PUHI PUHI MINES.

NZ Truth, Issue 889, 9 December 1922, Page 13

PUHI PUHI MINES.

Dear "Truth/ I—An1 — An "Old and Present Shareholder" puts a funny question when he asks about this. business: "Is it the fault or the plant or Is it the fault of the directors that this muchpuffed venture has proved such a crass failure?" This may not be your correspondent's meaning, but these words resemble it. To an ordinary mind the answer is simple, viz., it is a share" holder's place to find out for himself what is really the *£use of the fiasco. It is his duty to do so. Whether "Cambist" was right or wrong m describing the plant as unsuitable is, after all, beside the question. "Shareholder" might ascertain who were the metallurgists who recommended its purchase, who and- what was the "expert" who erected and worked it at Mackaytown, where it proved a fizzle. At whose instigation was this plant bought from a defunct company M the same line of metallurgicalfailure"? Did the Puhi Puhi Company make any inquiries whether a competent man was j available to guide them m the business? In countries where men know their business such a collapse is impossible: Here, however, what else Is to be expected There are m Ne-vty Zealand no Institutions where men, young or old, can t£ taught the rudiments of metallurgy; far less are there here men who have learnt it. There Is no living for them m this land. Beyond a little academic training local professors have had .a'bsojiut««y no practical experience, while, according to the official Government report, the many Schools of Mines are m process of conversion to institutions for "in> fants of both sexes!" Metallurgy Is a profession involving the highest scientific training, theoretical and practical. No foreign metallurgical undertakings are entrusted to the tyros as is usual here and of which this case m pant is^ one of the many deplorable exam) les-;/One has only to see these SchoovY/Of Mines (sic), to read the reporK^pf their "professors," to see their --iwlday and analytical balances, for all the world like untidy canary cages, to be convinced of this! As for the "wet" method referred to, and about which professors here have experimented, I have never seen it used, but whoever adopts it or any other new fad must foreign skill possessed of chemical knowledge. Chemical technology or applied chemistry is quite unknown m New Zealand as we know it m the U.S.A. or m Europe. If, therefore, a success is to be made m any industry involving the use of such skill, recourse must be had to the employment of foreign experts against whom there Is here such a prejudice. Sporadic attempts are made to work iron sands and ores, to subject wood to dry distillation, the same to peat, shale, etc.. etc., but, for want of skill and a knowledge of the economics involved, all these ventures collapse. During the war a Commission took evidence bearing on all these subjects, but, strange to say, the question of the necessity for employing the highest skill was left completely m abeyance. I suppose local "tickets" were all that was required. "Fools rush m where angels fear to .tread," and so within the last few years whenever local people have puffed a new industry disaster has followed! In the papers wo notice a movement is on foot to invite foreign capitalists to invest their money m NewZealand mineral fields. Should some do this they wilL naturally appoln' their own properly skilled people ■ to look after the proper administration of their funds. No man m his sober senses would entrust his interests to the tender mercies of thOße.to whom your correspondent refers. There are mineral deposits well worthy of consideration, for they have never beert gone into- properly by those whose business It Is to know such things The days when "ticketed" men worker! mines so rich that the most crass Ignorance could not injure them arp pone. What outside capitalists require to have put before them are large lowgrade propositions, of which there arp many here, and Irrespective of motal. while the margin of profit is low. they know whero to obtain skill proportionately high. There was a time when ore was thrown into a mill or furnace and the yield left to chance. These times no longer obtain, fo»---the contents of an ore and their distribution can be. and are, accounted for as an accountant does his cash. Matter is indestructible. "A Shareholder's" money has not been destroyed; it has gone like the quicksilver, up the flue! When men put tholr earnings Into concerns they know nothing at all about and are too "careful" to employ skilled men to look after their Jntoreats, and find later they have lost tholr all, I say "it serves them rlght."~-I am. etc., . AORICOLA.