MINING IN THE LAKE WAKATIPU DISTRICT.

Otago Witness, Issue 1834, 14 January 1887, Page 12

MINING IN THE LAKE WAKATIPU DISTRICT.

(by our own cobbespondent.) No. I. Mining Stock-v.aking — The Otago Witness AND THE MlMltfG INDUSTRY.— GOVERNMENT Mining stock-taking. — Changes that haye come ov-k mjning. — scientifically Re-WORKING OIdGG&DFIELDS V PROSPECTING New Country. — The Discovery of the wakatipu goldfield and 60mb of sts Consequences. Svery year new processes and new machinei'y are introduced and adopted by miners ki each and all of &a New Zealand goldflelda. Thesa are cff the uttotßft JnipiDrtapjSß tb

tb* development of the. pining industry, in so for that, by their aid gfounil whiph' has been heretofore considered worthless • is- rendered payable, and sometimes ,even- highly profitable. Indeed, a remark made by, a correspondent to the Witness some time bince to the effect that a goldfield is never worked out is receiving frequent endorsement, aa a result bf enterprising miners introducing new mining appliances which - make even abandoned and wor&ed-oat ground yield net returns equal to 'or exceeding tbe average mining wage. The merits .of all such appliances and processes cannot be made known too widely, and in this* connection I may mention that the Otago Witness has, to a greater extent than any other newspaper ia New Zealand, always recognised the importance of miniag by devoting much space and considerable outlay to the procuration of the latest and most reliable mining information from every part of the colony, and by this means in a measure supplied the want of a mining journal. It rests with the miners themselves to increase the usefulness to them of that paper which ia their opinion sup-ports-the mining industry most- ably and consistently by according it all the support in their \ power, aad in doing so waive, in the interests of their calling, all political 1 and party feeling. Government also has for many years past devoted much attention to mining Stock-taking, | and wardens' and mining inspectors' reports j have figured annually amongst the parliament- i ary publications, being, however, much more , conspicuous for their voluminousneßS than for ! their usefulness. Besides, embalmed in the saored archives of the nation, their existence might for ever have remained unsuspected by those most concerned in them — namely, the miners — had these reports not been reproduced by the newspaper press to show that' they were j made up of stale news and twaddle. Whatever j importance these reports' may have for the j powers that be it is difficult to divine, but it is j quite evident that they are a sore infliction ! upon their oompilers, who do not even exclude j personalities from their compilations. If such reports are of any real use, tbe Government would dp much better to have them prepared by practical miners located upon the different goldfields, who having watched the progress made thoroughly understand its real purport, are in a position to reproduce in a vernacular to be understood of the people the changes wrought by innovations, giving at the same time an expert's opinion as to their value or otherwise. Anyone who will take tbe trouble to compare tbe mining reports appearing in the colonial press with those furnished to the Government by its servants must be struck with the great directness and apt pertinence of tbu former, which is accounted for by the fact that they emanate from practical miners, whereas wardens and mining inspectors, as mere political creatures, are not supposed to be practical men. The changes that have come over mining since its first initiation in this colony are well worth a passing contemplation, for the lessons which these changes teach are of the greatest ' importance to all who follow mining either as a means of livelihood or as an opening for the investment of their surplus cash. Tbe first experience of the Otago diggings led most practical miners to the conclusion that mining in New Zealand would only be of a temporary nature and of a very short duration. The fineness of the gold, the shallowness of the deposits, the absence of terrace formations, the want of deep leads, the non-existence or apparent non-existence of quartz reefs, the want of timber, and a host of other drawbacks and objections suggested by the first gold discoveries in Otago, did not impress the newcomers favourably. Fortunately, however, the goldfields of the colony have survived the prejudice of the miners, who judged the capabilities of our goldfields by comparing them with those of the Australian colonies rather than upon , their own in* rinsic merits' Yet this early preconception of the want of stability, more than anything else, caused very many miners to leave the Otagan fields only to return to them as they extended farther inland with every new discovery. The development which mining has now undergone has clearly proved that the Ofcagan goldfields are both permanent and extensive— in fact, many of the objections raised, and generally accepted by most miners as incontrovertible reasons for the unstable nature of the New Zealand goldfields, ultimately furnished the very reasons for their permanence : as, • for instance, the fineness of the gold and the shallowness of the deposits, owing to which large portions of our goldfields yielded repeatedly handsome returns — like the magician's inexhaustible bottle — by being easily and cheaply re-worked. Nor have these repetitions come to an end. As the saving of fine gold is better understood, and as science is ever devising new methods and appliances for the arrest of the finest particles of gold, there is practically no limit to the effect upon our goldfields, for every success in this direction shows that gold exists in far larger quantities than was ever dreamt of, and in so finply divided a state as to be practically inconceivable. With these two facts before us, the writer will probably not be laughed at as a visionary when he outlines the next change which will resuscitate the goldmining industry and restore it to something like the importance it occupied some 20 years ago, by pointing to improved processes of crashing gold-bearing matrices and the introduction of the chlorination process for saving fine gold in alluvial mining. On many of the Australian goldfields all stones— at least all quartz stones — unearthed and passed through puddling machines are now crushed and otherwise treated for the gold they contain, in most instances with highly payable results, and there is no valid reason why the same result may not be anticipated from the loose quartz stones and other rubble abounding in the auriferous drifts of New Zealand. Considering the large amount of, employment which this comparatively new departure in mining gives in other colonies, the question may well be asked whether or not the attention of the Government may not with advantage be directed to the initiation of the innovation in this colony concurrently at least if not in connection with the prospecting of new country. Much may be done in this direction by granting larger areas of old and abandoned ground for the avowed purpose of treating mining refuse, and by the remission of tbe gold duty on all gold which has been obtained from such refuse by the new processes indicated. ' Praiseworthy as the efforts to prospect new and difficult country made by the present Government are, the inherent weakness inseparable from all such attempts has up to tbe present resulted in damaging disappointment rather than to success — that is, damaging disappointment in so far that whole tracts of country are pronounced as worthless and unpayable on the ipse dixit of men who were in nowise qualified as prospectors, thereby delaying tbe discovery of gold in payable quantities instead of having the opposite effect. ■ The whole history of the goldfields proves that forcing prospecting has ever led to i allow in the very localities even which eventually proved exceedingly 1 rich. Prospecting may

therefore be, described as essentially tbe calling* of men whp are, specially bhdowed with a facility, , for it, so that the duty of a Government, is of a negative . nature -7 simply to do nothing to hinder the real prospector in his search, but not to induce unqualified persons to leave , their usual avocations for the purpose of undertaking a will-o'-tbe-wisp chase. '' The unfavourable impressions produced by the novel character of the Otagan fields amongst the first golddiggers were to a great extent dissipated by the discovery of the Wakatipu* goldfield; Here for -the first time in Otago coarse ndggety gold was found. Unmistakable evidence abounded in this district of extensive terrace formations, and here also the first payable auriferous Otagan quartz reefs were discovered. Gold was found deposited in the well-defined river systems of the present day, and it could also be traced in leads along the > terraces belonging to the river systems of ages of the past. " Your own '! has been before now taken to task for expressing a similar' opinion upon a former occasion, yet upon reflection he cannot in the face of the evidence furnished by the export of gold, which in its highest returns was isocbronic with the discovery of gold in this district, either modify or abrogate that expression of opinion. If further evidence were needed, the fact that the mining population, with 'the exception of the exodus consequent upon the Old Man Floods in 1863, steadily increased, and that although these was a considerable falling oS in the goldflelds population during the West Coast excitement of 1865 and subsequent years, there was, instead of a corresponding decrease, 1 a regular production — for some years, even an increase— of gold from the Otagan fields. For this satisfactory state of affairs the newer goldfields — such as the Wakatipu, and, in conjunction with it, the Dunstan and tbe Maniototo fields— necessarily account. Strange aa it may sound,' the Otagau fields were deserted by the greatest number of miners at a time when they were most productive. Ever since the beginning of goldmining in this district the most ardent interest has been evinced in the industry by the local miners, and mining matters generally have here received much attention. Some of tbe best claims ever opened and worked in Otago had their locale in the Wakatipu district, and several of these are still working, and many more remain to be opened. It was in the Wakatipu district that the movements which led to the establishment of miners' associations all over Otago originated, and where the last association expired only a few years ago ; and the Wakatipu district has produced the greatest New Zealand mining lawsuit, in which damages to the tune of £30,000 were awarded ; the value and stability of the Wakatipu mines have attracted the attention of the Victorian mining speculators, than whom taere are few more keen or .better qualified to judge of the ailriferous capabilities of any district ; the Wakatipu district is the site of the largest mining concern in the colony, at which electricity was first introduced as a motive power to mining machinery— -viz., the Phranix mine at Skippers, the property of Messrs F. and G. F. Bullen, a firm which will remind many old miners of the golden days of Victoria, and of those of this district. Gold is found in the Wakatipu district from the sea beach at Martin's and Big Bays to the mountain tops of -the interior rising far above the line of perpetual snow and frost, and is profitably mined at Mounts Criffel and Pisa, the latter of which attains an elevation of more than 6000 ft above sea level ; and, physically and geologically considered, the Wakatipu district ranks as one of tbe most interesting in the world.