HOW TO STIMULATE PROSPERITY.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 179, 2 August 1887, Page 4

HOW TO STIMULATE PROSPERITY.

Several Auckland gentlemen who take an interest in goldraining, and especially in its .bearing upon the general prosperity of the colony, are advocating a scheme which is calculated to stimulate to a wonderful extent the mining industry in this district, which has been somewhat languishing of late. The proposal is that the Government should offer a substantial reward—say L2s.ooo—for the discovery of a process for recovering the gold and silver from the refractory ores in the Hauraki goldfields district; the process to become the property of the Government, and the reward only to be paid on condition that the saving of the ore can be effected economically—definite percentages of cost and value recovered being stipulated. It is contended that the direct result of the discovery of some.economical process of gold-saving would be to add immensely to the wealth of the colony, by the actual amount of gold obtained and by the stimulus that would be given to every other industry. Indirectly, the effect would be also highly beneficial to the colony at large, for the reward suggested would have the effect of attracting to this part of the world a number of experts and scientific men, whose observations of the mineral wealth of Thames and Coromandel districts would convince English capitalists that there were here excellent fields for investment. Even supposing that no one succeeded in inventing a process complying with the conditions, the gain to the colony by the wider diffusion of a knowledge 9oi her.immense auriferous and argentiferous deposits would be immense. The " roar " for retrenchment may be urged as a reason for not asking the Government to incur such a liability ; but it should be remembered that no money Avould be paid unless the Government received in return certain secret information or patent rights which would be of far greater value to them than the pri c to be paid. If the vast mil ral wealth of the Hauraki dist'ric wre the property of private iuc vid i.ls or companies, common bu> nes prudence ( would dictate the ad pting of some such method as ia proposed for developing that wealth and making it available. The Thames County Council, being composed of men" who know at once the wealth and the wants of a goldfield district, are very properly moving in the direction of giving inducements to foreign capitalists to develop the mines. Surely the General Government, whose interests in the matter are much greater, have, a more palpable duty to perform in tho way of encouraging enterprise of the kind indicated. , A deputation of' influential men^ it has been suggested, ought to wait upon the Hon. J. A. Tole, ;as the only Minister in Auckland, to urge the matter upon his notice, and it is also important to obtain the support of Parliamentary candidates to the proposal. A preliminary meeting of those with a knowledge of goldmining might be necessary to enter into the details of the scheme and be prepared with definite proposals and figures. If that were done and it were found that the scheme was sound, there should then be a vigorous crusade made to obtain support for it. The Premier, who. has no special Auckland sympathies, stated the other day that the development of the goldfields was essential to the prosperity of Auckland, and his support ought to be sure. The matter is one that comes home to every citizen of Auckland, and it is to be hoped that this practical question will not be allowed to drop out of sight during the electioneering excitement upon which the country has entered. •■-■ -