NEW ZEALAND MINES IN LONDON. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2257, 3 June 1897, Page 18

NEW ZEALAND MINES IN LONDON. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

London. April 15. As the week before Eaeter and the week after virtually constitute a fortnight's holiday in the money and mining market of London, you will not eipect much news from ma by this mail. In reality the only thing that can truthfully be said is that there is no business doing. Everybody's attitude is that of Mr Micawber. The only change which has taken place during the past, fortnight has been the persistent drop iv Waihi shares, which to-day are down to sg— |, and this is puzzling a good many people, as the Waihi is one of the dividend-paying mines about which, it is presumed, there can be no reasonable doubt at all, and mnsfc people are wondering why the shares have fallen so much. Inquiries are frequently made, but nobody seems to be able to gi>?e any very definite explanation. The usual theory set up in that the weakness is due to the general depression of the market. A very important improrement in connection with quartz-crushing machinery is likely to be brought out shortly. It is the invention of Mr J. L Kirkbride, of New Zealand, who has been in England recently mainly with the object of getting his invention brought cut. Its principal point is the improvement to the roller mill in &uch a way as to prevent that rapid wearing out of the rollers by hollowing in the middle, which has hitherto been so serious an obstacle to the use of that method ; and further, he has devised a very efficient plan of clearing. The engineering and other experts to whom Mr Kirkbride h'ae showu his invention consider its action perfect, and are of opiuion that ho has undoubtedly overcome the serious of the hollowness of the drams or rollers. Shareholders in the Waitekauri Union Claims (Limited), which owns an area of 619 acres on the north-east and south-west of the Waitekauri Company's mine, will bs interested to learn that developments are to be prosecuted immediately upon an extensive scale. I learn from an authoritative source that Mr St. Auburn, the consulting engineer to the New

Zealand Consolidated Syndicate, who returned from the colony a few days ago, is moat favourably impressed with the property, and has drawn up a comprehensive „ scheme of operations, which has been, adopted by the board o£ directors. I understand that Mr Thomas Radford has been offered the management by cable at a tempting salary. On the 6th inst. the prospectus of another company came out. It is called the O.P.Q. (Waipori) • Gold Mines Company. It was fathered by the New Zealand Minerals Company, which invited subscriptions to an issue of 80,000 shares of the O.P.Q. (Waipori) Gold Mines (Limited), which has been formed with* total capital of £150,000 in £1 shares, for the purpose, the prospectus states, of acquiring and working a gold mining property known as the 0.P.Q., situated near the town of Waipori, in the Obago province of New Zealand. The property, it is stated, comprises an area of about 73 acres, is easy of access, -and is in the centre of a district which has yielded a considerable amount of gold. It is stated that mining operations of considerable extent having been carried out, the information obtained as to the. continuity and character of the lode has enabled the engineers, who have examined the mine, to report favourably upon the value of the property with more than usual confidence. The lode outcrops along the eastern boundary, and continues in an unbroken line for the fall length ol the property. The dip is westward, and consequently into the property, which is 12 chairis (792fb) wide. The report states that the whole of the lode from wall to wall is gold bearing, assaying from lldwb 14-gr to loz sdwt of gold per "ton, and averaging 16£dwt, the quartz portion a'one going loz of gold to the ton, and more in places. The vendors agree to sell the property for £100,000 in cash and shares. "Southsea" has returned to the charge in connection with the Achilles Goldfields Company; He writes expressing gratification that* better return has appeared, aud that tho time when the crushings took place was mentioned. But he is not happy even yet. "It would have been more satisfactory," he says, " if the cost oE production and the profit (if any) had been stated. Perhaps the.shareholdors may be supplied with this information in future." The latest quotations to-day for New Zealand mines sUud thus : — Achilles, 1/9 — 2/3; Aroha, !__£ ; Blagrove, 1/6—2/- ; Consolidated Goldfields of New Zealand, 1 7-B—2 ; Easb Hauraki -/9— l/3 ; Glenrock. 1/ — 1/6 ; Gloucester, 1/ — 1/6; Hauraki, 9/ — 10/-; Hauraki Aiiociated, nil — /5 ; Kapangft, 7/6—B/- ; Kathleen, 2/6-3/- ; Kathleen Crown, 1/6—2/- ; Kauri Fieehold, 1£— g; Komata Reefs, 10/ — 11/-; Komata Queen, 2/6 — 2/9; London and N.Z. Exploration, — 1^ ; Maoriland, -/6— 1/- ; Moanataiari, 2—l ; Mount Lyell, 7£— B ; New Hauraki, 1/ — 2/- ; N Z. Grown, 1— 1£ ; N.Z. Joint Stock and General Corporation, I£— §■ prenj. ;do Founders', 10 — 12 ; N.Z. Minerals, — ', ; do Founders', 6—lo ; Pieece'a Point, l-i/6 r ; Royal O&k, I—l/ 6; Taitapu Gold Eststes, 2 7-16— 916 ; Thames Hauraki, g— l; Triumph Hauraki, -/6 — 1 ; Tokatea, 1/3 —1/9 ; Waihi, sg— 1 ; Waihi-Silverton, g~-g- ; Union Waihi. 1 16—3-16 prein ; United N.Z. Exploration, |—I^-; Waitekauri, 2£— jj ; Waitekauri Exlentied. 4/6 — 5/6 ; Waiteknuri United, i~ i~ P'etn. ; Waitekauri Cross, § — g; Woodstock. |— • I ; Globe Venture Syndicate, I—l£1 — 1£ ; KXpai-Vermout, &-l£ ; Irene, 2/6—3/-.