THE MINING BILL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22368, 15 September 1934, Page 10

THE MINING BILL

TO THE EDITOB

Sir, —It would indeed be interesting to know the source of inspiration of your contributor on the subject of the Mining Bill. He certainly has the true agricultural bias. Possibly the same factor that was responsible for the action taken by the Farmers’ Union and the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce in opposing the Bill is responsible. Your contributor has done well to bring to light the judgment of Mr Justice Williams for the fact that in mining districts mining takes precedence seems to have been overlooked by many of the members of the farming community today. Your contributor asks if it can be asserted with any degree of confidence that New Zealand is one iota better because of its gold mines, and proceeds to argue that the industry counts for nothing. To what, may I ask, would he ascribe the original prosperity of Otago? Does he deny that the gold mining industry rescued Otago and Southland from a bankrupt position, that gold production on the West Coast put Canterbury bn its feet; and that Auckland benefited materially as a result of mining activity on the Thames goldfields? Had it not been for the early pioneer miners of Otago how many small inland towns would Otago have boasted to-day? To what extent would our province have been developed? Your contributor might as successfully attempt to prove that the extension of the railway system has not promoted closer settlement. Every farmer who took up land in a mining district knew full well that mining takes precedence, and now, when fanning is at a discount and gold mining at a premium, it is only natural that, as before, we should, to use the words of your contributor, seek to “place the mining industry in a position of paramount' importance within a mining district.”—l am, etc., Digger. Cromwell. September 13.