A GOLDFIELDS PROPOSAL.

Otago Witness, Volume 23, Issue 2684, 23 August 1905, Page 48

A GOLDFIELDS PROPOSAL.

MINERS' SICK AND ACCIDENT FUND. DEPUTATION TO MINISTERS. (Fkom Ode Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, August 16. A d«pvta*''on of goldfields members waited upon the Premier and Minister of Mines to-day in respect to the proposal to inaugurate a 6ick and accident fund for gold miners by means of a special export duty on the g'oid produced within .the colony. Mr Guinness (member for Greymouth), in stating the object of the deputation, said I that th© average number of gold miners employed in the colony per year during the CasL five years bad been 11,752. In order to secure an average sum per man per year equal to that jraid in connection with tbe> Coal Miners' Sick and Accident Fund — viz., 2s ll£d — it would be necessary to raise £1738 per year. The total yield of goW in the colony in 1903 was 533,3140z, and! i a duty of 2d per ounce on that basis would yield £4069 a year, or more than double the amount required. It was therefore a question whether a duty of Id or of 2d an ounce should be levied. It was considered that as gold miners suffered severely fronn the miner's complaint and other forms of sickness arising out of their occupations, something should be don<>. to establish * ! fund whereby they would be enabled to draw a small amount per week in case of fiickness, or a certain sum in oass of deataIe was desired that the Government should introduce the necessary legislation to effect the proposal. | Mr Henries said he was perfectly in sympathy with the proposal ; but he pointed out that tlie circumstances were different lin the two islandfe. In the South Island the gold duty of 2s an ounce had been abolished, but m -the North Island it had: been retained. The companies in the North Island now complained that the duty of 2s an ounce was too much, and he did! not think the local bodies would agree to have the proposed extra dluAy taken out of tlie present duty, which was now received by them. The principle of the scheme was a good one, and he" did not think an extra, duty of 2d an ounce would make much difference. What the companies feaired was that .the 2d might be increased! to 6d. If there was an assurance that i 6 would not be more than 2d he did not suppose there would be any objection. Mr Guinness asked Mr Herries by -whom he thought the levy should be paid. Mr Herries : I .think the companies should pay it. Mr Moss said the scheme had his sympathy, but before expressing any decided opinion upon it he would like to see ill put in a definite form. It would be necessary to safeguard 1 , the fund from claims being made upon it by men who were already suffering from disease before • coming to tha colony and entering into em-., ployment in the mines. Mr M'Gowan (Minister of Mines) said he thought it was only right that all industries should bear the cost of relieving cases of accident or sickness caused by employment in such occupations. There was, however, the question of what should be done in regard to engineers and others employed on dredges or in connection with sluicing operations. They would have to decide whether those should be included in the scheme. He pointed out that many mining companies were now paying a. heavy rent, and he knew one company which had obtained £20,000 worth of i»old, which had all gone to the miners as wages. Though, however, there were several difficulties in connection with the scheme, he did not think they were insuperable. Mt Seddon said the principle that tho cost of such a scheme should be a tax on the industry concerned, as in the case of tho Workers' Compensation Act, was a varying conditions between the North a, _ .^u<ii tud,rK>s pi'e.-t; ued a difficulty. The-re was a way in which the money could be raised m the North Island without affecting the companies, and that was by deducting the proposed levy from the duty of 2s an ounce at present received by the local bodies. That seemed to be a reasonable solution, which should meet Mr Herries's objection.

Mr Fterritjs : But what about the local bodies?

Mr Seddon said tlie local bodies would have less money to find for charitable aid, and it might be merely a question of taking- out of one pocket and putting it in anothea-.

Mr Moss: The Government subsidises the money raised for charitable aid. Mr Saddon said that restrictions as to the tima within which miners could claim on tlie fund after leaving mining employment, as well aa the length of such employment, would have to be fixed. There were many old miners who had never worked for a company in their lives, and their case would also have to be considered. The difficulties, however, were not insuperable. The matter would be considered by the Cabinet, and tlu decision announced later on.