the direction of Callaghan and Sullivan Creeks and along the Ahaura River. There must be an area of between twenty and thirty square miles of payable ground to be operated upon in the valleys of Callaghan and Sullivan Creeks and their tributaries, every yard of which will be commanded by the water when it is at its greatest altitude in the second section. Of course- those holding ground which they intend to work when the race is brought along, and situated in the neighborhood of Hatter's and Try- Again Terraces, and even further northward along the course of the dividing range, would be better pleased if the water were taken within immediate reach of their claims, but even those parties will be placed in a better position, as far as the immediate possibility of getting water is concerned, by having the race completed to the second section, than if the work be indefinitely shelved under the pretext of making a new survey, which, if performed to-morrov, would not materially -effect the cost eventually, and would not throw any fresh facilities in the way of those really anxious to see the race made. In the case of parties , wishing to use the water at Hatter's Terrace or lower down, it would be a good and reasonable excuse for applying for extra areas of ground, if they/hacl to cut expensive and extensive head-races to take the water from the second section to their claims. The extra ground they would be fairly entitled to, would in some measure, compensate for the increased cost of obtaining the water, and there is very little doubt a race of sufficient capacity to contain all the water immediately required at Try-Again and the locality could be constructed by all the claimholders requiring it, on the cooperative principle, at a very reasonable outlay. This being the situation, it is best that all parties should unite to make an effort to have the Hochstetter Race made at once, as far as the funds will allow, for there is no doubt that when the water is once available for sluicing purposes, its great value will beenme so apparent, that even if the Government should decline, or not be prepared to carry out the work according to the original plau, there will be then no lack of private capital for investment in the undertaking. • THE RANDLB CREEK RACE. While the subject of making tbe Hochstetter race is being discussed in all directions, the scheme for supplying the Napoleon, Noble's, and Half-Ounce districts with water at a high elevation is not altogether lost sight of. A sum of L 30.000 which was voted for the making the Randle C^eek Water-race, during the last session of the General Assembly, is now lying locked up and useless, for it cannot be diverted from the purpose to which the Parliament devoted it. It is a pity some, effort to utilise this water has not before this been made by the formation of a company to make the race, either on its own account, or with the guarantee of a subsidy from the Government, It is

not likely the Government will take the initiative in the matter, when such an excuse is put forward for shelving the Hochstetter Water-race as the desirability of waiting until labor becomes cheaper, and it is consequently advisable that some encouragement towards the formation of a private company to complete the work should be given. A project of this nature has been mooted, but the great Jv difficultH| in the way of the promoters of the scheme^ is the impossibility of getting at reliable data, on which to base calculations of . the cost. The frequency of complaints on this score suggests a consideration of the slipshod style of compiling and making certain UNRELIABLE SURVEYS AND ENGINEERS* REPORTS About which there has been so much comment recently. There were two presumably caraful and correct surveys made ' of the route of the proposed Randall Creek race, one at the expense of a pri•vate company, and the other made on official authority by a. Government surveyor. Neither bf these, it seems,' can be relied upon, and in fact the reason given for the non-commencement of the, Randle Creek race, for which the money is available, is that the former Government survey was so incomplete and unreliable that a new one will have to be made.! This is in the face of the fact that the.^ Provincial Engineer of Nelson made' a report' of the work to the Provincial Council, and gave an estimate of the cost, based upon data supplied in the surveyor's report. It is also a most remarkable, circumstance that there should be such glaring discrepancy in the estimate made of the cost of the Hochstetter race by the Government surveyors and engineers, and the prices given by the various tenderers for the work. How did it come to pass that those who compiled the estimate for the .Government, did not perceive, that as there was a total absence, within reach of tenderers; of the •timber required to be used in the work, a much greater .allowance would have to to be made for procuring this particular material 1 Or are the Government professional nuen right; can the, race be made at their estimate, and are-all th^ intending contractors at sea as to their knowledge of the work to be performed 1 With whichever side the error lies, the public will suffer in consequence of the bungle, but one thing is certain, that through defects or inaccuracies in the original estimate and surveys of -the Hochstetter Race, a handle is given to form an excuse for delaying the other project to bring a water supply to the Napoleon district. The Government is, by thus acting, controverting in practice the legal maxim, by taking advantage of its wrongdoing, or of its officers, to the detriment of the interests of the public.