MINING

Hokitika Guardian, 6 January 1933, Page 3

MINING

ENGINEERS VIEWS

USE OF DREDGES.

CHRISTCHURCH, January 4

“Dredge design lias advanced so much in recent years that areas which were too poor to work profitably in the old days may now prove lucrative if worked cn a large scale. I am confident that some such fields are to be found in New Zealand. The country has produced nearly £100,000,000 worth of gold in the past, much of it being won bv hand working, and I cannot believe that the old methods have exhausted the supply.” In these words Mr F. G. Payne, a members of the well-known firm of F. W. Payne and Son, consulting engine, ers, London, expressed his confidence in the future possibilities of alluvial gold-mining in New Zealand. The object of Mr Payne’s visit to the Dominion is to study at first hand t!.o possibilities of developing alluvial gold areas here with, modern dredging plant, the designing of which is a speciality of his firm. “Although New Zealand is a highly mineralised country her rich g Id al luvials are localised, and for extensive fields one must he content with ground that is generally low-grade compared with deposits in such countries.as Russia and Manchuria,lie' said. “Provided! a property is thoroughly prospected aud equipped with a modern glredge carefully designed to most the 'physical conditions of the area, there can l>e no doubt that a sound dredging company is one of the safest forms ci investment that can be secured.” Mr Payne said that several of the dredges that his firm had designed recently for tin-winning in Malaya wer< operating at working costs of 2d to 2j-d, a yard. Generally speaking, the larger the capacity of the dredge the lower the working costs. This was an axiom in dredging, the application o which had made it possible to work profitably many low grade fields tha. would otherwise remain unproductive. During the last 15 years- Mr Pryne’f firm has designed and supervised the construction of £5,000,030 worth en dredging plant. British workmanship and material, which Mr Payne unhesitatingly describes as the best in tile world, have been used throughout.

This is Mr Payne’s first visit to New Zealand in 16 years, although he was born and bred in the Dominion. He was in his final year as an engineering student at Canterbury College when lit enlisted for service in the Great War. and he had not previously returned. “I have enjoyed my visit very much, and do not find Christchurch, a to which lam very much attached, a great : deal altered,’' he said.' “The appearance of Wellington and Auckland” 'bn 'the'' othg'fharid', ha£ c i hrin£hc! considerably. New Zealanders do no! realis'd how fortunate they are. In Christchurch, for instance,' the residents' have every advantage' and facility of the great city with wonderful recreational resorts in the beaches, hills and country at their very doors The town-dweller in England often has to make journey of 200 miles to a beach, and when lie gets there he can hardly move for the dense crowds of fellow recreation-seekers.” New Zealand’s population of about a millior, and a half was ideally suited to the country.

Mr Payne, who has spent the pcs! fortnight- in Chirs.tchurch; . and on the West Coast, left for Wellington last -evening on the way for, Australia.