The Otago Witness

Otago Witness, Issue 748, 31 March 1866, Page 11

The Otago Witness

DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, MARCH 31.

A question of some interest to New South "Wales has been raised in the Legislature there, relating to the causes of the decreasing production of gold in that colony. Mr Donnelly, who by a motion in the Legislative Assembly drew attention to this fact, stated that the yield is falling off at the rate of 100,000 023 annually, although there is every reason to conclude that the auriferous resources of the colony are practically illimitable. Mr Donnelly -attributes this gradual falling off to no ■encouragement being given to mining by the Government of the colony. There can be no doubt that to some extent the regulations adopted by governments foster -or retard the development ot special branches of industry. Before the manufacture of iron attained its present national magnitude in England, the action of the Legislature more than once went far towards crushing the infant enterprise, and unwise restrictions," with whatever object they may have been adopted, will always have that effect. Scarcely a stronger case in point could be adduced than is afforded by the history of Gold Mining in New South Wales. Adopting the statistics supplied by Mr Donnelly, we find that in 1855 ,the total yield of gold the Colony was only 64,380 ounces, and in 1856 it fell off to 42,463 ounces. In that year a ntw Act was passed offering more liberal terms to miners than had previously existed, and at once production increased until in 1859 the value reached .£1,600,000. The increased continued augmenting up to 1862, when another Act was pas3ed, containing more liberal provisions than the preceding one, but instead of its conducing to increase production, there has been a gradual decrease up to the present time. From these facts it is plain that although legislation may tend to retard development, no legislative measures can ensure it. From the liberal encouragement given to ■aiining in Otago, and the ready acceptance by capitalists of the securities given for the investment of capital in mining enterprise, a rapid increase in the quantity of gold obtained might naturally have been anticipated, but such a result has not followed. The yield remains nearly stationary, giving very high average earnings to each miner, snd shewing conclusively that the ground U amply payable, but that a larger population is required to ensure a larger yield.

It is noticeable that the falling off in the quantity of gold obtained in New South Wales bears a close relationship to the time when gold was first discovered in quantity in Otago, and it is not therefore improbable that this circumstance had much greater effect on the mining industry of New South Wales than any legislative action. There is no pursuit that appears to present such inducements to wander from place to place as gold mining ; none in which the population engaged in it have bo little attachment to the soil. Consisting in great part of energetic unmarried men, their travelling wardrobe is their only incumbrance, and no sooner is a report circulated of vast " finds" in another place, than that in which they labor loses its charm. The unknown has sufficient mjstery iv it to excite a desire to visit the newly discovered treasure fields,. with the idea that those who are first there become rich with the greatest ea3e, and thus a rush takes place which has a sensible effect upon those auriferous countries where the average mining returns are better known. The fact appears to be that in the Australasian Colonies, the area of gold yielding country ha 3 been discovered more rapidlj than the mining population has increased. It is very doubtful , whether the number of persons actually engaged in mining in Victoria, New South Wales and New Zealand, is greater than in 1853. Many who engaged in it on their first arrival from home, have forsaken it for more settled industrial pursuits, and| these have not been more than replaced by j later immigrants. Since that time those Who hare remained^minors; have spread!

themselves over the more newly opened fields in New Zealand, and it is found that no district has yet been discovered to be gold yielding, that has not drawn population away from Gold fields already worked. While, therefore, the whole yield of gold from the Australasian group is not less than it was ten years ago, it is drawn irom a considerably larger area. The maintenanceof an average yield in Victoria, is owing to the improved gold and labor saving processes adopted there, and to the introduction and improvement of machinery which have tended much to neutralize the effect of the exodus of miners that took place to Otago and the West Coast. These improvements have not been adopted to the same extent in New South Wales, and to this absence of enterprise more than to legislative indifference, is most probably owing the reduction in the yield of gold, of which Mr Donnelly complains.