THE TAILINGS TROUBLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14391, 9 June 1910, Page 7

THE TAILINGS TROUBLE.

. ■■ ' ■ •• • • ■ MORE REMEDIES SUGGESTED. SHALL PAY THE COST? I COUNTY COUNCIL'S POSITION. ! •Pub Royal Commission appointed to in-. ; Se into the question of ,the silting up " . S the Ohinemuri and Waihou Rivers and Z recommend a remedy, continued its 1 sittings yesterday. •,.... /■/ . • "'John A. Pond, Government analyst, was " .lied by Mr. Mueller' on behalf of the Ohinemuri River Silting Committee. Wit- . Is said the fact of the silt going down , -the river would ultimately have the effect If forming deltas at the mouth of the Waihou. He favoured depositing the residue from the mines on poor land, and -was satisfied from experiments he had : made that certain grasses, legumes, .and trees such as pines would grow m silt, crowded the depth was not too great for ■ Lillary attraction to appear. Regard- ■' jog the method of the disposal of the. slimes, he said pumping was sure to meet ' with fail"*" but movement by vacuum or - ncliine forward was feasible. The Waihi - Company proposed to get 10,000 horse«ower by harnessing the Horahora Rapids. • .gaven or eight miles further south there . was a most suitable gorge where 40,000 .'horse-power could: be obtained, arid the ntUisa-tion of this would give the power necessary for dealing with the slimes by ' vacuum. He proposed depositing them ""' on the plains of poor land between Waihi and the Tauranga River. to Mr. Myers: He had not calculated ■ tie length of pipe required. He had not gone into that matter. He made the suggestion, that was all. The power was there if it could be utilised, and it could he obtained with comparatively small cost , compared with such ■* powers. If they took 40,000 horse-power, ussd 10,000 and sold 30,000, they would find it a remarkably cheap scheme. V , Mr. . Gauvaine, one of the officers of - the Waihi Company, estimated that ; to carry out Mr. Pond's scheme could not .'cost"less than half a million. -.-.;.,.-, The Chairman (to the representatives of the mining companies): It is, for you, ;; gentlemen, to say whether this scheme is . worth anything. It is not our - duty to •■> ' reject anything. ."'V.-',. ' : '■'•■*;"' Mr. Cotter, addressing the Commission '.'■ : on behalf of the Ohinemuri County Council, said his clients bad to consider the m interests of both the Canning and. mining ' communities. After hearing all the evidence he was instructed by the Council to state that they considered a dredge.should t he employed on the river to keep it open' for navigation up to To Puke. They/. - also thought that something should be ; done for that portion from the .bridge to below the township, so as to prevent the possibility of further floods. They were anxious to assist ther;Paeroa and ; Waihi ■*. ■Gold Extraction Company in doing this work. Regarding the removal of willows ;Vhis clients. considered that in the Ohine,muri operations in this direction should ■ be started at once from the lower end. J His clients also . approved of the erection; of stop-banks. . They hoped that if these H Mprovements and! provisions were made, and the Paeroa-Waihi Gold Extraction ■'-. 'Company was allowed to pursue its opera- | tions as intended, the river would- soon ■ assume its-former state. With regard to . ii 'the proposed cuts, the County Council considered that this would be a doubtful; . 'and expensive experiment. They did not ".desire a revocation, of the proclamation :,":until an earnest attempt had been made '■'■-.■ to remedy the evil. The' Chairman: Have they .considered the question of a modification of the pro- ! , clamation? , '_ „ . S :- '; Mi. Cotter : Yes. So far as the Waihou 1 ie concerned they have no objection to i sledge channel rights, these being.-limited :. t{> existing i operations- Counsel went on ?' s to sav that hie clients were a little doubt- '• -fpi with regard to the fineness of the tail- >:*" ings to be "deposited into the river, but they . thought no company should be allowed to east any tailings into the river unless the ' tailings'had passed '.through 100-mesh. . ' The Chairman r I daresay, the companies; are prepared to accept even something less I i "than that? • . : ' ' . , 1; ' M % Myers : Oh, that is fine enough, sir 1 (laughter.) ■ I ..'• The Chairman: It might clear the i''■■.; . ground if. you said you are prepared to adopt such „"a condition. . , ■i Mr. Cotter, continuing, said his clients ' .;? thought that in order to cope with the difficulty a new body should be created, such .Body to be appointed by those who had to • : contribute the first-cost .and the annual § maintenance. They thought that that body : -should be a small one to be effective, and thai, on it the Ohinemuri County Council and farmers should have a predominating * voice. As to who should pay, his clients thought that the remedy could be provided by the expenditure of £5000 or , £6000 a year, and that the whole' of this ehould be taken out of .the; gold duty. If ' V this. was not approved.of they would suggest as -an Alternative that half-the-cost , .should ,be paid out of the gold duty,>oneidxth by the t Ohinemuri County Council, //.one-sixth by the Crown,« and one-sixth by .the mining companies' reckoned upon the t«image they put into the river. > !, P. Grace, chairman of the Ohinemuri 1/ County Council, explained s the financial -. : ; '.' position and .the rating powers of that :;■■ 009 , J. Stewart, engineer, of .Auckland, was uned <by Mr. , Cotter in regard ') to 1 a re- ' P3it furnisaod by hun in connection with 1 |?|thexiitirig?tf ■ in*; 1607. Witness then / l^fsTOOTc^jthofouttirig of the willows, the erection «i c'tbp-banks, and, as occasion re- . - paired,- the dredging of the river. In this j .: connection, however, he thought the opera- j } tioEs of the Extraction Company would be ..beneficial. In reviewing the I evidence, counsel, by mutual agreement, restricted/ themselves to hftcen-minute addresses, and /Mr- '■ Cotter ! did not desire to exercise his right of reply. , ic"' .''The' Chairman remarked that this closed the proceedings unless Mr. A. Bruce, sec- I '•' re*u,ry of tho Thames Harbour Board, came I . to Auckland to-morrow forenoon to address,! the Commission. * --'-.■ '-.""■"'•",