THE TARIFF AND THE DREDGING INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2425, 5 September 1900, Page 21

THE TARIFF AND THE DREDGING INDUSTRY.

■H) THE EDITOK. ,' Sih,— l-Tow that tlie Treasurer has yielded to j the pressure of the iaige interests involved in the roii trade, &o iar ps to abandon ; hi-j well-intentioned pioposal to abolish I the duty on dredging s>»d other machinery, it may not b« out of place to „ug;.,ost what seems to me a much more ! simple and effective way of helping the diedgiug liidu&u-y, by a slight 'alleiation in the ZM".Jng Act and by a more intelligent admin's- i tiation ot the existing law. 'irie picssnt condition of the iron trade in Otsigo, and especially m Dunedin, is such as we nave i.ever seen before, and will piobabiy nsver see again. The cause ot this boom is the dredging industry — the enormous number of dredge* being built, and the &till larger minibir, ior the construction ol which plans are bjiiig prepared and calls made. Our local wo sshops aie quite incapable of coping with the woik, and plans and orders ior a large number oi dredges have bsen sent to builders outride the colony. It is very much to be regretted that so much remunerative work should have- to be sent elsewhere, and 1 know that diiettors of companies aie very leluctant to adopt thib ccuise; but in niafiy instances they cpmiot help themselves, and the reason is the condition of our Mining Act : they tire compelled to pioceed with the erection of a dredge upon each aih'd every claim within a certain time or. inn the risk of losing the claim. Hence the feverish' haste to get the dredges built,' and the enormously increased cost of construction; a-nl thus it comes aUout that enactments intended to "benefit the workers and advance the gold mining industry have the effect oi driving ;•„ laige amount oi work and the money to pay ior it out of the colony. But there is something even worse than that. A consideiable pioportion ot the dredges now being built, ordered, oi designed are to be placed upon claims that cannot "be, rnpde to pay. If directors weie free to conduct their operations ab ordinary "industries are carried on, instead of being compelled to proceed with the construction of dredges within a fixed time, all the dredges that fail to pay would find a leady sale, and thus the loss to the shareholders and to the community would be considerably reduced. Every dredge that fails to pay, and has to be thiown aside as so much old iron means as real a loss to the community as the thousands of tons of plant and material left to lust and rot on the Panama Canal woiks meant tho loss of so many millions to France. It is therefore to the interest of the whole community thut companies having good claims should be able to Avail so as to utilise the nonpaying dredges. Furthermoie, experience tells us that the present boom in the iron trade in England and America and on the Continent cannot last much longer, and when we come to look back upon the enormous prices paid for our material of all kinds we shall have reason to wish that we had not been in such haste to get our dredges all built when material was at the highest. And now for my suggestion of a remedy. . It is the very simple one of amending the Mining Act so as to empower the Governor--in-Coiuicil to suspend for a period, either in respect of, a whole distiict, or any part of ?.. district, qr in resx>eei of any particular river, the operation .0.1 those of ihe net which place in ieppa_i;dy.^he. title, to claims on which work cannot be commenced within the time • limited." X. shall probably, ,be, reminded of the existence of the protection clauses ; but all who know anything about the subject are aware that these provisions are m themselves quite inadequate for this purpose, and the chary manner in which they are administered by the dexmrtment betrays the same want of appreciation of the possibilitie-j a.id difficulties ot the gold dredging mdustiy as was shown by another Government . department with regard to the rabbit export, trade, when an attempt was rnide to insist, upon poisoning as against trapping. „ , As for the outcry against the proposed abolition of the duty on mining machineiy, it affords a remarkable instance- of the means to an end taking the place of tho end which justifies tho existence of the- means. The concession was intended' for the- benefit of the dredging industry — the real- end, — and it has boen withdrawn at- the instance of those interested in dredge building — the mere means to the end. The -winning of -gold from the rivers is advantageous to*the whole community, m so far as the returns exceed- the cost, and the fostering of this industry is a part of the settled policy of the country ; the mere building of dredges is no benefit to -the community except in so far as -the dredges -can be profitably worked, and the interest-of the gold- mining industry should have had -first 1 consideration. Yet the Treasurer has yielded in the pressure of those interested in the -secondary industry presumably because "the representatives of the real industry — the directors • and shareholders, who find the money- to - l>ay- for' the dredges — are either so indifferent" 'or -so concernecl about finding money to pay calls' 'that they did not take the trouble to -press their claims to consideration. I hox>e they 'will' bestir themselves so far as to make Some effort to obtain some such amendment of the law as I have suggested now whilst Parliament is in session. No time should be lost in getting up a petition. And yet one can have little hope of concerted action in face of the fact that an asso.ciajiiou established for the gurpose. g£ offer? .

ing prizes for improvements in gold-saving appliances has received so little support. The wastefulness of our present method, or rather our utter recklessness and want of method, in developing the dredging industry is truly appalling. It is the opinion of those who ought to know that we arc losing more fine gold than would pay the cost of the machinery, through sheer neglect of proper piecautions in the saving of gold. — I am, etc., Dunedin, August 28. J. MacGeegor. * TO THE EDITOR. Sib, — Mr MacGiegor's letter in your Satur-' day's issue a:id his remarks and suggestions are so very apposite to the present position of the dredging indu&tiy that I think directors of companies and those interested should at once take steps to ask the Government to extend protection to dredging claims, and more especially to those to work which companies have been formed. Under the Mining Act the Minister of Mines can grant protection for 12 months, .but this is scarcely long enough to enable many of the companies to have dredges ' built, and the time should be extended foi- at , least two years. At present all our engineering I establishments have contracts 'on liancVfor seve- j ral di edges, and have portions of work in pro- j gress for different ones. No*v, if the claims were protected and the directors of the companies could arrange that those most forward should be as, once completed and placed at I work, many thousands of pounds might be I saved. This would especially apply to the I gorge claims, for if a. few of these could be at [ work in a leasonnble time and proved payable, ■itien the other companies could with confidence place dredges on their claims, and if they proved unpayable, then arrangements might j be made to either cancel the contracts or get ! them taken over by other companies. Had this been done somo years ago, when the dredging boom was on, and the Kawarau and Sholover were pegged off and several dredges placed on these rivers, not one ot which but the ' Sew Hoy ever paid a dividend, a large amount of money would have been paved; but I feaj: j'thc same mistake will be again made, unless 1 | some means are devised to prevent it. The | effect of at once completing some of the I dredges to do the prospecting in these goige ] j claims and letting the others stand over would j be to relieve shareholders, as it is no doubl owing to so in iii y companies being floated and calls on shareholders being so oppressive which has caused the clump in iredgmg shares, for certainly it is not through poor returns from the dredge;, a,, the gold won, according to the weekly returns, is sai.isfactory, and proves that dredge shares pie a fair and legitimate investment ior capita!, and return a higher pereent?ge for the money invested than anj other industry in the colcay. — 1 am, ot"., C. S. Eeeves.