The issue of power and water to claims has generated quite a few emotional letters to the editor by camp dwelling residents, claiming everything from Third World treatment, to being exposed to danger using gas equipment.

Let's be honest about this issue. The majority of residents living in camps are not there for the purpose of mining that claim, or any other claim either, but they are there because it is cheap housing.

Why pay $20,000 for a block of land in the town (which has power and water), when all you have to do is register a claim and renew it each year?

Why pay the cost of a house in town, or building one, with the associated council regulations and inspections to ensure it is legally safe to be connected to the power grid, when you can throw together a substandard dwelling at a fraction of the price?

New camps spring up on the diggings each year and the pre-1987 ruling is not worth the paper it is written on.

Having freely taken the cheap option, these same residents start complaining about the lack of the very same amenities they chose to forego.

The gentleman comparing himself with the residents of the Woomera Detention Centre missed out one important fact - he is free to buy a house in town, pay the exorbitant rates paid by those living in town, for the privilege of a water and power supply, and water rates and power bills.

So are the rest of the claim dwellers, it is just that they choose not to do so. Those in town also have sealed roads, but we pay dearly for that too - our rates are higher than those paid in a lot of areas on the coast and in Sydney, especially considering the value of houses in town, but we do not deny camp dwellers use of these roads when buying groceries, collecting their mail, visiting the club, etc.

When you do receive the extra services you are after, I hope you will be happy to pay the $1200 to $1400 yearly rates the rest of us pay, then maybe it won't be necessary for the rates to increase on a yearly basis. I sympathise with your desire for power, but don't blame anyone but yourself for the lack of it - it was your own free choice.

Kim Wormald

Lightning Ridge