RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 43, 20 February 1926, Page 21

RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS.

SALTED CRUSHINGS. \ - (By J. McCOMBIE.) During the years 1867-1868 claims on the Thames goldfield were held in small areas, while the owners were always on the look out for mining investors to come along to purchase shares, and thus help to relieve them of development responsibilities. To make these claims attractive, trial crushings were often put through various mills, and the bullion returns duly recorded in the local newspapers. Sometimes these returns were genuine, and at other times they were faked with the aid of rich ore obtained anyhow from adjoining claims. A man we will call Jonea was the I owner of a ten-stamper mill, which was . mostly in full operation crushing trial (parcels, of ore for surrounding claims. One day another man, who was part owner of a claim situated on the Waiotahi Creek, arranged with Jones to crush a five-ton lot of ore, and lie agreed to pay the cost—ls/ per tori. ' During the progress of the treatment there was no amalgam showing on the plates, and this fact alone convinced Jones that the ore was not payable. Therefore he decided to keep a close watch on the owner, who was supervising the treat■ment himself. When the crushing was completed, and the claim owner started to clean out the stamper box, Jones put in an appearance. The first disli of "headings" panned off revealed three battered sovereigns. Then the other exclaimed: "S'help mc, Mr. Jones, 1 know nothing about these coins; they do not belong to mc, and I think somebody is playing a joke on mc." "Well, then," replied Jones, "as the mill ie my property they must belong to ' mc," and lie transferred them to his pocket. By the time the headings were all cleaned up Jones had seven dilapidated, sovereigns in his possession, and the other etill continued to proclaim his ignorance of the whole transaction. The final clean-up, after the mercury • had been retorted, resulted in* a return of 4dwts to the 'ton. This, of course, was not payable, and the mine owner went home a wiser but a poorer man. j The ore obtained from some of the 5 Thames mines was so rich in gold and . silver that a large proportion '.of the 1 output was not included in the published monthly returns, but was stored < away in the mill safe to meet emer- J i gencies. Fort instance, at one mine the ' manager cribbed sufficient bullion from 1 the monthly returns, spread over a » period of nearly one year, until the ] quantity stowed away in his safe c amounted in value to the sum of | £14,000. This "nest egg" enabled the! manager to declare returns of £2000* per month for a period of seven months j after the value in the mine had petered •, out, and the shares maintained a firm,: market value in consequence. .. ' .. •. j' Located in a certain backblp.ck therai. ' existed a quartz crushing mill, which j was employed treating ore for quite a ] number of small claims, and the owners were all more or less disappointed with ' the bullion returns. Instead of the amalgam turning out about one-seventh of its weight in retorted bullion, it did * not yield more than one-fifteenth, on :1 the average, and the cause was shrouded * in mystery. After this mill had ceased ] treating ore for outside claims the! owner started dealing with ore obtained j* from a big lode situated in the near j' neighbourhood, and tests , taken from; ( the lode in question by several in- j 1 dividuals proved the ore to be worth- j' less. Then some of the defrauded - mine'J owners began to make inquiries, and. these resulted in the following dis- j closures:: —When outside parcels of rich? ore were treated the amalgam acciimu- i lated for each day's work was weighed, J n locked up in one of the drawers in the ' mill safe, and the key handed over to! , the mine owner. At the same time the •] mill owner retained a duplicate keyj 1 for each drawer, and said nothing about' their existence. At-night he used v to i "sweat" all the balls of amalgam and then add mercury to bring them up to « the previously recorded weight. This 1 system of thieving had been going on 1 for months, and it accounted for the 1 poor bullion results after retorting, as I well as for the payable returns reputed i to be the outcome of treating ore talcen ] from a proved barren lode. There was « some talk of taking action against the 1 mill owner for stealing amalgam. be- i longing to different mine owners, but", 1 in this-country, the onus of proof lies j ] with the prosecutor, and the evidence i was not strong eirough. to go on with < the case. i