Grey River Argus MONDAY, August 10th, 1931. OUR OLDEST ASSET.

Grey River Argus, 10 August 1931, Page 4

Grey River Argus MONDAY, August 10th, 1931. OUR OLDEST ASSET.

ii | Lack of population, due Ur reI la nled development, of both pi’imart' ;lrid -seeondary industry, while at'present, owing U> the slump,, if may..be mistakeii. for an advantage, lias been, for the West Coast a lasting drawback. There is some degree of publie » eo-operatioiirw-lie-re.it is : a question of enlisting State aid, but • the example of those provinces which make natural resources the basis of sustained enterprise is Lseai-cely followed here to Ihe ex- ’ j tent that it might be. The grow- ■ ing capacity, for instance, of the • I Auckland province has.--.been made hthi' louiidation tor a large outlay . jot capital upon forests, oil trees, /and tobacco, as well as' pastoral /enterprise. The growth of various centres has brought seeolldfary industries, adapted to each Iplaee, but despite the presence of ithe whole bituminous coal supply jhere, the West Coast has been (very slow to increase -its population. Suited climatically for pastoral industry, its area is so largely forest-clad or devoid of soil that live stock cannot within several generations be relied on to maintain any great increase in population. If, therefore, as already re. [marked, public opinion is to become an effective instrument of I greater economic development, it. I requires to be educated, so that j co-operation in the exploitation of iall resources shall be attained, lit has already been demonstrated i in a period extending over three .generations that the West Coast jis .richest in its mineral resources, /but to-day the nou-metalliferous [mineral is somewhat at a discount, partly on account of the importalions of Australian eoal, and the 'pressure of necessity is forcing i attention back to the quest for gold. In this regard, no less than iin the case of 'coal, however, the Government of the day is entirely apathetic towards local industry a Departmental head having even, suggested that local gold

possibilities atts?negligible. and Illis n the face of extensive pro(luetion from one alone of tin many comparatively new claims in operation. Il would appear tlijjl the idea was to absolve Ihe Government from any obligation to assist development directly and there have been little or no funds made, available to nss'.s! prospecting. The only resource the meantime, apart from private; enterprise,'-is to endeavour to have as large a proportion as possible of the local unemployment expenditure diverted to the pro motion of prospecting- It Was recently suggested that each West (.'oast mining locality should send a delegate to a central confer ence, and there could then b 1 . more effective representations' made in the direction indicated. I It is noteworthy that the I pper 1 Blackwater Mining Association Ims already shown a hopeful sign of activity, and will, presently be the means of several prospecting ventures being undertaken, the Association having, despite a failure to obtain from the ..Department a straight-out grant, secured from the Minister a promise to deal favourbly with applications for a subsidy. The Minister acknowledges that the present Alexander Reef Is mine owes its existence to prospecting, and that a previous government also made straight out grants 1o the Blackwater Miners’ Association in the days when prospecting was thereby carried on between the Big Grey River and the Rig River mine; between the Kopa'ra settlement, and the Alexander River; at the headwaters of the Allan and Clark Rivers; be tween, the St. George line of reef and the Blackwater mine:-;; am! in i lie Snowy Creek locality. It will bear recalling that oAe of the Jnangahua mines which has produced gold to a value approaebing nearly one and three-quarter millions sterling owed its discovery to the work of a prospecting party. We refer to Blackwater mine, and the Alexander Reels mine also, has been a fair producer, its return to date having been bet ween £ 10,000 .and £1 worth of gold. Just now the New Big River mine is beginning a noiv lease of life, after having produced a very large, quantity of gold, while the Mt. David sluicing claim should prove also a prolific producer. In the Westland district there is a claim al Rimu I’lat, the output of whirl: is probably the greatest of any in the country, and the past year or two Ims semi several other undertakings inaugurated. The Warden's Court has for months exemplified the i’acT that conditions an obliging those whom enterprise lies in the direction of industrial development to turn to the possibilities of gold mining, realising as they do that othei <-omi)iodities tend to become a drug on the market, "and that gold is at. a premium. It is sale 10 say that since the dredging boom,.there have never .byeu so many ready to go prospecting as there an. to-day o;i the West l'-oast,-- and this psychological fact is one of the fttiuost importance. IV can 'be safely'said that iffiy"expenditure on the work is more likely at present. to have good results than at any. juncture where the interest has.been less keen. ,h is an unfuitunate circumstance that iimimdal stringency has closed t-h« eve-x of the Government to the possibilities of a revival of gtfld niinirig and therefore'of assisting towaTds a return of national prosperity. There lias been a fata! dogma among the farming eojinnumly and. even the economic academicians tin New. Zealand 1 Jia I- -the Dominion must put: all of its eggs in one basket. Our scant diversity in production appeared during the period of rising prices -from pastoral produce to be the acme of wisdom, but it is the explanation of.much of our present depression, and, what is .more,, will be the cause, of further hardship in the future. There is still an entire Jack I of adaptability, even in the mental attitude of the majority- of us throughout the country, which explains why so many thousands of men are merely doing work that is proditeing little or nothing, and that is being financed/with a measure of taxation vaster and reaching to a lower financial level than ever before. Yet former governments, with vision, had the West (toast and oilier districts geologically surveyed, with an eye to just, such a contingency as that of to-day, ami it is an authentic sign of ineptitude and’stagnation when it is found that the results of the survey are largely, limited to dusty charts hidden away in departmental-pigeou-h<>k>s. -Instead- of throwing cold water on any' manifestation of local interest in a 'gold-mining revival, the Mines I)<p:.'irtment ready ought' to be able to give an intelligent lead in this direction. At. a.iy rate, the West Coast community should reflect upon the fact that their district is Nature’s deposit ory for wealth ypitold, and should display the same faith as the pioneers by prospecting the back country to the best, of their abil-; ity. The disclosure of payable ’ gold is all that is necessary to I start new mining be-

muse the capital is no - av.-.liable hat previo i mother channel. So long as here is a genuine ci ventio flip the claws of Ih< ill eat,’ Ihe best results from ;■ .ide expansion of prosper'mg ’> a.omvstly expected.