GOLD MINING

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20983, 11 October 1933, Page 7

GOLD MINING

to -can suwoK or tub ritese. Sii",—l read with some amusement the letter from Mr George Lee, of Templeton, on the above subject. I do not want to say anything offensive to Mr Lee, but I would suggest to him that the course of exalting dead men at the expense of Jiving men is a rather foolish if popular business. The pioneers were great men—of course they were; but people who argue like Mr Lee would imply that with the passing of the pioneers the greatness of manhood perished from out New Zealand; which is, of course, the silliest nonsense imaginable. There were great men before—and after—Agamemnon, and even in our supposedly degenerate days we have men of brawn and brain, of courage and resource, who could meet the pick of the pioneers on equal terms. Let us honour our pioneers, but let us not allow the honour to degenerate into a ridiculous superstition. Mr Lee is out to boost the present Government. I admire his loyalty and his courage. I hope the Government will appreciate his devotion in days when there "is none so poor as do it reverence.'' But his remarks about gold mining will not stand scrutiny, or if they are scrutinised, they will not support his contention that the Government is doing generously towards the gold-mining industry by putting a heavy export tax upon it. It was not necessary for the early governments to assist the industry. The gold was found then plentifully on the surface. To-day the old goldfields are stripped of the easily-found gold. Doubtless there is much gold in those fields still, but the finding of it demands a thousand times greater effort, and if it is to succeed it must be encouraged—and the Government encourages it by taxing it! It is true enough that the price todoy of gold is much greater than ever before, but I would ask Mr Lee to reflect that if one of the successful gold diggers of pioneering days were to retun; to-day he would find that instead of securing easily great quantities of gold he could barely scratch a living even with the help the Government, according to..Mr Lee, gives him. And I am quite positive he would be a leader in the revolt against the export tax on a struggling industry. I thank you for printing my strong opinions on this matter. It is of national importance, and I cannot conceive how any government with any clear notions of business can discourage and dishearten it by taxing it heavily in its-struggling stages as the present Government does.—Yours, etc., NINO DI SOMMA. October 10. 1930.