COLD IN WEST AUSTRALIA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143839, 13 July 1912, Page 7

COLD IN WEST AUSTRALIA.

PRODUCTION FALLING OFF. AN EXPERT’S PESSIMISTIC VIEW. Mr. Max von Bernewitz, a Now Zea-' lander, who has been engaged in West Australia os a metallurgist and mining journalist, and who is on his way to San Francisco, was interviewed in Wellington on the present, ami future of the "West Australian goldfields and , the countrysgenerally./ Mr, von Bernewitz learned his profeision on the Thames goldfields. : * r \ Speaking of gold mining in West Australia generally, he said the ■ end fi the industry appeared to him to bo in sight., Coolgartfie was/Mead*” and even at ffalgoorlie, where there was a population of over 31,000, the lodes wore not carrying what was expected of them, although a depth of 2000 ft. .had, been. sunk. At Burbank, one of the newer fields, some live miles from Coolgardie, thpro was a fair show. An enormous amount of British and colonial capital has-been sunk in these ’West Australian fields, the productivity of which was lessoning year by year. '.The shareholders had done" remarkably well in the past, but they have now, Mr. voii Bernewitz feared, .to face some shrinkage in the returns on their investments. From £2,150,797 of dividends paid in 1904 there was a shrinkake to £1,359,115 in 1909, and a still further reduction to £822,070 for 1911, the values of gold won year by year had dropped from £8,770,719 in 1904 to £0,823,075 for Inst year. The latest machinery and plant for the purpose were employed in the great mines, but the fact was patent that tho gold was no longer there, notwithstanding the depths sunk. The best miners in the world were employed, and paid 13a 4d a day, and were worth ft. Mr. yon Bernewitz took a rather sombre view,of tho future of goldbearing coun : try .where tho various fields w T 6ro all e.vdoitcd to their fullest extent. Agriculture would not follow on raining for the simple reason that although the soil was exceccdingly rich, the rainfall was altogether inadequate for agriculture. Other miners than gold, or rather the baser metals, did not count for much. There wore silver, iron, tin, lead, copper, zinc, and mica in the country, but as they had been worked 'in a small way for and nothing remarkable had- so far come from them, Mr. von Bernewitz did not think there was a great future before them.