TIN EL DORADO.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8672, 12 July 1906, Page 2

TIN EL DORADO.

WHY CORNISH MINES CLOSED DOWN IN THE PAST. The" aggressive attacks upon tin con- j tinue, writes the- city editor of the Lon- ! don "Daily Mail" on May 19, and, owing to recent speculation which car- I ried.the price up to the very nigh re- ! cord level of £215 a ton, this campaign, which has been prefesied all the week, has had some influence with weak speculators for the rise. Messrs Lewis Laaaru® and Sons, in their nightly report, stated that "the position remains one of restricted supplies and growing consumption, resulting in a gradual exhaustion of the former, but the price level ie undoubtedly high, and jss thus open to the attacks of professional operators when these latter see hesitancy and the possibility of frightening weak holders." The cash price- of tin fell on May 18 £6 a ton to "£194. The three months' quotation fell £2 a ton to £ISB. A well-informed correspondent writes that the price of tin need not be above £150 per ten to enable an average mine to pay good dividends. Shares may oscillate wildly under " booms" conditions, but what is of permanent importance ie that the Malay States are no longer a bugbear, and that the causes which closed down ecoree of tin mines no longer operate. NEW USES FOR THE METAL. . Cornwall, ha® been an El Dorado in the past, but Suffered acutely from the discovery of vast alluvial deposit."? of tin in the Malay Peninsula, which have gradually be&n depleted. It was a policy of " freeze out " applied to mining, and only the richest Cornish mines survived until the Straits ceased dumping tin on the market faster than it could be absorbed. Since then consumption has greatly increased, as new uses have' been found for tin. There are on record the names of over 600 Cornish mines. Of these nearly 250 Were working at one time, and 30,000 men and women were employed. Experts fa-malia* Tvith tin deposits all over the globe admit that Cornwall has for the most part adopted most economical and progressive methods and machinery. Cornieh rock drills are not only used on the spot, but are exported in large quantities to all the mining centres in the world. The safety fuse for milling purpose© was invented in Cornwall, and is still made for local use and export. Electricity is being applied to all branches of Cornish mining, and will be an important feature an effecting future economies. It. still behoves the speculating public to move charily in' matters of tin, and to scrutinise carefully, new companies that may be floated. ;