MEETING NEW TIMES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20104, 15 November 1928, Page 16

MEETING NEW TIMES.

THAMES SCHOOL OF MINES.

INSTRUCTION IN AGRICULTURE

SUCCESS OF INNOVATION.

fflY ITEr.EtI U_iri(.—OWN COR J!ESVONT>ENT. ] THA.MES, Wednesday. "J ho past twelve, months havo witnessed n decline in tho gold mining industry so far as the Thames and Ohniemnri fields are concerned, with two notable exceptions. tin so arc the Haurahi Ooldinimng I ompnnyY. works ,it Coromandel, where 30 mon are employed, and the operations nf the Ohinemuri Gold and Silver Mining Company, at Moratoto, which give employment to 60 inen. A year ago tho Thames field was under tho exploitation of -:i dozen companies, which found work for rather more than 100 miners. To-day fewer than 50 oio engaged, and indications are that tho number will be reduced within a few weeks. The success attendant on the working of eight or nine mines of recent months has been negligible, chiefly owing to water troubles and lack of capital for the, exploration of virgin country. Several companies are 'merely operating in old workings in tho hope of making a dis tovory overlooked bv the " old timers."

People/ of Thames, however, and cspecinlly tho veteran miners, refuse to indulge .in pessimism—for mining is bred in them and still stoutly aver that a " patch" will yet bo struck that will outshine tho glittering finds of the old time mining personalities.

Tho younger generation of busings men has learned to look to tho farming districts of Thames Valley and Hauraki Plains as a more stable avenue of enduing tho progress of Thames, and a peasant. spirit of co-operation is in evidence betwoen town and country districts. An institution of great value in this connection is tho Thames School of Mines, which, in keeping with the change over from goldmining to farming, has lately extended its syllabus to cover tho teaching of elementary agriculture, agricultural chemistry, engineering, and a variety of ether subjects. The innovation has been attended with success, and tho school now has over 100 students. The. Thames School of Alines came into being in 1885, as a result of the enthusiasm of the Hon. W. J. M. Larnach, Minister of Mines in (ho Stout-Vogel Ministry of the period, and Professor Black, head of tho Otago School of Mines, then the only institution of its kind in New Zealand. Tho increasing use of tho school has demanded many additions to its plant since that time, and its valuo to tho Dominion is shown not only in tho world successes of many ex-pupils, but in the fact that samples of all kinds of minerals lire now received almost daily from all parts of tho Dominion with requests for assays. In this connection valuable assistance has been given to genuine prospectors whose finds are assayed freo of cost.

Tho school crushing plant, which includes three stamps, rock breaker, berdan and Wiifiev table, has adequately handled the requirements of the f.e.d tor the past 20 yesTs at a cost of £2 10s per ton. It is not generally known that the fcdbool possesses the t.ncs". and most ootn-mineraJe-gical rouspsin in the Dominion Some of the specimens are rare and beautiful, and the whole exhort furnishes a wonderfully convincing picture o" the r;chr:ess of the Dominion's isinera] belts. The fine record of the school gives iwided interest to the widening of its svliabuJ to include agricultural and en"■ineerirjg subjects, and inspires the hope thai it roav vet prove to be as valuable to the farmms industry as it was to the mining.' industry. , . , r TI The director of the school is Mr. it. CraTrfcrd, A.0.5.M.. and Mr. S. J. Bennett. B.Sc., is assistant director.