"GIVE US COLD."

Colonist, Volume LIII, Issue 13052, 11 March 1911, Page 3

"GIVE US COLD."

PROSPECTING SHOULD BE EN-

COURAGED/

Tlio denressed state of the mining market sinerf tho collapse of Waihi shares is such that a new field of gold is our only hope, says the "Auckland Star." To get gold, it is requisite there should lx> plenty of prospecting, and to get men to go out prospecting iit is cijuafty no.eflfni that they should have some enco'urageme'tJt/ Under tho present system.; it ■vixmid sefm as if ,the prospector is to bf? penalised the longer he is kept working* '.fhere are somo 500,000 acres of auriferous (so'uiitry in the Auckland district, most of it lying idle, and in many cases not even' pro'sjrectod. Considered as land ! for agritiifttirai purposes, the bulk of this 500,0017 .afireS Js not of much value for minerals, £lii 4 grass does not Keein to grow; yet if. 3 jfhfin pegs out a claim anywhere on this 500,000 acres, he has to [iiiy 2s 6d per acre for the first year. If lie has sufficient pluck to go on for a second year, ho is penalised by having his rent doubled, and should'he go on for a third year | he has to; {/Sy an extra 2s 6d per acre for land that Would probably not bring in ids; per acft? tot the freehold if submitted to auction. .

■ A gentleman who has been connected with mining for the Insi 30 years, to a representative of the. "Star" made some valuable suggestions. "I do not wonder," he. said, "thai men will not go out prospecting. The Charge of 2s (3d per aero before a man has found gold h finite unreasonable. Why not make the figure* sixpence per acre, and never raise the rent? What we want is to encourage genuine p'reEnrrting over that 500,000 acres of auriferous country,. If it was let on grazing leases, sixpence per acre would be quite enough relit. Then, too, the mining' proyisio.us are too' S^verfl. I would give tiii? prospector the elaini at sixpence per acre, with the provision that he must work continuously. If he gr.ts gold, then let the ground he manned at the warden's discretion. Thorn is another matter wherein a saving might be effected. During the boom of nearly 20 years ago overt--1,000 claims were surveyed. Now, if a prospector wants i ttf take «{> ono of those, he has id have it re-sit rvpyed. AVhy should he not be allowed to take up ' the claim under the name and measurements of the original survey, supposing' It is lying idle ? Of course, if a man" gets payable gold, I see no harm in a portion of thci. profit going to the local body, and also.to the Mines Department, in lieu of the present gold duty. The most important matter is, however, to reduce the rent; At the present rate for 100 acres, a man has to find £12 10s the first year, £2o the second, and then £37 10s for i-vei'.V year afterwards. When a company is on gold that does not matter muc'hj but it is a seiious thing for a prospecting syndicate to face, when it may'bci. years' before they get any return for" their wffliey and labour.