MEN DISMISSED

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 12820, 15 August 1939, Page 8

MEN DISMISSED

MARTHA GOLD MINE Waihi, Aug. 14. Following a review of the position of the underground and surface workings the management of the Martha Gold Mining Company (Waihi), Limited, has decided to dispense with the services of upwards of 30 men. Tbe number is comparatively small, in view of the large number of men employed, and the men put off will not affect the tonnage output.

The management explained that it was merely a policy of retrenchment. The secretary of the Ohinemuri Mines and Batteries Union, interviewed to-day, explained that the men involved were both married and single and that the union was getting into communication with the Placement officer at Paeroa with a view to arranging for the displaced men , being given work at Waihi under Scheme No 13. Reference to the first visible results of the process of exhaustion of the mine was made by the chairman of the company, Mr G. R. Mitchison, at the annual meeting in London in May. He added that in the future further reductions in tonnage must be expected, followed by lower profits and dividends

Total ore crushed in 1938 was 2 04,645 tons, compared with 224,353 tons in 1937. The ore was of a lower grade and the quantity of gold produced dropped by 12 per cent. The reduction in tonnage was the result of the gradual exhaustion of the mine, coupled with the cessation of ore supplies from the Waihi Grand Junction area.