MOUNT IDA MINING ASSOCIATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2202, 14 May 1896, Page 19

MOUNT IDA MINING ASSOCIATION.

The annual general meeting of the Mount Ida Association was held in the Town Hall, Kaseby, on Saturday evening last, when there was a large attendance of members, the chair being occupied by the president of the a-sociation (Mi- W. G. Mason). ANNUAL REPORT. The Annual report stated that 17 committee meetings had bsen held during the past year, all of which had been well attended. A delegate had • been sent to the Clyde conference, when the . Waipori difficulty, the reduction of the price ef water at Naseby, and other important matters were fully gone into. On April 9, 1895, the Minister for Lands paid a visit to Naseby, and a . meeting of • miners was held in the County Chambera, and on the following day Messrs Donnelly and Brown visited Idaburn in company trith Mr Cadman re the water rights of I)ixon< and Wheeler and party, and the site of the proposed reservoir at Eweburn was also inspected. An attempt had been made during the year to . raise funds for prospecting purposes, but only a small amount had been realised. The report concluded with an expression of regret that there "■ had been a falling off in the membership of the association but the revivaj of interest in mining matters would no doubt remedy this. The balance Bheet showed that the receipts 'lAuring the year, including*tbe balance brought fwward from the ft?evioua 18 moaths, amounted

to £14 183 23, wnfle the expenditure was £9 183, leaving a balance Co the credit of the association of £6 Oa %\. Ou the motion of tbe Chairman, seconded by Mr Gufpie, the report and balance sheet were adopted. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION. Mr K. F. Inder wished to know if only pick and shovel men were allowed to be msmbsri of the association. He was as much interested in mining as anybody in the district, but bo long as the constitution of the association remained as at present he would not continue to be a member of it. The Chairman read ' the clause of the by-laws referred to by Mr Inder, which was to the effect that honorary members could atteud the meet-, ings but they could not record their votes. They were, however, eligible to act as commlttpemon. He (Eha cbairmin), personally, would bo only too glad to see the rule in question rescinded. Mr; James Smith rem*rk»d that the same rule obtained in other districts and had beea found to work satisfactorily. , He would, however, move that clause 5 of the by-laws be suspended. This wa»«econdedby Mr J. G. Ferguson, and after some conveisa'ional discussion the motion was carried unanimously. THE GOVERNMENT WATER RACE. Mr Gufpib s^id thit he wished to raise the question of the Government water raca, as he held that tbis was a matter ofpublic importance and should be disenseed in a fair 'and unprejudiced manner. This race was under the control of Mr Murray, who had the sole right to say the amount i of free water that should be given^to the miner* I and what should be withheld. This power should i not be pi iced in the hands of a single official as J th<) race was public property. Mr Murray might be a good citizen, but he was susceptible to political influence, and ho (the speaker) could ! bring evidence to prove that privileges had been ! .given to others which had not been accorded to 1 himself. Speaking as a miner of 30 years' experience and with a full sen*e of the responsibility of what he was saying, he would assert that the manner in which the race was oontrolled^entailed a seriuus loss to the community at large. If it were vrope-ly managed at least one third more water would be available, and last spring, at the lowest estimate, £3000 worth of gold 'was lost "owiug to- thin. This was a question that »hould be brought before the Minister for Mines, and the present meeting was the proper 1 place at whirh to discuss it. The association ought to deal with the matter, and he was of i opinion that ths now committee to be elected that ; evening should protest against the present state of things, and should demand that a commission be appointed to inquire into it. Mr W. F. Indeu said i hat though not practically engage i in mining he had many opportunities of arriving at an opinion on this question. When tbe"r«ee was under the contiol of the trust, when a leak occurred the Government refused funds and they were therefore hampered from | want of uieanß. Even when the Government promised the money it was only obtained by issuing a writ of the Supreme Court. The race might not pay directly, but indirectly it paid 100 per cent., while hundreds of poun'ls had been squandered oa it by the Government. He brli* yea that Mr Murray was bound down by the regulations, and if that were the case the regulations uhould be altered. The present of things wax a great and cryiug shame, and if the fault Uy with Mr Murray that gentleman should take the blame. Last year they had had the" beat water season the district had known fur 25 years, and yet in the spriog the miners were found looking at one another, becaune the race did not nerve th% pur-po->e for which it wan erected. If the race could bring in 22 heads of water, and at present it was liaiited to 10, why should not the full quantity be sent down and the extra 12 heads mcd for pro3specting purposes? Were * ne Government to hand over the race to_tne miners, the 1-tter would return it in it.s original stnt* after seven years and pay 3J per cent. on the cost of construction for th 9 use of the water. In reg dto the Mount" Ida nludge channel that had been grossly mismanaged by the Government. Its obliieration was threatened, and this would mean a serious loss to the miners. It was ' scandalous that although thn representative of the district was a member of the Ministry not a finger had been raised to assist the industry that was the.ir mainstay, and it was to be feared that while the present Government remained in power the existing disgraceful state of things would continue. The new committee of the association, however, should do their best in providing for the better management of the Government water race and the Mount Ida sludge channel. Mr F. Inder said that this was a_ moat important matter, and one which the association should take up. Previous to the extinction of the trust i Mr Gordon had publicly stated that if more water ! were brought in than was saleable, the surplus would be divided pro rata amongst the olaims. Mr Murray had not carried this into effect, as only B"ch water had been brought in as there was 8-le for. Were the race loaded to its full complement, when water is available, the benefit to the miners wouM more than compensate for any loss caused by a possible breakage in the race. He (the speaker) personally would -be willing to assist in repairing any damage in consideration for the benefit to the community on account of the increas-d water supply, and he felt sure that other customers would "do likewise. Mr Guffie remarked that Mr Gordon had said that the race could be filled within six inches of the top, but Mr Murray was of opinion that it was not safe to fill it up more than 15 inches from the top. As a matter-of-fact, it was not even loaded to that capacity. The Chairman stated that the charges made again it Mr Murray were serious, but there appeared to be good evidence brought forward in support of them. At the name time they should consider that that gentleman was placed in a very difficult position. He agreed with the speakers that this was a question the association should take up. and he had no doubt their representations would be attended to. The following resolution wa» then put and carried unanimously:—" That the committee of the Miuing Association take into considrratiou the advisability of requesting the Government to appoint a eotaiuission of experts and practical miners to consider and report on the management of the Government water rare and Mount Ida Blunge channel and the conservation of water in this part of the Otago gol.ifields." ELECTION OF COMMITTEE. Fourteen nominations were received for the .committee, and a ballot resulted in the following being elected : Messrs W. Guffie, J. M'Larea, P. W. Inder, G. W. Mason, W. Smith, J. Hore, J. Smith sen., J. Peterson, and L. Hore sen. A vote of thanks to the chairman concluded the proceedings.