SLUDGE CHANNELS

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XLIX, Issue 9591, 22 August 1949, Page 3

SLUDGE CHANNELS

MOVE FOR REVOCATION OF PROCLAMATION COUNTY ASKED FOR SUPPORT “It will be unnecessary for me to bring to your notice the tremendous importance of this matter and it is hoped that your council will take similar action with a view to the revocation of the proclamation of ISDS,” wrote the secretary of the Paeroa Chamber of Commerce to the Ohinemuri County Council relative to mining sludge channels within the county area. The letter was brought before the August meeting of the council and went on to state that a letter had been forwarded to the Minister of Mines urging the revocation of the proclamation. Also urging the abolition of sludge channels and the revocation of the proclamation of 1895 was a communication from the Hauraki Catchment Board which sought the support of all county councils and borough councils in its efforts to have the proclamation revoked* “This is a very important matter,” said Mr T. A. Barrett, chairman of the county council. Untold damage had been done to the lands of the Thames Valley by the use of the rivers as sludge channels. The Ohinemuri county was the only county contributing to the river improvement seheme.

Mr A. A. Jenkinson, county clerk, pointed out that hundreds of thousands of tons of tailings had been deposited into the rivers and untold damage had been done. The amount contributed by the council to the rivei improvement was limited by the amount received by the council from gold duty. “The tailings should never have been permitted to be discharged into the rivers,” declared Mr Barrett, who added that the Thames Valley was too rich and fertile to permit ita being despoiled by mining operations.

The council, upon consideration, unanimously agreed to give the fullest support to the proposal put forward by the Paeroa Chamber of Commerce and the Hauraki Catchment Board.