The Thames Star. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1895. RECOGNITION OF THE MINING INDUSTRY.

Thames Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 8081, 28 June 1895, Page 2

The Thames Star. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1895. RECOGNITION OF THE MINING INDUSTRY.

The Hon. Wm. McCullough, M.L.C., is deserving of every praise for the great prominence which he gave to the mining industry in his speech when moving the Address-in-Eeply in the Legislative Council. At the present time, when capital is flowing into our goldfields, and when, owing to the depredations of the " wild cat" exploiter, investors are go liable to be swindled, a clear vindication of the legitimacy of mining apart from reckless speculation is invaluable, [both as a means of directing the capitalist and of maintaining his confidence. And Mr McCullough's speech does all this. His remarks more particularly concern the Thames, the hon. gentleman having for many years taken au active interest in the progress of the industry here, and most certainly merits the thanks of the whole community. So highly interesting is the mining portion of Mr McCullough's speech that we venture to quote the following, even at the risk of encroachng tos> far upon our

space:— One of the most pleasing and interesting parts of the speech of His Excellency is that part where he makes reference to the 'gold* mining industry of the colony. He has been pleased to say,— " The revival of quartz mining, so noteworthy for months past in the Auckland goldfields, appears likely to have a counterpart on the west coast of the South Island. There is solid reas^n for anticipating that mining will, for some time to come, both employ more labor and yield more gold than for years past." Sir, I am competent to spaak on this question of gold-mining. I have been in* timatsly associated with gold-mining for the past thirty years, and I am convinced that His Excellency the Governor has been quite justified in making the very encouraging statements he has made in the Speech he was pleased to deliver i:i this Chamber. I regret to say Governments i:i the past have g:i3vously neglected the mining industry. In my opinion it is one of the most legitimate in the colony, but it is an industry that requires fostering and requires help. It was not until the present Ministry took office that some fair consideration, in my opinion, was given to this industry. Governments in the past have neglected it, owing, I am led to believe, to a want of personal acquaintance on the part of the Ministry with the details and importance and magnitude of the goldmining industry of this colony. Sir Julius Vogel, during the time he held office, secured votes of Parliament to the extent of .£50,003, to be expended on a BigPump to drain the' deep levels of the I Thames goldfields; and he also secured a vote for the construction of large waterraces on the Thames, to enable cheap crushing power to be supplied to the batteries crushing quartz upon the diggings there. Now, with the exception of the large sums of money I h%ve referred to, the attention that has been given to the, mining industry comparatively

small, arid the votes of irioliey Wei'S tiotti" paratively small. For the west coast of the Middle Island there were sums of money given for water-races on the goldfields and for mining tracks, but even the attention given there was comparatively small Why I say comparatively small will appear when I mention the fact that during the past thirty-seven years there has been exported from the Colony of New Zealand no less than forty-nine million pounds' worth of gold. When this fact is put beside the amount of expenditure from votes given to the development of this industry it will be s»3ii that I am justified in saying that they were, comparatively small. I am,more qualified to speak upon the Thames /goldfields than upon goldfields in other parts of the colony ; and it will be remembered that very rich returns were received from the Thames goldfields. The deposits of gold found near the surface there were very soon worked out. Unfortunately for the prospectors it became necessary to follow the reefs down—to sink deeper shafts to open up the mines. This required a vast expenditure of money, and, unfortunately, the Government were not prepared to assist in that operation beyond the votes that I referred to. The people of Auckland, although a community which for years has given large sums of money to the development,of the mining industry, were unable to supply sufficient means to properly open and develop those mines at a deeper level. Ido not wish it to be understood that the people of Auckland have not, in proportion to their ability, contributed to the development ' of the goldmines. I say they have liberally done so. Nearly all the gold taken out of the Thames goldfield has been returned in the direction of further developing the mines, and calls have been liberally contributed. But all that has been contributed has been too small an amount for that purpose. It has not amounted to what was properly andnecessarilyrequiredfor the development of the goldmining industry. No fortunes have been made, in fact, few persons who have followed gold-mining have had their own money back for a number of years. I have to say, further, that I believe the tide has set in for the permanent improvement in this industry. Why I say so is this : Owing in a great measure to the support given by the House during last session to the suggestion of the Premier and Minister of Mines a large sum of money was set apart for the development and opening the mines to greater depths. The liberal terms upon wliich this money was proposed to be granted by the Government called the attention of capitalists to the opinion exercised and held by the House of Representatives, and by the Parliament of the colony, in. connection with her gold-mining in-, dustry. The very large sums of money received from the investment of English capital in South Africa also attracted attention in that and other parts of the world. The goldfields of Western Australia were well supported, but, unfortunataiy, there was some disappointment in connection with them, and now is the time for Jfew Zealand to take advantage of that inclination on the part of investors in England to put money into such ventures. I am happy to say that some of the mines, the shares of which are held largely in England—the Waihi in Upper Thames, and Kapanga in Coromandel —have yielded very rich returns. Large dividends were paid, and inducement therefore was given to capitalists to inquire more particularly into oitr mining operations. The result has been that proposals have been made to the proprietors of mining properties on the Thames goldfields to sell their mines to English capitalists, and I am in a position to say that several properties have been placed in the English market the negotiations for the purchase of which are now about concluded, and that when that happens there will be brought into the Thames district at least «£IOO,OCO of English capital. I should mention in connection with this, and to show the confidence the mine-owiiers of the Thames and surrounding district have in their properties, that no ready cash, except in one or two instances, has been received by the mineowners. They have sold the mines to English capitalists for a certain proportion of paid-up shares in the ventures, on the condition that a certain sum of money shall be contributed for their further development. Now, that is an important and interesting fact. And what more telling fact could be given than the statement I have just made to show the great confidence the people of the Thames have in their mining industry 5 and I may say that, on the other hand, it shows to a great extent the confidence the English investor has in the valu^of the mining district of the Thames. I received from the goldfields departmeiit this morning some figures which, I think, should be mentioned. During 1894 and 1895 there was sixtythousand pounds' worth of gold received from the Lower Thames. The Upper Thames mines yielded one hundred and thirty-eight thousand pounds' worth of gold during the'past year, mainly, I should say, from this Waihi mine. Now, in connection with the development of that mine, there has been .£150,000 spent—nearly all English capital, but the returns have been very large. The -proprietors have already had .£70,000 or .£BO,OOO returned to them in dividends, and they have now one of th© most valuable mines in New Ze iland. The last few 2iionths' returns have been very large, and a dividend of 2s per share has been declared. They have lately increased the number of stampers in the battery, and I am not exaggerating when I say I believe that within the next twelve months twice as much gold will be taken from that mine as has already been received from it. That, at least, is the opinion of miningl experts.- I should mention, too, as showing the desire of investors to place money in mining ventures, that shares which were two years ago worth 18s in the mine I am speaking of, are to-day worth between £6 and £>7, and the dividends justify men buying them at that price. The Ivapanga mine, in Coromandel, has spent £100,000 <tn its development, and that is nearly all English capital. The Hauraki mine—that is, a portion of the old Kapanga mine, Avhich has been re-floated and placed on the English market—has spent J;23,G00, But what has been received from it ? Duiv jug the last 12 months, £12,000 has been received by the contributors' portion of that mine, and from the mine proper, .£30,000 has been received —that is, .£42,000 has been received within nine months from a small portion of the ground on the Coro, mandel Peninsula. These facts are of interest, and must impress honorable members, Avho probably are not as intimately acquainted with the goldfields' industry and the goldfields as myself and others who come from the northern parts of the colony. In Connection with the West Coast goldfields, I may say that last year the return for the Ee'efton district—a gold-reefing district—was seventy-one thousand pounds' woi-th of gold; but from the West Coast as a whole, there has been no less than three hundred and forty thousand pounds' worth of gold won during the years 1894 and 189.5. To justify the expenditure on these levels, I say* that the Mining- Inspector told me this morning that shares in a mine in the district of Keefton that six months ago were given away are to-day worth 17s 6d. This arises from this fact: At the 750 ft level in the Keep it Dark mine thereef got broken up, and was in such a position that it was held by mining experts tfcat #10 reef

'liact giveH 6h£ Met tnaii thei'e was nothing"

i'ut'ther in the ground. Those Wlio had faith* in the mine smile loss than 100 ft further, and came upon quite a new class of country, and quit a a new reef. That reef now returns gold to the extent of from 12dwt to 18dwt per ton —a very valuable and payable return, jj mention this fact to show that expending money upon deeper levels on 'the golclfl.elds is a thing that is quite justified", and that the results so far are all in favor of the belief that our gold extends to the lower levels.