THE UPPER THAMES GOLD MINES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9432, 12 February 1894, Page 6

THE UPPER THAMES GOLD MINES.

KARANGAHAKE— (Continued), [by OUR SPECIAL reporter.] In a previous article I referred at some length to the New Zealand Crown mines operations and splendid prospects, as well as to the magnificent redaction works, erected for the treatment of ores from the company's mine, and the excellent appliances available. I now propose referring to some of the other mining properties in the district. Of these the most important is THE WOODSTOCK. This mine, and the small crushing plant attached is, like the Crown, situated on the Waitawheta River, and operations have been in progress for some years, but owing to the want of a suitable plant for treatment of the ores, a great portion of which is refractory, and not amenable to • ordinary mechanical treatment, the operations have been on a limited scale. Enough has, however, been done, and sufficient bullion has been obtained, to prove beyond doubt that the three reefs opened and worked are rich enough to warrant the necessary expenditure for a suitable plant, which would make it a large and important factor in the total gold produce of this promising district. Mr. John McCombie, who has been manager of the mine and the small crushing plant of four stampers for several years, courteously showed me through the workings and afforded me a good deal of valuable information in regard to the reefs. We first went; into the No. 2 or former main level. Here the greater portion of the lode is sloped out for a length of 200 feet, but the shoot of gold is 300 feet in length, and the lode (No. 2 reef) averages four feet in thickness, bub owing to the great quantity of water flowing from the reef the topes have only been carried to within ICO feet of the face, so that the whole of this ground is intact. From the blocks worked out about £12,000 worth of ore has been mined, including that taken out by the tributers. A winze was started to connect with the new main level (to which I shall presently refer), but they only got down 25 feet, when the water' became too strong for them and sinking had to be discontinued, but good gold was carried down to that depth, thus affording great encouragement for the future blocks now beiny opened. This No. 2 lode has been opened at the new level, which was commenced in October last at a depth which, allowing for the underlie of the reef, will give backs for stoping 200 feet in depth, affording work for years to come. The drive is now in upwards of 120 feet to the face, and two stopes carried along it for a length of 40 feet. From these 112 tons of ore have been treated. Its average value was £7 10s per ton, of which £4 5* per ton has been saved by the battery and pan amalgamation process, and all the tailings saved for future treatment. There yet remains about 20 feet to drive to get under the shoot of gold worked on No. 2 level, and 100 feet to get under the winze which has been started. In the face at the time of my inspection the lode was seven feet wide and of a very promising character. The No. 3 lode at and above the No. 2 level has proved to be very valuable. In the early part of last year a parcel of 50 tons from it was shipped to Freiberg, where it realised £1800, being 90 per cent, of the assay value, or £40 per ton. A crosscut can be driven from the new level to intersect this lode, but. it is not started yet, although a fine show of gold was left underfoot at the No. 2 level, and every prospect of a rich block. There is also what is : known as No. 1 reef, the main reef of the mine, which varies from 8 to 20 feet in width. It is, of course, not yet tried at the new main level, but thousands of pounds worth of ore were taken out of it at the upper levels. It is to the west of the other lodes, and 850 tons of ore taken from it yielded an average return of £4 per ton, thus making the gross receipts, £3400. This was all treated by the battery process without pans, and it is estimated that not more than 30 per cent, of the bullion was recovered, and the tailings were all lost. The No, 2 reef, already referred to, is to, the east of No- 1 reef. From time to time .430 tons of ore were broken out of it before Mr. John McCombie became manager. Some was smelted in the La Monte furnace process, other lots were treated by the battery process, and two lots were sent to London and Freiberg. The assay value of the ore was £13 per ton, but not more than 30 per cent, was received by the owners, the parcels being sold privately before shipment. The No. 3 lode is situated between No. I and No. 2, which are 700 feet apart. It averages not more than a foot in thickness, but it has proved to be the richest bullion in the district. It was first opened some years ago by Shepherd and party, tributers, who worked it to a depth of 150 feet beneath the surface, and for an average length of 30 feet on the strike of the reef, and from this section alone 200 tons were taken out and sold. The average assay value of the lot was over £60 per ton, but owing to the want of local appliances j it was disposed of at prices ranging from I 30 to 70 per cent., the average being 50 per cent. I may add that the Crown reef runs through the centre of what is known as the Ivanhoe portion of the Woodstock property, and 1 was informed that in the low level of the former going north the face of the drive is within 290 feet of the Woodstock property, and the underlie of the reef is into the Ivanhoe. It will thus be seen that the company has not only excellent prospects on four good reefs, with extraordinary facilities for working inexpensively, but the small four head battery and pans is not only totally inadequte to treat any reasonable output of ore, but it only saves about 57 per cent, of the bullion two-thirds of this quantity being saved by the pans. Mr. McCombie informed me that the company is now collecting data as to the cost of a suitable plant for the cyanide process of treatment, and the sooner this is erected, the sooner will the mine commence to give returns, which cannot fail to prove satisfactory to the company, and justify any expenditure they may incur in the erection of a suitable and powerful plant. I may say that both levels are connected with the present battery, one by means of a wire tramway connecting with an iron tramway running from No. 2 level, the other by a wire tramway stretching from a hopper close to the mouth of the No. 3 level and extending across the Waitawheba River to a hopper, from which it is loaded into trucks and conveyed along the Crown Company's tramway, the Woodstock Company having secured the right of conveying their quartz along this line of rails. So far as the workings themselves are I concerned they seem to have been judiciously planned and carried out, and they are in excellent order. THE TALISMAN AND BONANZA. These are two adjacent holdings of 30 acres each, which have been amalgamated, and the property has recently been brought prominently before the public by the fact that negotiations for its sale have been opened with a London syndicate, who are sending out an engineer to report on it. The reef has been opened for a considerable length on an upper level, and assays taken at intervals show that the ore is of good quality. The new main drive is now in 86 feet, on the course of the reef, which, although at present abnormally small in the face-— only about two feet thickaverages from four to five feet, arid from the prospects the stone is estimated to be worth £8 to £10 a ton. A rumour was current that the proprietors were driving near the Crown boundary, bub a survey shows that they have still 400 feet to drive in that direction. Should the negotiations terminate favourably and the r»«« -it of the London engineer be satisfy;*".." . it may be reasonably expected that bofm <: long more active mining operations will be commenced, and steps taken for the erection of appliances for the treatment of the ore. The present shareholders are satisfied that they possess a valuable mining property, but they have not the necessary capital bo develop it to a profitable extent and provide reduction works.

DEVON PORT SCHOOL INQUIRY. r —.■••„ W »—___-, THE DISMISSAL OF MR. BENGE. MEETING OF SCHOOL TEACHERS. A meeting of teachers of public schools in the I province, was held "op J Saturday ' forenoon in the Wellesley•street) school, under the auspices of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute, to consider the matter of Mr. Benge's dismissal from the employment of the Board of Education , for alleged misconduct in regard to the examination of the Devonport Public {School. There was a large attendance, including a good many lady teachers,, and Mr. Ralph D. Stewart, Chairman of the Institute, presided. t ■ ■ '; Mr. Edwards read the advertisement convening the meeting. The Chairman said ho had not been able to consult all the members of the executive, but had spoken to as many of them as he could see, and they all agreed with him that it would be advisable to convene this meeting with a view to approaching the Board in regard to. this unfortunate affair, It must not, however, go forth to the pubiic that the meeting was in any way to express approval or disapproval of what had been done by the Board or Mr. Benge. .Mr. Hkriot objected to the chairman going into matters which had to be discussed.

The Chairman replied that it was competent for him to state the objects for which the meeting was called. Mr. Heriot said the chairman was entering on matters which might have to be discussed later on.

The Chairman said it should be distinctly understood that the teachers did nob in any way approve of the act for which Mr. Benge had been dismissed, or disapprove of the finding of the Board, and he would ask Mr. Basley to propose the resolution or petition which had been drafted. .

Mr. Hekiot moved that they should go into committee. It was not out of any want of respect for the press that he did so, bub in the course of discussion things might be said which it was not desirable should be published. Mr. Scott seconded the resolution.

Mr. Hamks said he thought it would be very wrong for them to go into committee upon this matter as it was a very serious question, and they "should proceed most carefully—in fact, he was almost inclined to think that the meeting should not be held at all. When the chairman spoke to him as a member of the executive he did not understand him to ask his approval of calling the meeting, bob understood him to say that a meeting was to be called. They were all under suspicion, the public being under the impression that something wrong had been going on, and anything they said that day ought to go forth to the public, so that it would be an error to go into committee.

Mr. Thwaites agreed with Mr. Hamas that they should not go into committee. They had nothing to hide. Mr. Scott said as employees of the Board they ought to proceed very carefully. The experience of the Institute was that the Board had acted justly to them, bub he urged that, they should go into committee. He had a resolution to propose, but he should' not do so unless they went into committee. ' , . ' '; • t Mr. Hosking "and Mr. Mclntosh opposed going into committee, the latter urging that they were not met to discuss the action of the Board, but to approach the Board bo ask them to employ Mr. Benge. Mr. Bailey and several teachers, including the chairman, expressed the opinion that the meeting should be a public one, and Mr. Heriot's motion, on being pub to the meeting, was lost by a large majority. Mr. Bailey said he should not detain the meeting with any lengthy remarks, but simply read the resolution or petition which had been prepared. lb was as follows : —

Auckland, 10th February, 1894.—T0 the Chairman and Members of the Auckland Education Board : Gentlemen,—We, the undersigned, respectfully beg to approach your Board in the matter of the dismissal of Mr. Benge. We desire to explain, in order to remove all ground of misconception, that we altogether disapprove of what Mr. Benge has clone ; we feel that it is alike in the interests of the public and of the teachers that practices of this kind should be stamped with the odium they deserve, and that any such offender should be visited with adequate punishmeut. At the same time, we beg respectfully to request the Board to take into its consideration Mr. Benge's length of service, the good character he has borne in the past, the manner in which for many years he has discharged his public duties, and the indirect consequences to himself and his family of his dismissal, with a view of extending the consideration and clemency of the Board to him. We believe that, if the Board should consent to temper justice with mercy by giving Mr. Benge seme further employment, the public interests will have been sufficiently protected by the action already taken, and that Mr. Benge will give it no further cause tor complaint.—We have the honour to be, gentlemen, your most obedient servants. (Here follow the signatures.) He said the petition had not been drawn up by him, and he had not seen it until it was shown to him by the chairman that morning ; but he endorsed it entirely, and did not think ib needed much in the way of explanation. Ho was asked to propose ib as one of the oldest teachers in Auckland, and he accepted the duty, although ib was an unpleasant one. They could nob enter into discussion as to the action of the Board. They only asked for mercy, not justice. They knew that Mr. Benge was a married man with a family of seven or eight children, and a wife who was in delicate i health. He had up to the present an I honourable career, and had done good ser- ! vice, and would* they not, if in Mr. Benge's | position, expect mercy from a body of Christian gentlemen., Some ten years ago Mr. ! Benge came to Auckland from England, and his first appointment was to the Ponsonby school, where he was given charge of a large room, the discipline of which showed ■ a marked improvement in three weeks. Then as to Mrs. Benge, she was for. years one of his (Mr. Bailey's best assistants in the Ponsonby school, and was she to suffer also? He would say no more. Mr. Armstrong : said be presumed the resolution was, that the letter which had been read should be forwarded to the Board. The wording did not entirely suit him. He did not wish to detain the meeting, and thought the less said the better. The Board had an onerous duty to perform, and they fulfilled it to the best of their ability after having heard all the evidence, and they now only asked the Board.not to exclude Mr. Benge from employment. . .Mr. Bruford thought ib would be better for them to pass a resolution much shorter than the petition which had been read, and he moved the following as an amendment: "That this meeting, while strongly disapproving of Mr. Benge's conduct at the late standard examination, and desiring to support the Board in its laudable endeavours to stamp out any misconduct on the part of teachers, is still under the impression that the punishment was unduly severe, and requests the Board to temper justice with mercy by giving Mr. Benge some further employment." Mr. Thwaites suggested that ib would be better to omit the words " unduly severe," as that appeared to reflect on the finding of the Board, a thing which they had no desire to do.

Mr. Hkriot suggested that all those who had resolutions or amendments to propose should hand them in, and let them choose the beat. He did not like the first resolution, as it asked the Board to temper justice with mercy, which was, in effect, charging the Board with want of mercy. • They had no right to criticise. The Board had heard all the evidence, and unless. they thought the Board sat there to ruin men they should not accuse them of want of mercy. There was another matter arising out of the inquiry which affected them all as teachers. The inspectors had. been accused of irregularity for doing what was an act of gentle-. manly courtesy on their parts in showing the teachers the examination papers. The inspectors would now be ,- justified in, comingr into their schools and showing them no courtesy whatever, as.the! impression "had gone abroad that advantage had been taken of their courtesy. ' The amendment which he was about to propose was That this meeting of teachers of the Auckland province beg respectfully to approach the Board on the subject of 'Mr. Benge's dismissal. Taking into consideration Mr. Benge's past good record, and that this is his first offence, this meeting desires to express the hope that the Board may bo able to see their way not to look upon the sentence

passed upon Mr. Bengeas a permanent ono, but in the event of his applying forroadmission to the Board's service, such aj> plication may be favourably considered." Mr.'BßuyoßD withdrew his amend in favour of Mr. Heriob's, which Mr. Sooit seconded. •• ,' ■'"■'<"'■''»'- '■■''■•• '&•*/§; '<■$$

Mr. Bailey also .withdrew his motion. The Chairman said the only objection lie had to the amendment, which was now the substantive resolution, was that it did not cleat ly express that teachers disapproved of wrong practices. . •■'-' % ? .'""Uj, Mr. Heriot said as teachers.it wag not necessary to say they disapproved of * bad things. That would be taken for granted. The motion was pub to the meeting and carried unanimously. On the motion of Mr. Soott seconded by Mr. Lippiatt, a vobeofjthanks was accorded to the City Schools Committee for the use of the room in which to hold the meeting.