Deputations to Sir George Grey.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2020, 25 June 1875, Page 2

Deputations to Sir George Grey.

THIS-DAT. ' i ■ ' * ' • ' ' i THE T^fAIOTAHI HOAI>. ' *-r A deputation of .the folio wing, men waited upon His Honor the Superin- ( tendent this morning :~His"Worship the, Major, and Crs Ehrcnfried and Brown;' Messrs Hill, Brodie, and Porter from-the t Waiotahi Highway, Board; T. Rickards,: Langford, Hopkins, Brown, and Scott^j representing the" Beehive, West Coast,! Red "White and Blue and Nonpareil mines. v - 1 The Mayor introduced the deputation,! .whose object was "to ascertain' From Hia Honor whether there was any chance of j getting a road made up the 'Waiotahi, so' that mines now idle would pay for work-* I ing. He-submitted to-Sir George the f memorial sent by residents of the Waio-, tahi to the Thames Borough' Council. j In answer to a question from His; Honor' as to what representations the " deputation desired to make, ;

The Mayor said they merely wanted to draw attention to the absolute necessity of making the road, and to ask whether the Provincial Government had any funds at its- disposal at prosent,, or had any means of obtaining them. They had of course a.just claim on the General Government for funds towards the maintenance of tho.goldfields.. But in the it was absolutely necessary that something should be done to the lower .part of the road, which was totally impassable. His Honor said he was absolutely without fuDds'at the present time, and it was better for him to tell them the state of his finances than ■ to mislead them ,by making promises which ho hadnohope of fulfilling. In the present state Ox affairs'he could not see 1 where the' money w»3 to come from- unless taken from loans granted for specific purposes. The Mayor said they had foreseen that, | but His Honor might do something, by exerting himself in the Assembly to get a'grant for goldfields purposes. ' ' > His Honor said he was quite alive to the importance of ; the subject, and what Ihe could do ho would; but at present he i did not see his way to anything, which would justify him in holding out to them what would approach to a certain hope. He,-would rather see them try to do sqmeI thing for ihemselres. , • Mr Brodie' said the Waiotahi creel* was the only one by which-abroad could be taken to open up the interior'of the Peninsula. At present there were many mines up the creek which would fpay well if means were provided by which they % could -bring their cjuartz to bo crushed, but as it was the mines were being worked by a few men fossicking for. specimens. The Thames'bad only to look to" the back country, ,and means would have to be provided- to get at it. Miners earning small wages and living in small huts could not ,be. expected* to rqake t a road such ag was required. Moreover, the benefit to \fo dorived would not be confined to goldmining—a country would be opened up suitable for .agricultural purposes. ■Or Brown suggested- that- if the Government would make a road from where the. Waiotahi ltoad now ends, .the Borough Council might make the lower part passable. He thought that a sufficient sum could bo found for the purpose with- ■ out infringing upon the general rcypnue, the goldfields "revenue''being estimated at £6,00,0.

His Honor said an expenditure of three or four thousand -would be required, -at once, and that covld not bo raised at the present time. Besides, the revenue for the year had been nearly all spent on Ohinemuri, and with which expenditure he had had nothing to do. He did; not see where,the Groldnelds- revenue, was tp come from. .. Mr Macdonald Scott said tho Waiotahi road was an anomaly—one portion being splendidly metalled, while tho upper and lower parts" were impassable. If tho road were made complete, the "Nonpareil would have two strings toits bow ;. but-at present the tramway charges were very high, and tho quartz could not be conveyed by the road.

His Honor said he should have the Tairua people complaining that thoy had not got one string to their how while others had two. Mr Brodio reverted^ to the' absolute necessity of making the lower portion of the road, without which many mines now working would be compelled to stop. His Jfonor said lie would make no promise which he did not see his way to performing. Ho should imagine that if the mines were so lieh nothing would bo easier than to raise money by agreeing to 1 furnish contributions. Anything advanced now could be repaid. Or. Brown said that had been done in I the case of the Waio-Karaka, when the companies paid ono-third and the Borough Council two-thirds, but the Waiotahi was differently circumstanced. His Honor said he had to do justice to all interests on the Thames Goldfields. ' He believed a greater part of the money— unlawfully expended—on Ohineinuri,- was spent uselessly, and .without proper supervision. Whit-revenue he could get together he wished 1 to spend judiciously". Jf he .werp" a contributor to Punch he should represent himself as being beset by three or foutof'them asking for money, when "the people outside knew "that he Had notliiag to »ive. Mr Brodie said" there was this difference between the Waiotahi .andnew districts: it was known to be rich, and had been in existence for a long.time. His-Honor'said' it' Was only the'other day ho had actually robbed' the other districts to supply the- Waiotahi, but he found that hfe had only been feeding something the appetite of which increased by what it fed on.

Mr Brodie said the Borough might be' able to act if they had-the endowments. . Sir George' said" ho' had "informed Mr Davies that he 'would, do.-alb he could to place the Borough in a position of independence. ;-Ttiat was fiis-desirej and he had handed over the-water works just before \thc. £1000 or was.due.in order to help them^put of their present difficulty..; :/',j , ."'-, >-•♦:... " "h ' ->v^i:-' The Maypr : The best that we can do is!to- leave; the matter, in, your--Honor's hands. . ' * ;. 6" His-Honor advised' that -it would "be wise to point put r tho direction in which money was 'required"^ for" particular purposes when the Genera.l Assembly w,as sitting. He would do all in. his power "for them 1 in the of' ebdowment. r ; ' - The; deputation' jthen \- s 'thanked His Honor, and "withdrew. *'* THK.TABARTT KOAD AND-MOASATAIEt - %

The Mayor and Crs EHrenfried and Brown, then introduced the above subject. ,--,- -: \. T~\ - . ■The Mayorsatdin"discussing s thehanding over of the Tai'aru Road and Moanata»i Aqueduct at the Council JasJ night, they had come to the .conclusion that they had so' many roads to maintainWith-out-an adequate reyenue,"^that~ttiey^would not; be justified, in taking over,"?th~ese additional responsibilities; . It had been arranged, therefore, that'-a": deputation should wait upon.' flis^vHonor this morning to^ lay. , tho v .fact's.- plainly before him. He .(the -.Mayor) had informed the Council tEat he had waited on | Sir George,- who had kindly expressed sympathy with them at the same stating j that he had no money to "dispose 0f..: Bat 1 it had bqec considered rrell to wait'on hi* ■ Honor, and lay the matter before him.,' ; . -His-Honor : v Why not hove a letter written to me 'm^Aucltlaad, .and,.if:itJ»possible .tp,do anything it shall be done. , The Mayor said it might be as well to' inform his'Hbndr that,a_very large^trafEc passed over the Borough roads. It was •estimated that 250 ,tohs of quartz from the j mines to the batteries passed over the roads daily. r ../. 1 - r , . f , His Honor said'when they told him of' this evidence of prosperity," he .could,no't help thinking ' that such wealthy people' should manage these matters themselves. • , The veij statement as iothe amount of traffic was a reason^ why they' should 1 not come to him at all:, - - ' : The Mayor said the Borough was in-a peculiar position. The Government had \ taken their revenue from them, and they had not endowments .as other "corporations. ' '"■'' "'

His Honor said he would willingly interest himselfto the utmost in securing endowments for the. Borough. 'J here:, he could, help 1 them. " ' L -The Mayor: Could your Honor see your way to maintaining the road until we have the endowments. . . His Honor said the Provincial Government had nothing..':He might get reparation in the Supreme Court for money unlawfully appropriated by the General Government, but that would vtake time. Cr Ehrenfried said the Borough was differently circumstanced to.other places. A large portion of the goldfields traffic passed over the* roads which the Borough was taxed *to keep in repair. At the present, time'they .were tixed. to the utmost extent,,and still, the revenue raised was found to be totally inadequate to maintain those roada." His Honor: Still it gives mo great pleasure to hear what, you _ say, because it assures me of your nascent wealth. Cr BrOwn, said there were cases—he instanced the! Queen of May—:in,which the product of the mine only paid for its working. - ' • ' - His Honor „said theS? should ask "for power to levy tolls in tli'e streets. These were all things they should look after. .Not a voice' had been raised against the unlawful expenditure of money by the General Government on Ohinemnri. TheyshouldpetitiontbeGeneral Assembly , for a return of the sum which had bden spent contrary to law. He would help them to try and get that back again. -As to the foreshore or any other endowments, he would use his best endeavours to ( secure them, ani to create so ricli^ a corporation that it would be able to exist on it 3 own resources.-" j The deputation then-withdrew. I