GOLDMINING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 59, 10 March 1936, Page 10

GOLDMINING.

ONLY SOUND SCHEMES. GOVERNMENT ATTITUDE. ' MORE SCIENCE NEEDED. (By Telegraph.— Special to "Star.") WAIHI, Monday. A clear definition of the Government's attitude towards goldmining and prospecting was given by the Minister of Mines, the Hon. P. C. Webb, this morning when answering private deputations heard at Te Aroha and Pae.roa in tbe course of a five-day tour.

"We are not going to tolerate for five minutes the schemers with shady reputations and without money who try to tell you how to make money quickly and easily, and who are always 'broke' themselves," said the Minister. ' "We have got to get down deeper than ever before. There is nothing that we of the present generation could teach the old pioneers. CJoklmiuhig has cost the Government £200,000 a year in recent years, and we j have practically found nothing in districts where old pioneers have worked and starved Much money has been wasted in the past, and the hopes and ambition of the young man who lives in the hills like a hermit have been destroyed because he has not found gold." If the Government could find something that was worth while they were prepared to "give it a go," continued the Minister. The Government was anxious to revive mining, but that could be done only by the application of science to the industry. . Men Must Be Triers. "The pick aud shovel days arc like Mr. Semple's wheelbarrow, they are gone for good," remarked Mr. Webb. He added that if the mines could find any quantity of ore that would justify them in going to the Government with a sound proposition then the Government would undertake to establish a State battery of the mos 1 ; modern design. Gold miners could rest assured of that. There was no chance in the world of a man who was not a genuine trier getting assistance from the present Government, and there was no chance of getting assistance unless a man himself was prepared to put up some money , first. No Government had a right to play loosely with the public purse arid the Labour Government was certainly not jroin" to do that.

The Minister told a private deputation at Te Aroha that the Government was anxious to help the mining industry, but they would first have to find a company or syndicate that was prepared to spend money and wdrk before the Government would be justified in taking action. The Government was ready to help any scheme that had a chance of producing, but it had to be proved that there was a chance. Mr. Webb referred to an Australian company that' had spent £60,000 in New Zealand. Already engineers had inspected 100 schemes and had selected four on which they were prepared to spend £750,000 of money. The company had the capital and the engineers and wanted to pay men. It was not promoting a scheme but investing in a scheme.

"There is going to be no tying up of areas unnecessarily," continued Mr. Webb. "No one will get an option, lie will have either to work or quit. If this Australian company finds that there is a prospect of developing a decent reef I think they will be interested." People Must Put Up Money. If the Government could interest people who had capital and the technical knowledge they would be only too pleased to help, continued the Minister, but it was useless for people to expect the Government to put up the money. Most people saw gold through magnifying glasses. He realised the Government had been wasting a lot of money on goldmining, and tliey now had to get down to reasonable propositions. They had to concentrate on low grade ore, which meant big capital and scientific treatment. It was useless chasing men all over the country to work where the pioneers worked before. The Minister mentioned that out of the Waiorongomai Mountain, £115,000 wortlj of gold had been won, but a great deal more money had been spent on it. Government assistance was sought by Mr. t>. Leach, a Paeroa baker, who said he had spent £1000 of his own money, and had spent two years in working on | the eastern region of Karangahake. , In the interests of the mining industry, and Karangahake in particular, he asked that the Government assist him to explore a 400 ft drive. Already he had prospected 1000 ft, and he was convinced that in the nexi 400 ft he would strike 'a rich' reef, and'it would cost. £300 to pay two-.men, but if the Government would do that he would endeavour to pay rents, explosives and incidentals. If he discovered the reef and it was a rich one, it would be sensational, declared Mr. Leach. "You have demonstrated your belief that! gold is there .by the expenditure of your own. money and .by the risk of your family," 1 the Minister said to Mr; Leach. "Wherever we meet a trier the Government is prepared to help, making all due allowance for the 'gold bug,' which you say you have. I shall give your proposition consideration, but you must realise that the Government cannot lend money for such purposes."