Mr J. Park's Departure.

Thames Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 9906, 30 March 1901, Page 3

Mr J. Park's Departure.

The departure from our midst of Mr James Park, F.G.S., who has been appointed Professor of Mining at the Otago University, and who leaves for the. South this afternoon, Avill be generally regretted. In many ways Mr Park has advanced the interests of mining in this district. During the period in which he held the position of Director of the Thames School of Mines, lie brought that important institution of instruction forward by leaps and bounds, and his geological investigations resulted in "the provision of valuable and standard works of more than ordinary intei'est to mining students and experts. It was in 1889 that Mr Park was appointed Director of the School of Mines. That institution was then on the down grade, but-the director set to work, drew up a regular syllabus of instruction in the different subjects taught at the school and established yearly written examinations and issue of class certificates. He quickly . gathered a band, of earnest, hardworking students around him. For three years Mr Park carried on the whole of the work single-handed, but the interest of the students in their studies was very keen, and the results obtained at the annual examination almost beyond expectations. On several occasions Mr Park received congratulatory letters from the Government examiners commending him for the excellence of the work of. his students. The success of the latter after leaving the school was no less marked than their progress m their studies. During the six years of his directorship some 70 or 80 students passed through the school and obtained class, mine managers, and battery superintendents certificates. The tuition obtained at the school has enabled the majority of these to improve their material prospects, and many of our Thames young men at the present time hold responsible and lucrative positions, not only in New Zealand,and Australia, but even in the United States of America. The Government scholarships were in existence two years during ■Mr Park's term of office, and in each year a student of his carried off the coveted prize. We refer to Messrs James McLaren and William Baiter, who subsequently distinguished themselves at the Otago UniverpYjv.

During his stay at the Thames Mr Park devoted much time to the study and examination of the geolo;:h:!>1 structure of the Thames goldfield, and he can fairly claim to have reduced the previous tangle to the present apparently simple and systematic classification, which formed the ground work of his more elaborate memoir on the geology of the whole peninsula, published in 1894, and was afterwards adopted by Mr McKay, the Government geologist,' i'.s the basis of his geological survey of the goldfields. There can be no doubt the introduction of the cyanide did much to establish the necessity of a technical training for those engaged in the mining industry. The process was introduced in New Zealand in 1890, and "Mr Park was one of the first to foresee the coming importance of the Cassell patent, and by training his students in the chemistry and practice in the new process did much to show the utility of the School of Mines, and at the same time assist the mining industiy by supplying companies with men capable of putting the process into successful practice. In 1894 .Mr .Park published the* first text book pn the cyanide prefcess, which was issued from our office. Since that date the work .has passed into four additions, and the fifth is now, we. undersatnd in the printer's hands in London. The book is a standard text book in netirly every mining school in New Zealand and Australia, Mr Park is also the author of manuals on chemistry tissaying, and other subjects, all of which are much used in mining schools and on the goldfields.

In 1896 Mr Park resigned the post at the School of Mines to assume a. lucrative appointment as consulting engineer to the Anglo-Continental Gold Syndicate, -Limited, of London. .In that capacity, and as the general manager of the Moanataiari and May Queen mines Mr Park must have acquired a large amount of information relative to practical mining that should be of great service to him in the* University. Mr Park's mining reports has led "to the expenditure oflarge sums of money on Thames, and if his proposal to amalgamate the claims on the flat can be successfully accomplished it is claimed that a large working capital will be made available for the development of the deep levels.