DR, BLACK'S REPORT.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XVI, Issue 5181, 30 May 1885, Page 3

DR, BLACK'S REPORT.

The Lyttelton Times has tho following as a leading articlo. Tho arguments used are sound enough, but will anyone liavo the hardihood to assert that they apply to the West Coast only. That which is sauco for the goose, &o.: Tho School of Mines at Dunedin -a city not on the goldfiolds of Otago—has two students. As somebody put it, when Mahomot wont to tho mountain, olovon hundrod ' students crowdod round tho toaching which Mahomet, whoii ho stands wailing, has to devoto to two. Two facts aro liore in very bold relief. Tho proper place for a School of Mines is a goldfields contro. In Now Zealand tho youth do not take lo minim?, but tho adult population engaged already in mining is most anxious to learn tho secrets of the trade. The demand for the establishment for a School of Mines has beon kept up for many years by thoso interested in tho development of tho mining districts of New Zealand. Somo link has been wantod at tho same tiino for joining theory to practico. Professor Black's tour throughout tho Western supplies that missing link. Ho chronicles what he has douo and seen, and he makes a practical recommendation. He has locturcd in fiftoon places from Roofton to Ross on minerals and minoralogy generally. His lectures have attracted a maximum number of 15QQ oarnost students, Md qq average a£ 1100. In ton placou

C hilis Imve been formed of miners anxious to study the A B O of a profession which does not develop tho grand mineral resources of New Zealand, simply, because no oue of the thousands engaged in it knows anything, or can find out anything, about it, beyond the primitive system of tho rule of thumb. No such intelligent, capable, industrious students aro to bo found anywhere. If only the means of instruction aro found them, they "will be. able," as : Professor Black puts it in a nutshell, "to idontify a valuable ore when they find it." In that phrase lies tho whole history of mining in New Zealand. A-very few scientific men have passed over the" country and noted with wonder and delight'the abundance of valuable ores,; Among;the thousands of miners who follow them, not one being able to identify a valuable ore, valuable ores have been kicked about at random. When the average: minor can! qualify himself for identifying valuable; ores, tho real development of mining in New Zoaland will begin. Tlio advice of Professor Black to the Government is to take advantage of the machinery of mining clubs which ho has set in motion, by providing a regular course of lectures. These Clubs, in course of time, will make an_ instructed population which, while doing good work in. developing the re-: sources of its district, will call for tho establishment of a well-equipped Western School pf Mines, and provide for its sufficient support. The idea should be taken up by the Minister of Minesj fully and without delay. That Minister and the Premier have lately Been for themselves what splendid resources tho. West Coast of this Islandlias, and what.a magnificent' I population it is blessed with. They must also have Been for themselves how primitive are the. appliances of the mining.indiistry,and how uncertain the steps with which it advances, maintaining a population comfortably the. while. If ever there was a case in.which knowledge will be a great power it is the case of. these phy'sically powerful, intelligent, enterprising miners of tho West Coast and other goldfields. Expenditure in the direction recommended will be returned to the Colony a hundred-fold;"