PROSPECTING BEFORE

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 10 April 1901, Page 19

PROSPECTING BEFORE

FLOTA'i lUff. It is refreshing to find a Warden impressing upon those who are concerned in the dredging industry, as Mr Hawkins did a few days ago at Ahaura, tne importance of having claims thoroughly tested before they are offered to the public, and also of placing efficient dredges upon the claims which have been proved by the tests to be payably auriferous. The necessity for the observance of this precaution has been repeatedly urged through the columns of the public press, but this is the first occasion, we believe, upon which it has been strongly emphasised from the bench of a Warden's Court. The warning should not, it might be supposed, be required at this stage in the development of the dredging industry, when the public is learning to its sorrow that company after company either should never have been floated at all or that the amount of its capital should have been fixed at a sum considerably greater than that mentioned in the prospectus. But the warning is as much called for now as it ever was. Claims have been taken up in hundreds on the West Coast, and of these a comparatively few. only have been converted, so far", into special claims with the object of having dredging companies floated to work them. As soon as there is another " boom " in the mining market the promotion of companies will proceed as briskly as it did 18 months ago ; and it is idle to suppose that the public will fully protect itself. History will in all probability be repeated. The failures of the past will be forgotten ; the possible successes of the future will alone be censidered. Even if the reports by which a dredging proposition is supported may not show the results of actual tests — in which event it may be concluded that the tests have given unfavourable results or else that there have been no tests at all — the capital that is desired will probably be subscribed in most cases. The promoters, it may safely be conjectured, will " unload " at the earliest available moment and convert their vendors' shares into coin of the realm ; and the contributing shareholders, if they are not absolutely innocent holders, will endeavour to follow suit with their shares as soon as judicious puffing has driven them to a premium. No one takes up shares in a company with the expectation that he will have to "carry the baby." The calculating- individual generally counts upon being able to turn over his shares to some person more ignorant or less cunning than himself ; and it is the honest investor whom Mr Hawkins, in his capacity as Warden, and all persons with the interest of the dredging industry really at heart, would seek to protect. This can be best done in the first place by insisting as far as possible upon the systematic testing of all claims before companies are floated

to work them, or, at all events, beforedredges have been ordered to place upon them. There is nothing absolutely cer- j tain in any form of gold mining, but it j is possible, after a claim has been prcperly tested by reliable persons, to foretell with a fair degree of accuracy ! whether it can be profitably dredged or not. Where, as in a recent ca&e, the particulars of which have appeared in ! our columns, the results of tests made j by two prospectors working independ- J entry of each other suggest totally '■ different conclusions, the only inference that can be drawn is that a mistake has 1 been made somewhere, and the only safe course to pursue is to have a third test conducted fey an independent person. Generally speaking, however, the prospecting and boring tests, if carried out by reliable men, may be held to ?o far prove the value of a claim as to reduce to a minimum the element of speculation that usually enters largely into investments in mining ;jcrip. Mr Hawkins also directed attention to the importance of ascertaining the depth of the I bottom of a claim and the nature of the difficulties which are likely to bo presented to the working of it. That this precaution should be carefully observed j is shown by the experience of two or three of the few dredges now at work on the West Coast. On a claim of proved richness the ladder of the dredge that is at work has been found to be too short to enable the buckets to reach the bottom, and this is not an exceptional case. We know, also, that it has several times occurred that a dredge has been placed on a claim which has been utterly inefficient, the consequence being, as Mr Hawkins has said, that the money of the shareholders is grievously wasted and tne industry itself is injuriously affected. It is a; proof of the soundness of the industiy that the failures — avoidable failures, in most cases — that have been chronicled in the past have not to any appreciable extent shaken the confidence of business people in its future. This very circumstance is encouraging to the promoter of a duffer claim. It leads him to hope that he may succeed where others have succeeded before him,

in palming off upon a confiding public a , property that has been quite inadequately prospected. It is a little difficult to see how he can be effectually checked. If the public will pay due heed ■■ to the sensible and timely remarks of Mr Hawkins to which we have referred some good will result. But we fear the warning will have to be repeateel and i repeated again if it is to have any last- { ing effect.