FARMERS V. MINERS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4378, 16 September 1896, Page 5

FARMERS V. MINERS.

A conference of the chairmen of the various local bodies interested in the drainage of the Taieri Plain was held in Dunedin last week. There were present — Messrs J. Stevenson (chairman Henley River Board), J. Graham (chairman Taieri County Council), H. Clark (chairman Bruce County Council), W. Snow (chairman West Taieri River Board), and J. Wilson (chairman Otakaia Drainage Board).

Mr Stevenson was voted to the chair.

The Chairman said his purpose in calling the delegates together was to think out a scheme for keeping the Taieri and Waipori Rivera and the lakes clear of silt. When he was in Wellington recently he suggested to the Hon. the Minister of Mines that a dredge which would suit all the branches of the rivers would be the best method. The Miniatcr considered the idea was the beet ono he had put before him to remove the difficulty. He (the chairman) did nob think that they ehould have to tax themselves for a trouble caused entirely by the diggers. He thought that if the Governmenb gave them an endowment ib would be the Best plan, as then they would be independent of the caprice of the Government of the day for a grant from time to time. The Minister had told him that the member for Bruce (Mr James Allen) had approached the Government on the matter, and also that he (the Minister) had told Mr Allen that he considered his (Mr Stevenson's) idea the best. The Minister also suggested that the local body most interested should put the proposal in shape and give the Government all details as to cost of dredge and cost of working. Therefore he called delegates from the various local bodies together to come to some resolution on the matter.

Mr Snow said some years ago the idea of a dredge on the Taieri River had been mooted to the Taieri County Council. At that time a man offered to supply a dredge for £1,500, and with it, 5f necessary, to cut a track or canal across the Taieri Plain. When the dredge was once on the river it was estimated it would cost 10s a day for coal, and a man aod a boy could work it. The dredge could be used in both rivers, and also in Lea Creek. The silt could be utilised to form a protective embankment and keep the river in bounds. He urged the Council at that time to ask the Government for a grant of £1,500, but as some of the councillors were opposed to the scheme the matter fell through. The dredge, they were told, could cast the silt bwo chains from the centre of the river. His oven opinion was that if the Government would provide the dredge the local bodies could afford the cost of working ib. There was no doubt that the diggings were the cause of all the trouble, and there was one place in the river that he went over in a punt thirty-four years ago that he could walk across now. Of course there were two sides to the question of the diggers doing damage, and they ehould not forget that the diggers consumed a large quantity of the produce grown on the Taieri Plain. Mr Graham said ia company with the last speaker he had visited the locality about a fortnight ago, and his idea was that a storm channel should be cut from Berwick to Waipori Lake. This channel would be 65 chains long, and if ib were 20ft wide ib was estimated it would cost about £5 a chain.

Mr Snow said Mr Graham was only looking at the matter from a purely local point of view. The question they had to discuss interested every settler from Silver Peaks to Henley, north, south, east, and west. Mr Clark considered ib was clearly the duty of the Governmenb to find the money required to repair the damage done by mining. This damage was growing year by year, and good pasture land was being ruined through the silt. AH the drains were becoming blocked and the question was becoming moat serious, and he considered the Government were bound to pay the cost and try and avoid further damage. After a conversational discussion, upon the motion of Mr Snow, seconded by Mr Clark, it was unanimously resolved — " That this Conference approach the Minister of Mines and strongly urge him to grant either sufficient capital or a dredge for the purpose of cleaning out the Taicri and Waipori Rivers and the Waipori and Waihola Lakes, which have been filled up through the action of the miners, and that the chairman be asked to ascertain the cost' of the dredge and the cost of working the same. The chairman in the meantime to look after the necessary correspondence."

A complimentary vote to the chairman terminated the proceedings.

The attempt in England in 1753 to take a census was opposed in Parliament on the ground of its being profane, and was not realised till 1801.

In the southern hemisphere no flowering plants are known within 35deg of the Pole, and countries in as high a latitude as Soot< land are icebound,