THE VICTORIAN MINT AND NEW ZEALAND GOLD.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1751, 16 March 1874, Page 2

THE VICTORIAN MINT AND NEW ZEALAND GOLD.

[ARGUS.] -t „'>'■"; Several paragraphs and telegrams haye ! been going the round of the New, Zealand" ' and Victbriari papers on theprbbable transmission of gold in large quantities t fr6m J " Otago and the West Coast to the Melbourne Mint for . coinage. In reference to the matter . .we, find, on inquiry, that/ Mr; Yogel wrote to, Mr Francis in the montfi of January, wishing to know,, on behalf of the General Government .of i New"M Zealand^ whether the Victorian, Govern? : . ■ ment would'object to establish agents at .?<■ Dunedin and Hokitika to receive igold for i;..'/ that purpose. At the instance of Mr Langtoir, within whose department the supervision of the Mint lies/ Mr Francis, 1 i " ' :! we understand,' wrote to' Mr^Vogel in reply to say; that as th 6 Mint was an Imperial establishment, and appointed its own officers, it was not in, the power of the Victorian Government to .do;what was "- ., requested, but that he enclosed a copy of the new Mint charges, whereby Mr Y^ogel would see that the charges for coinage at the Melbourne Mint were now brought down to the Sydney Mint charges. That : - closed the correspondence of the two Governments on the subject. But on further inquiry we find that the secretary of the r ?T Otago Miners' Association wrote to the r deputy-master of the Melbourne Mint in December lastj complaining: of a combina- • tion among the Dunedin banks to reduce the price of gold from 1 L3 l6s 6d to L3 lss per ounce, and making a request precisely similar to 'the 'one forwarded by Mr! Yogel T about one month later. Colonel Ward's reply in substance v?as/that ! he did not see how the request of . the Otago Miners' Association Hciuld be complied With, as the Victorian Government apparently, objected . to the establishment of such agencies on vtheir own gold-fields,; but he: suggested " that,a trial, sample of .gold should be sent from Otago to the Melbourne Mint'for coinage, and added that it. would 'then be seen- whether it would answer ■' their ; pur» pose or: not to make further shipments. In reference to these consignmenta r o?;gold in dust to the Mint, Colonel Ward observed :— " You may have to pay the New Zealand gold duty on ithe,;g|ven . weight at 2s per ounce, but as you will receive from the Mint a statement of th'e r T gold and silver arid' dross which your ••'• parcel may be found to contain, you may , be refunded by your Government the /, amount of duty paid on the silver and the , dross." . With, regard to Otago and West Coast gold, there would not ,be ( much chance of any refund, if such an' r arrangement were ever entered into. It ' is of first-rate quality^ according to the ' secretary of the Otago Miners' Association, some of it sent to Melbourne having fetched 81s per ounce. Not so with the r Thames or Auckland gold, however, 'That j contains, on an average, nearly one-third silver. There has been no communication, «ye understand, either betweenr any one of the Provincial Governments of New Zealand and the Victorian Govern; iT ment oh this subject; or betWeen any of ■ ; the Provincial Governments of N,e> 2foa- ; " laqd and the deputy-master of the Mcl- - A bourne Mint, but it is, not at; all unlikely that one or more of the Provincial Governments, have been set in .motion by the General Goyern.ment. of New; Zealand, \-] and that we shall shdrtly be in receipt of ■'' large quantities of gold thencefor : coinage, - <>. The late reduction in our Mini; charges

will be greatly in favor of the New Zealand diggers, and none of them will complain of the allowance of 5s per ounce for all the fine silver in their gold over 2 per cent. Then, again, the facilities for communication'between Melbourne and Olago are so much greater than those between Sydney and Otago, as to insure for us the preference. Next, in fact, to having a mint of their own, the diggers on the Otago and "West Coast gold-fields have always been desirous of availing themselves of the advantages of ours. This they showed in the evidence taken before the Select Committee of the House of Representatives, which sat at Wellington the session before last.