AID TO GOLDMINING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22008, 15 January 1935, Page 5

AID TO GOLDMINING

INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA USE OF FEDERAL GRANT WORK FOR 5550 MORE MEN A revival in the goldmining industry in Australia is expected to follow the Commonwealth grant of £403.000 to assist various branches of the industry. Representatives of the States have undertaken to find work for 5550 additional men in mining operations on the grant being made available. The money will bo distributed as follows:—Technical work and administration, £19,500; prospecting, £95,000; batteries, £21,250; advances, £157,500; plants and their operation, £49,500; metallurgical investigation, £7250; water supplies, £10,000; roads and tracks, £11,000; education of miners, £3000; miscellaneous, £29,000. With regard to the item of £157,000 for advances, the Commonwealth is only prepared to provide half of this on a pound for pound basis with the respective States. Expenditure by the States over the last three years has been as follows:—New South Wales, £70,000; Victoria, £100,000; Queensland, £250,000; South Australia, £4650; Western Australia, *£135,000; Tasmania, £18,000; Northern Territorv, £SOOO.

The Commonwealth grant will enable methods of assistance at present successfully adopted by the States to be applied more widely, and a greater measure of aid to be granted to prospectors in their search for new gold and mineral deposits. Assistance which is now granted to prospectors for a limited period in all mining districts of the various States could be extended considerably where circumstances warranted it. Financial assistance for tho equipment of prospecting parties to go farther afield from the established centres is, it is believed, warranted. The application of funds for development work, or the provision of machinery and plant, requires, it is considered, investigation of the merits of each case. However, information has been collected illustrating strikingly the benefits of this kind of assistance, In 1932, for example, £SOO was advanced to Mount Morgan, Limited, Queensland, for metallurgical investigations. Upon these investigations proving satisfactory, £15,000 was made available from loan funds to rehabilitate the mine and works at Mount Morgan. The results were excellent. The full amount of the advances made, with interest and all costs of investigation, was repaid, and during the period of the loan 187 unemployed men were provided with work and subsequently a further 98 men were absorbed. The number of employees has gradually increased, and at present 480 men are employed. The company is once again able to pay dividends to shareholders.

Another example is that of the Cracow (Queensland) goldfield, which was discovered in 1932 chiefly owing to the activities of assisted prospectors. At the end of 1933, there were 23 mines producing stone for treatment, and the field now supports a population of 800 persons, including 200 miners. In two years, the field has produced 23,2380z. of fine gold. On the Clermont (Queensland) goldfields £20,000 was provided by way of assistance to prospectors over three years. Gold to the value of £40,000 was recovered by the assisted prospectors. In Western Australia, an expenditure of £54,0~0 among 2992 assisted prospectors brought in a return in gold of £60,000. The New South Wales Mines Department claims that gold production has been quadrupled as the result of asr sisted prospecting. DAIRY PRODUCE SALES CAMPAIGN IN LANCASHIRE [from our own correspondent] LONDON, Dec. 15 The New Zealand Dairy Produce Board is now completing its sales campaigns in Manchester and Salford, and has opened a special exhibition of Dominion butter and cheese in Rochdale. There were 170 entries for its competitions for grocers' window displays of New Zealand dairy produce in Manchester and 120 in Salford—gratifying totals in both cases. Newspapers in Manchester have paid particular attention to the campaign, emphasising the fftct that, in 'return for the five entry of its dairy and other produce into' the United Kingdom, New Zealand grants free entry to many kinds of British manufactures, including Lancashire textiles.

In a leading article entitled "A Good Customer," the Manchester Daily Dispatch strongly urged Lancashire housewives to respond to NewZealand's appeal for trade reciprocity.

METALLIC MAGNESIUM

NEW AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY The opening up of the extensive deposits of almost chemically pure dolomite, which exist in the Duck River Valley in North-West Tasmania, may load to the establishment of a new Australian industry. Investigations have been carried out on a wide range of products, including pharmaceutical and commercial magnesium compounds, high grade whiting, and metallic magnesium. The preliminary work was reviewed by Sir Herbert Gepp, technical consultant to the Commonwealth Government, and on his recommendation Dr. E. E. Kurth was engaged to carry on the experiments. It is now stated that Dr. Kurth and his technical staff have succeeded in producing metallic magnesium from the dolomite deposits. Since the war, magnesium has become firmly established as a commercial metal, chiefly due to the increasing demand for lighter metals for transport construction. A company is being formed to build and operate a commercial sized plant in Tasmania.

BANK CLEARINGS

INCREASE IN AUSTRALIA Bank clearings in the principal clearing houses in Australia again showed substantial increases during 1934. No doubt subscriptions to the loans floated during the year played their part, hut it is also evident that much of the increase was due to more active business throughout the Commonwealth, says the Sydney Morning Herald. Clearings in Sydney totalled £972,096,507, an increase of £79,219,363 compared with 1933, business clearings having increased by £74,684,584 and Treasury bill transactions by £4.534.779. Melbourne clearings were £731,927,000, an increase of £51,964,000. * Business clearings increased by £57,177,000, but Treasury bill transactions decreased by £5,213,000. The clearings in the other States were as follows: —Adelaide, £118,656,101, an increase of £6,409,303; Perth, £84,628,500, an increase of £4,939,500; Hobart, £22,363j007, an increase of £2,499j469.