New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4167, 29 July 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 1874.

The annual report on the Goldfields of New Zealand, by Mr. Haugbton, dated the 15th instant, has been laid before Parliament. It brings down the statistics in possession of the Government as to the yield of gold to the end of March last. Mr. Hanghton, however, complains of the great difficulty of obtaining accurate information on the subject, and suggests that a Bill should be passed to compel the owners of quartz-crushing machinery and others to furnish the Government with authenticated returns of tho quantity of stone crushed and its yield from time to time.

From the data ho has been able to collect Mr. Hanghton finds that in the year 1873-4 the yield was 505,337 ozs. valued at £1,987,425. Tho amount showed a considerable increase on tho produce of tho previous year, which was 445,370 ozs., worth £1,731,201. During the last quarter of 1873-4 there was a remarkable falling off in the exports of gold, the amount being only 108,947 ozs.,'as compared with 199,442 ozs. in the corresponding period of tho previous year. This, however, must have been duo to exceptional causes, for it has been found that the increase in the yield has been shared by all the mining xirovinces with tho exception of Marlborough. As was to be expected, Otago heads the list of the districts in which there was an increased yield, its figures of increase being 24,742 ozs.; Nelson following with 18,500 —due, probably, to the opening up of the reefs; Auckland with 14,559 ozs.; and Westland with 2049 ozs. The exports from Marlborough were less by 783 ozs. than in tho previous year. The quantity of quartz gold recovered was—in the Thames district, 114,180 ozs.; Coromandel, 10,307 ozs.; Nelson, 71,701 ozs.; Otago, 14,744 ozs.; and Marlborough, 48 ozs. Alluvial gold was obtained in the following proportions : Marlborough, 980 ozs.; Nelson, 71,701 ozs.; Westland, 85,942 , ozs.; and Otago, 118,715 ozs. Auckland, it appears, is the only Province of New Zealand in which mining for silver is carried on to any extent—we presume in connection with the gold in which it is found. In the four years ending December last the export of that metal amounted to 190,640 ozs., valued at os. Bj-d. per oz., or in all, £54,275. In the quarter ending with March last, however, no silver was exported, though a larger amount of gold was shipped than in the corresponding period of 1872-3. The revenue from gold in the past year was £94,925. The number of miners had decreased from 22,335 to 18,142. Tho aggregate annual income of the miners, measured by the yield of gold, was £256,164. Tho average earnings of the miners are set down at £95 Bs. 6d., as compared with £77 10a. 3d. in 1872. In 1871, however, it was £lOl 16s. sd. The total quantity of quartz gold obtained was 165,377 ozs.; and from the alluvial 254,485 ozs. The water races in the Colony are 4510 in number, of an aggregate length of 5911 miles, carrying 9059 sluice-heads of water, and costing £854,465 in their construction. More water, however, is called for in various districts. Agricultural leases, it appears, are now being taken up extensively on the gold-fields, especially on the Otago fields. During the last two years, five thousand acres have been taken up under the system on the Inangahua and the Duller, in the Nelson Province. Under that system holders of leases who have been three years in possession of their land, and have effected improvements, are allowed to become purchasers under the plan of deferred payments. No now gold-field had been discovered in the course of the year, but the wardens generally report that there is no reason for anxiety as to the future of the gold workings of tho Colony. It was known that very large areas of auriferous land existed, which had not yet been developed ; while, by the introduction of the system of sluicing, districts that were unpayable to the miner who pursued his labor in tho old form had become handsomely remunerative. The rates paid for ordinary labor all over the Colony had been so high that there was no temptation for men having trades to leave them to prospect new gold-fields. The quartz mines, even in the Thames district, so far from being worked out, were only, it may be said, beginning to be developed. While writing on this part of his subject Mr. Hanghton notices a very curious discovery as having been made in the Thames district. The Warden reports that embedded in mullock large flakes of gold, apparently pure, were found, some of which were not less than three indies square and three-quarters of an inch thick. This gold required no other treatment than melting in the crucible. These pieces of gold, however, had not in their natural state the consistency of ordinary gold, the particles of which they wore composed being easily separated by the hand. The mullock in which these flakes were found averaged two and a-half ounces to the ton. Respecting tho other metals and ores of metals, the report has but little to say. Though it is known that antimony exists in large quantities in tho Queen Charlotte Sound district of Marlborough, it does not appear to be worked. The quality is reported to be indifferent, but ores of antimony found on the surface are usually poor. That of Marlborough, morever, has not yet been properly tested in the London metal market ; and no effort has been made to introduce it to tho buyers iu Sheffield, who are the principal customers of Australia forantimony, while the exports from Victoria have now superseded almost entirely those formerly sent from the Straits Settlement. Marble of all colors and excellent quality is remarked upon as existing in very largo quantities in tho Province of Nelson, especially in tho locality of Ileefton. The formation of a short road, the cost of which would not exceed £IOO, the Warden remarked, would enable waggons to reach and load at the marble quarries.