Otago Central Schemes.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20237, 22 February 1934, Page 8

Otago Central Schemes.

Dear Sir,—When I wrote about errors in Mr Howard’s mining terms. I expected something from Alexandra, but I didn t expect the lack of knowledge displayed by “ Alexandraite.” He wrote that miners put blocks of wood and sometimes stones in tail-races. Miners don’t do that. They put blocks of wood or stones and sometimes coarse matting and finer matting, and pieces of blanket and sometimes finish off with copper plates coated with mercury to catch the finer gold, but these go to form sluice boxes. The tail-race is what its name implies—a means of getting rid of the refuse or waste. Just the same as a tail-race from a water-wheel—a means of getting rid of water after it has turned the wheel. It has sometimes happened that sluice boxes have been robbed, but no one could rob a tail-race for the reason that there is nothing of anv value in it. Arm-chair miners who talk about getting millions out of tail-races don’t know what they are talking about. 1 hat old story about getting enough gold out of the Kawarua to pav off the National Debt was old fifty years ago; and at last they succeeded in getting some of the public to find the money and the dam was erected. And we still have the National Debt. Now the idea is to leave the Kawarau and dam the Clutha at the two lakes, either by means of one dam and a tunnel, which would cost an enormous sum of money, or by two dams. This would not help to get anything out of the Kawarau, and it would be a big failure, as the Kawarau dam was, but it would be the means of getting a lot of public money spent in their district. It would be money thrown away, but that doesn’t matter to Otago Central. Mr Howard and other members of Parliament would do a great deal more good by .attending to their own electorates and by leaving Otago Central to work its own schemes. Otago Central people are quite capable of looking after themielves.—l am, etc . OLD CENTRALITE.