GOLD STEALING.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13603, 25 May 1908, Page 3

GOLD STEALING.

Some remarkable stories about, the methods of gold-stealcrs were t«>lcl at the Premiers' Conference by Mr. McLeod, tlie Minister of Mines of Victoria, and Mr. Moore, the Premier of Western Australia. in a discussion of the question whether uniform action should be taken by the States to combat the evil. Mr McLeod, the Victorian Minister; said there was an extraordinary lack of morality in regard to the views which i were sometimes held on the subject. He had been told repeatedly, when discttiseing the matter with men holding good positions in the mining community, that tho gold was as much theirs as the mineowners', as the mine-owners did not put it there. The offence was looked upon as a venial one, and if it was allowed to continue it would have a bad effect- on the ri.-ing generation in mining communities. As showing what- the difficulty really was. he might say that the manager of a eyaniding company had said to him; "i could go to-morrow and. buy 500oz of gold for about £3 per ounce, provided I "premised to export it and sell it in another State." He asked what was meant, and was told : "If 1 said I was going to sell it locally they would be afraid to sell to me, because enquiries would be made as to where they'got the gold, and that would, lead to the detection of those who sold it to me. But if I sold tha gold outside the State no questions would be asked and I could get it." Unl«is the door was shut, and gold-stea-lers and gold-stealers were made liable to detection outside the State gold-stealing would never be stopped owing to the enormous profits made in the traffic. There was another evil of which he had seen confidential reports of the police. When an unfortunate miner so far forgot himself as to tell gold to someone carrying on this illegitimate business, it was the old story of the receiver and the thief. They had him set. and threatened him with exposure if he did not continue to supply them. The department had returns under the "fJold Buyers Act of the quantity of gold sold, and found that at Ballarat and at Ifc-ndigo. allowing a fair and reasonable profit of 1" per ounce, the whole of the cold that was acknowledged to have been purchased during the year would not. have paid over an average of £oo in commission. At Ballarat the amount would have ben alwut £3O. Instead of that vmall amount being made in business, th'-v knew that it must be more, on account of the number of men who were »u>\w nothing else but gold-buying, lheir worldlv .ireumstances were such that tlu-y were evidently making a comfMtabie thing out of it. .. -1,1, Mr Moore (West Aurtralia) uaul that at'present on the goidhelds gold wa„ M«,l-.-n -md i!i«-!i >nme abandoned mine was taken un and the plant was worked. Ostensibly gold was obtained from the plant, when as a matter of fact it was stolen gold, and was simply filtered through thr.se machines.. .. . -\ motion that legislation he MntrorliM-l into each State, with a view of regulat .lithe buying «ml d'topi of -"Id. was agreed to. .