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comment now made was directed at the Mines Department, and Mr. T.W.
Barnes, Superintendent of Public Watering Places Branch. The depth of
feeling on the subject can be gauged from the following - 'The death of Mr.
Barnes is no doubt widely regretted. At the same time it is to be hoped that
his successor will be in touch with the mining industry which the late
gentleman never was' (Sturt Recorder, 4 September 1896:2).
The Sturt Recorder later published the deliberations of a further meeting of
the Milparinka Progress Committee, suggesting 'an alternative scheme for
water supply for the travelling public and the use of the town, should the
construction of the dam in the creek be still held to be too costly a work to
be undertaken at present.' The Committee suggested that an excellent site
existed not far from the present (Government) Well, comprising a swamp
with a 'fine open piece of well raised ground between it and the creek, and
quite close to the Government paddock'(Sturt Recorder, 26 February
1897:2) The site would be far preferable to that of the present 'pot hole on
the opposite side of Evelyn Creek to the town, which makes the carting of
water both difficult and expensive, and the watershed of which is quite
inadequate for a proper supply'. A tank was eventually built on the
suggested site, but not during the period considered by my research. It,
and the "pot-hole on the other side of the creek" are now the sole water
catchments in the vicinity of Milparinka.
Pressure upon the Government to rectify Milparinka's water shortage
continued, with a comment in the Sturt Recorder on 2 April 1897 that the
town of Hay had recently compelled large users of water to have their
consumption metered - and charged at a rate of one shilling per thousand
gallons. By comparison, said T.W. Chambers, 'at Milparinka water costs
thirty shillings per thousand gallons but the inhabitants are not compelled
to take it. .. It is offered at that rate by the Public Watering Places Branch of
the Mines Department and in a recent official communication the
department asserted that Milparinka was well supplied with water' (Sturt
Recorder, 2 April 1897:4). The Sturt Recorder also reported 'a mob of
7625 sheep travelling to market were attempted to be watered at the
Public Watering Place at Milparinka, which, owing to the scarcity of water
in the well, occupied two days. Two mobs of travelling cattle that followed
had to pass without water. Apart from the inferior quality of the water the
above incident shows for the hundredth time that the capacity of this public
watering place is not equal to the smallest demand, and yet the
Superintendent has officially stated over and over again that the Milparinka
is amply and well supplied with water... It seems to us that the Public
Watering Places Branch...is every day drifting further and further from the
path of duty...the public little knows how many thousands of pounds are
being squandered upon utterly impractical and useless bores in solitary
positions ...while settlements like Milparinka which require water to be
conserved on the surface remain totally neglected...'(Sturt Recorder, 1
October 1897:2).
A month later, T.W. Chambers redirected his attention, not from the
subject of water, but at what the local (Labor) MLA, Richard Sleath, was