MINING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2013, 22 September 1892, Page 14

MINING.

i YEiR'S Gold production.

1 The> iu,iner,af wealth of New Zealand, a'Jth^ugh of lesser magnitude than the / contributions' cff the agricultural and pastoral .'.intei'ests, still furnishes a cqiMjidej'able'.it^m to tlie assets of the colony. ->-;.Th^t"there should have been a falling .off-rra! shrinkage of the yield — since "tjie golden heyday of discovery and. pvosjjeri'ty was inevitable. If gold grows, "a*i Professor Black and others* incline to believe, it certainly does not grow fast enough to maintain the reputation' of the early harvest. Thus,-we find that in 1866 the value of the gold exported was £2,844,517, and that in 1890 it'had fallen to £773,438. In the next year, 1891, it sustained a revival, from causes to which Aye shall presently allude, and attained the respectable amount of £1,007,488, an increase equal to more than a quarter of a million sterling. No doubt this must be attributed mainly to the extensive operations of the large companies' and .the scientific appliances that' have superseded the tin dish and the 'Sluice box. Principally this increase has been derived from the alluvial workings; for, as shown in the Minister for Mines' Statement,

whence we deduce our information, the 1 value of the increase from quartz workings in 1891 was only LI 8,708, the total yield for the year from' this source being L 251,248, or about a fourth of the whole. Mr Seddon

presents , the increase in another

light, which must be regarded as more or less theoretical. He assumes that 20,1220z, valued at £80,972, credited to 1891 should be

credited to 1890 as having been kept back by the banks until the remission of the'gold- duty had taken effect. He arrives at this result by taking tlie average for the four quarters previous ,to the. Ist January 1891, which he says " will giVe ,a close approximation to

the quantity that ought to have been exported during the March quarter of 1891." It is obvious that this is mere guesswork, and the difference is so slight as to be valueless for general statistical purposes. It is quite sufficient to know that there was a substantially increased yield of gold during j the past year, and that this increased yield still continues. To quote from the Statement : — " The quantity and value of gold entered for exportation an the financial year ending 31st March last was 276,5350z, representing a value of £1,107,177 "—an increase of 105,4550z over the previous year. Of this quantity the West Coast contri-. buted 452 per cent., Otago 35 per cent., Auckland 15 per centi., and Marlborough and Nelson 4 peiv cent. "It is also.gratifying," adds the Minister, "to find the increased production was from every gold mining, district in the colony; the increased production being — from Auckland, 1894oz ; Marlborough, 46870z - x Nelson, 36910z; West Coast, 31,3660z; and from Otago, 63,816.0z." The moral of which seems to be that the entire community of New Zealand has benefited to the extent of £421,856, and Otago specially by £166,544, through the increased production of gold.

Coming to details, we find that the four largest gold-producing counties are : Tuapeka, 29,5570z; Vincent, 22,6890z ; Lake, 19,4910z ; and Maniototo, 12,2760z. In Tuapeka county the increase was 100, and in Vincent county 50 per cent. As these counties contain within their limits the oldest discovered workings, this increased productiveness seems to favour the hypothesis that our goldfields are not nearly exhausted. As an illustration it may be mentioned that at Tinkers (Matakanui), which has been continuously wrought since 1862, the quantity of gold obtained last year was 33500z, having a value of £13,400, only 44 men being employed.

Strange to say, it appears that whilst the yield has increased, there has been a decrease in the number of miners. In 1891 there were in all 13,032 miners employed, and in 1892 only 12,724. These are distributed as follows : — Auckland, 1417; Marlborough, 361; Nelson, 2469; Westland, 3414; and in Otago 5063.. Of tho total, 2874 are Chinese, of whom 1573 are in Otago, 747 in Westland, and 551 in Nelson. In Otago the largest number of these are in the Tuapeka district.

• The increase of production contemporaneously with the decrease oi producers presents a problem which Mr Seddon does not offer to solve, although he refers to the fact. But he puts forward a statement which we take to bo based on an erroneous conception, and, therefore, misleading. He says: — "Taking the value of gold exported last year, it is equal to £80 12s a man per annum, as against an average of £56 16s a man per annum in the previous year." Whence he draws tlie conclusion that " the average earnings of the miners last year was therefore £21 16s lid per annum more than ior the former year, and also more than for any year since 1881." Nothing • could be more fallacious. As well taight he take the number of persons engaged in farming or sheep-breeding, and calculate the average earnings by the value of the total export of .grain or frozen mutton. In the -first place the gold export returns are of very doubtful validity. Beyond the banks, very few persons declare tlie gold they take with them; yet it is "well understood that considerable quantities are carried out of the country by private hand. But even setting this aside, tlie earnings of the men employed in' mining cannot be ascertained by averages. AYe know that a large number are employed as wages-men, and none of these receive less than Bs' per day, which would give a much larger average than Mr Se'ddox's supposed " earnings." No one knows better than the Minister for Mines that gold-mining is the most precarious occupation in the world. And it is a recognised fact that very few of the junior population adopt it as a means of livelihood. Nothing but tlie love of freedom — being his own "boss" — induces the real miner, who does not work for wages, but '-' fossicks " out a living, to continue the pursuit. Of course there are exceptional strokes of luck, and " patches " of ground which give remunerative employment for years, such as the claims at Tinkers, previously referred to, the Mount Burster diggings, Criffel, and many others. But Mr Seddon is apparently fond of averages. For instance, he says that the Tinkers miners " averaged " last year L 303 10s for every man employed, " which is by far tho highest average wages in any goldfleld in the colony." But the seven claims did not throw their gold into an " average " pot, and

therefore it is certain that some got more and others correspondingly less. It is quite impossible to estimate the earnings of the gold-minor. We have a shrewd suspicion that those of them who are employed by the mining companies are the only ones that can average anything like £80 a year by their own exertions except in isolated instances. But then the miner has always the chance of making more, and that keeps him going. If Mr Seddon were to obtain a return of the number of miners working for wages and the amount of their "earnings" — which could easily be done, as they mostly work for companies — and deduct the amount from the total value of gold exported, it is to be feared that he would find the residue to be very small.

One word before quitting this matter on the subject of mining legislation, to which the Minister pointedly refers in his Statement. He discloses the fact that, as was surmised, the now famous "third clause" of the Mining Act Amendment Bill was devised to meet one particular case. He says it was devised because of a recent decision given by Mr Warden Kaavsoit at Invercargill — Barey v. Hennessey. It was held " #iat no person had any right to pollute the water of, or discharge any tailings into, any stream unless it had been proclaimed a channel for tlie deposit of tailings," and argues that " if this decision were carried out literally it would have the effect of giving the holder of the first water right from any stream a key to the whole of the auriferous ground in the locality." Here Mr Sedjdon makes the too common mistake of arguing from the particular to the general. There surely was no need to confiscate the property of all the water race owners in the colony because one decision in the Warden's Court had been given adversely to his own opinion. • The law and custom of these matters — that is, the law and custom of priority of right — has worked without a hitch for 40 years, and vast sums of money have been expended in reliance on its continuance. We are not sufficiently acquainted with the case referred to to venture any opinion on the equities of the matter ; but it is apparent that to inflict positive injury upon hundreds for the special benefit of one is •a~ reversal of all justice and precedent.' However, it is not worth whilo to! discuss this subject in a review of the

mining interests of the^colony; nor should we have touched upon it but for tho invitation to do so held forth by its inclusion in the Minister's Statement.