MINISTERIAL TOUR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22257, 9 May 1934, Page 4

MINISTERIAL TOUR

UNEMPLOYED GOLD MINERS OPERATIONS IN VINCENT COUNTY r STEADY RATE OF PRODUCTION (Fbom Cub Specui Repobteb.) CROMWELL, May 8. _ To members' of a State board so universally criticised as. the Unemployment Board it must be a welcome change to encounter a community as satisfied with their efforts as the counties of Central Otago have stated themselves to be. The Minister of Employment (Mr Adam Hamilton) and Messrs J. S. Jessep and W. Bromley, members of the board, continued their tour i of the. four counties yesterday and received full reports of their operations from the Maniototo and Vincent County mining executives which administer relief to gold miners on behalf of the board. The reports presented, which were in the main confidential, 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 which is worthy of note is the fact that at every centre the loc&l executives have spent more time thanking the board for what it has done than has been devoted to criticism and requests.. The executive members in the four counties pay a tribute to the manner in which the board has launched its campaign for the development of gold mining in the Dominion, and several were heard to remark to-day at the conclusion of the conference with the board that the work they put into supervision was amply repaid by the helpful attitude displayed by the Unemployment Board and particularly by Mr Jessep, who is generally regarded as the father of relief gold mining. The Vincent Executive, headed by its chairman (Mr James Ritchie, of Bannockburn) held a long conference with the board in the morning, and a great many misunderstandings were cleared up before an adjournment was taken for lunch. WORK OF EXECUTIVES Taxpayers generally, and particularly those who are inclined to inquire what the Unemployment Board can find to do with between £4,000,000 and £5,000,000 per year, should find an, account of the work of local executives very interesting. These executives give their services free and attend to the local administration of all the board s mining operations in the Vincent County. This is a task of special magnitude. The committee now has over 500 men in its charge, and they are scattered over the whole of this wide county. The search for gold is being vigorously prosecuted in every corner of the county. In the Alexandra district parties are to be found fossicking in nearly every gully and creek. Others put in their 40 hours a week around Clyde and Omakau, and not without result. At Luggate, Cromwell, Bannockburn, Matatapu, Nevis, Pembroke, Cardrona, Hawea, Camp Creek, and Poolburn the • executive has prospectors and miners whose work has to be supervised, whose wages have to be paid, and whose winnings have to be cheeked. The numbers of men have been reduced through the absorption in permanent employment of many, and further reductions have taken place as a result of seasonable work offering in the summer and autumn. At one time, however, the Vincent Committee had an average of 680 men in its charge per month for six months. In that time subsidised wages amounting to £18,234 were paid, and the gold won as a result amounted to 708 ounces, making the total return in cash to the miners nearly £SOOO. The average weekly subsidy paid to unemployed miners in the Vincent County is 20s 9d per week, and the average winnings per man have been estimated at 4s 9d, per week. The committee estimates that at the present time its activities are resulting in a weekly gold return of 26 ounces. It was stressed at to-day's meeting 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 has promised to render all the assistance possible. Several projects of a minor character were discussed, and will be considered at once. • - I '. * '. , . In Central Otago the influx of relief minera is welcomed. Mr Ritchie 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, as gold mining alone of all the board's projects returned something at least of the capital spent on it. There were many propositions at the present time going begging because unemployed men had 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 in Central Otago and said the district need not have any fears about? the effects of being flooded with such men. THE MANIOTOTO DISTRICT The Maniototo District (Executive brought a large number of_ proposals to the board, and 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 150 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 1.18 ounces 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. SATISFIED RELIEF WORKERS ~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 oprtainly more contented than any other class of worker on the dole. Their subsidy of 30s per week plus 90 per cent, of the gold won nut them in a better position than most relief workers, and nearly all" of them seemed to recognise that the future held some hope of better things. It was at this stage that Mr W. A. Bodkin, M.P., urged on behalf of the 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 be seriously hampered. He intimatedthat • there wag no possibility of the royalty being discontinued for some time at least. HOSPITAL TREATMENT Mr Ritchie, on behalf 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 wese 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 6end such men to Dunedin for special treatment, and had had to pay £4 4s a week for them. Moreover, many of the men treated were not really the responsibility of the 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 soma allocation for such cases out of its funds. At least it could authorise the hospital boards to take, gay, 3d 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, tbe request was virtually ignored. MINISTER AT CROMWELL

Though not intending to do so, the Minister made a Bhort stop at Cromwell on his way to Queenstown to-night. He and the members of the board 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 had followed the institution of the board's subsidy scheme, but complained that the best was not being got out of the- 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 ceophysical surveys cost money, and could not bo given away. How long this was going on be vould not like to say, but he could assure the board that if it could do anything to put an end to these' atupid delays it could place a lot more ot its men on lucrative work of the kind that was now being engaged in by 1000 men in Central Otago. Mr Bodkin also stressed the urgency ot 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 nromise. 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 ot a guarantee of results. Geophysical surveye 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, and the department probably hesitated to offer it as a guarantee of gold. Still, if a commitment had been made, that altered the 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 were not easy of operation, and he 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. TELEGRAPH CHARGES Mr Ste'wart Wright also complained about the increased telegraph charges, and urged a return to the old rates, ihe new rates, he said, were too heavy a burden on the public, and could not do the department any good. Mr Hamilton,/ in reply, said that there had been a great deal of criticism of the new Kates, but all the emphasis was put on the increases involved. Nobody sai«' anything about the reductions made. These, in his, opinion, outweighed the inThe present scale constituted the fairest possible charge and was actually only a system of charging for services rendered. The department saw its revenue falling and was compelled to take the step it had taken. AFFORESTATION Mr Roberts asked the board to consider a comprehensive programme of afforestation in the Cromwell and surrounding districts as a means of absorbing unem : ployed, and suggested the growing ot white poplars. Dr Cockayne had shown by means of trials on the Northburn Station that- this variety of tree would do extremely well in Central Otago and provide valuable timber for the future. The Minister was not greatly impressed by the suggestion, and said that such work was better done by the local authority, which could do the work much more cheaply than the Government could hope to do. SUBSIDY FOR SYNDICATES 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 shilling 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 on 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. BJ> scheme. It had been done frequently in the North Island and on the West Coast, and such assistance was ready for anyone requiring it, provided the cases were approved by the Mines Department. Every case must, of course, be considered on its merits, but he 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 another 30s or, in the case of single men, 15s in each case. DEPARTURE FOR QUEENSTOWN Mr Hamilton and the members of the board left for Queenstown this evening, and will meet the Lake County Mining Executive to-morrow morning, leaving for Waikaka and the King Solomon mine on