THE BLUE SPUR MINES.

Evening Star, Issue 7875, 6 April 1889, Page 3

THE BLUE SPUR MINES.

TO THE EDITOB. Sir, —As a very great deal of interest is beirg taken in the Blue Spur mines just now —chiefly, I regret to say, owing to the poor results of working them up to the present—it might interest your readers to know the names of the gentlemen in New Zealand who so strongly recommended them to the British public as "an excellent field for the investment of capital." I think it is very unfair to throw all the blame on Mr J. C. Brown, who, as far as I can learn, acted only as agent in London for the vendors, and made the best bargain he could for them. That the property was unduly "loaded" was not his fault. As I take it, he had simply to comply with tho decision of the syndicate who took up the mines, and it was their lookout as to whether the British public would subscribe for the shares or not. I have now the prospectus before me, from which I cull the following extracts from reporti and letters furnished by the following gentlemen :

Mr Vincent Pyke, M.11.R., says :—" By (his course I am quite sure that tho general profit will be largely increased (alluding to tho amalgamation of the claim?)- Thero is really tio rink to bo incurred by investors; the yield bus been evenly steady throughout."

Mr E. 11. Carcw, K.M , formerly Goldflclds Warden at Lawrence :—" To put it shnrt, I think moro (fold could bo won and at less cost if tho land were to be worked as one mine, under one management, than if worked as hitherto as several mines." Mr W. H. Revell, B.M. Nt Lawrence :-" By atualganiatinf,' the several claims anil extenßlvo water rights and machinery in connection therewith the ground could be wrought tn ranch greater advantage and less expense, and would tend to increase the dividends of the company." Mr W. L. Simpson, Duncdin (formerly It M. and Goldfields Warden, who has known tho Blue Spur since I860):—" It is bound to be a profitable undertaking. The saving that will bo effected in labor, machinery, litigation, and general expenses will also go far to represent a dividend on the capital which will be required." Professor J. G. Black, University of Otago:—"Tho result cannot fail to be the extraction of the gold from these famous and extensive deposits at a much lees cost than under the divided and ofteu conflicting management of tho old companies." The Hon. W. J M. Larnach, C.M.G., late Minister of Mines in New Zealand :—" There can be no doubt, in my opinion, that Tuapeka prrpents an excellent field for the investment of capital in mining, under cartful management, for tho next fifty or hundred years ; and the moro largely the ground can be worked by a considerable capital tho better it will pay investors." Mr Langmuir, Government Mining Survoyor, certifies " that thcro arc forty-fivo ncres, giving, at tho lowest computation, 8,000,000 cubic yards, of gold-bearing deposits uuworked in thu Blue Spur property." The prospectus states that, allowing for working expenses on the highest scalo of the pact workings, the avcrago profit, 1j24,7M), paid as dividends during the last ten years, may be taken as the minimum annual future net profit from this source.

The next clause in the prospectus says :

The working expenses phould not be moro thin LIOO per week, thu« leaving a profit of over LI.OOO per week, or Bay LfiO.OOO per annum net profit from working tho tailings, for at least eightyoars to conic.

From the above extracts it will be seen that the prospectus of "tho Blue Spur and Gabriels Gully Consolidated Gold Mining Company, Limited," was really a most attractive one, and it would have been strange if Mr Brown, or anyone even less known, could not have got the company floated in London. I hope sincerely the mine will yet turn out profitable, otherwise I fear its non-success will injure New Zealand mining enterprise with the British public—l am, etc.. Colonist. Dunedin, April G.