The Hastings Standard Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1896. NEW ZEALAND MINING.

Hastings Standard, Issue 26, 27 May 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1896. NEW ZEALAND MINING.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrongs that need resistance. For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

Ax irresistible wave ef mining speculation which set towards South Africa in the first instance appears to have travelled round the globe, and is now lapping at our shores. The annual output of gold between 1870 and 1890 was alarmingly small, while the demand for the yellow metal both for currency purposes and the arts has been steadily increasing. Here, then, was a reason for energetic action. To add to this, science placed at the disposal of the gold-seekers its latest inventions, whereby the saving of gold has been largely increased, and thus enabling the miners to develop grounds that were formerly and under the older systems of gold extraction classed as " duffers." The pressing demand for gold, together with the improved method of extracting it as exemplified by the Cyanide process, has had a marvellously beneficial effect on the goldmining industry throughout the world. South Africa was the first exploited under the new conditions, and what South Africa has contributed to the world's supply of gold is well known.

Western Australia, Cripple Creek in Colorado, British Guiana, British Columbia, New Guinea, and even to Trinidad, have all been called upon to yield their golden treasure. New Zealand and some of the other colonies were partially neglected, but the gold statistics with their remarkable evenness so far as this colony was concerned made an impression upon that most plastic of all creatures, the " British Capitalist," and we now see the fertilising stream of British capital flowing steadily tow T ards New Zealand. The wonderful Waihi mine, with its steady output and regular dividends, is the outcome of the Cyanide process and British capital. At the present time this colony is overrun with alleged experts, representatives of British capital, and we fancy that we are not free from the swindlers whoso art of thieving is of a very refined character. We are on the eve of a gold boom, and even as we write we feci that the speculation in mining shares is already of a feverish nature. Mining speculation has undergone a complete change to what it was in the olden days. Johannesburg has developed quito a new system, which may be described by the single word " thieving." ThG pilfering is done on quite a scientific style that is very bard to detect; but this much is certain, that the "bosses" or those who control the mines have managed to grow extremely rich in an incredibly short time. The same system is bound to bo adopted in this colony, for the flotation of the new companies is on all fours with the style practised with regard to the Kandt—that is to say the shares are what is known as £1 shares, which lend themselves readily to the manipulation of the wire-pullers and the black - coated and bell-toppered thieves.

It is no use warning anyone against the mining fever, it is an epidemic that few of 'us can ward off or care to escape, but we <lo unhesitatingly advise all who are speculating in mining scrip to be content with small profits and quick returns. There must be not a few " wild-cats " amongst the companies now quoted on the Auckland Stock Exchange, and who can lie sure that his scrip is not in the " wild-cat" class. The speculator who can content himself with a moderate profit, proportionate to the price paid for the share, and its relation to the nominal value, will in the end, when the boom bursts, as it must, be the gainer. No matter how promising a report from a mine may be it should be regarded as sufficient only to advance the price of the shares, and not as an indication of a permanent brilliant future. The excitement of an important diseovery or an exceptionally large return, will cause an advance in price quite out of proportion to the probable permanent value of the stock. The discreet speculator would take advantage of the temporary abnormal inflation and sell. This is the only safe way of making a profit. The speculator who hangs to his scrip in the hope of bringing off a generally winds up by missing the and cursing his luck.