GOLD MINING

Grey River Argus, 28 April 1932, Page 2

GOLD MINING

ROSS PROPOSAL. The Mayor of Ross, Mr J. Murdoch, has forwarded the following letter to the Minister of Mines:— Hon. C. C. Macmillan, Minister of Mines, Wellington. Dear I am in receipt of a letter this morning from Mr James O’Brien, M.P., and 1 am pleased to see that you purpose visiting Westland at the close of the session, probably early in May. Under separate cover I am posting you a map of the Totara district in which I am indebted to the Survey Office Hokitika for marking out four blocks of ground suitable for registered men who are at present unemployed to [prospect for gold in. I should be pleased if you would arrange to have these four blocks reserved iji which unemployed men could prospect for gold. Many of the men at present on the field (about 18) have had no experience in mining and I would be pleased if you could arrange for a subsidy, even 39/- per week, for a practical miner to take charge of a party of four men to enable them to sink shafts or drive tunnels when prospecting for gold. It has been suggested to the Ross Prospecting Association that the Public Works Department in Greymouth have a suitable engineer for this work, and if you could obtain his services they could also supply tents, tools and other camp equipment. I would like to see this work carried out in a systematic manner, and under proper supervision, sp that we might expect a new goldfield bringing in a wave of prosperity. With so many unemployed, means a national waste, so it behoves us to do our best to get these men back into work where they can support their homes. The headwaters of the Totara and Mikonui rivers contain the most likely fields for prospecting that I know of, as block one on the map, containing 5750 acres, a sluicing field, m capable of providing work for 300 men if prospecting results are satisfactory. Blocks 3 and 4 are chiefly quartz propositions and if the leader in the line from Mount Greenland could bo unearthed it would give a great fillip to gold mining. My idea is to place parties of four men in charge of a practical miner in each block with a P.W. engineer supervising the work. The Ross Prospecting Association, of which I am President, have only £52 on hand and this amount is available for prospecting. The Unemployment Board are prepared to help, so that if you can agree to my suggestions, we have a good chance of discovering a grand new goldfield. ’ ’