Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 1895. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXV, Issue 4254, 3 July 1895, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 1895. " MEASURES, NOT MEN."

The overthrow of the claims ofthe cyanide patentees by the English Privy Council has decided the Government of this colony to take measures for barring the claims of the patentees also in New Zealand. It was shown by experts to the satisfaction of the Privy Council that cyanide had been used for the extraction of gold long before the present patent rights were applied for : that in 1867, an inventor named Rae took out a patent in the United States, which was duly registered in England, for a process in which he used cyanides to dissolve the gold from ores and tailings, and that in 1881, another patent, also registered in | England, was granted in America for the ' use of a mixture of cyanide and carbonate of ammonia in its application to ores. These facts were elicited in a recent case before the English Courts, and Mr Justice Homer, after a most exhaustive examination, declared the patent invalid, which decision was subsequently upheld by the Privy Council. Tho German Courts have also decided against the patentees, and litigation is pending in the Transvaal and alsoin our own colony. As an illustration of the pre-eminent success obtained in the treatment of ores by the cyanide process, it ia worthy of mention that out of the total gold prg. duction of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) fields in 1893, 1,478,4700z of gold j were obtained by the process, whilst from tailings no less than 330,5100z were

aeoured, the bulk of which would otherwise have been lost. Experiments ia various parts ofthe Australasian colonies have recorded that the average percentage of gold extracted by the cyanide process was 82-3 per cent, of the total contents. The dispute now raging in various parts of the world is not over the process itself but over the high royalty demanded by the patentees, who have registered their patent rights in almost every country iv the world. The royalty charged is understood to average 7s 6d per ounce; but ia South Australia recently the agents agreed to accept 4s per ounce- equal to about 5 per cent, on the aotual value of the gold extrated. This royalty, it is maintained, makes all tbe difference between working a iniue at a profit or working it at a loss ; and so in many cases, particularly with struggling mine-owners and small companies, the process is not available. It is easy to see that the publio will be largely benefited if the cyanide patent is completely upset and the use ofthe process commanded freely and without paymeut of royalty by mine-owners. But, on the other hand, unless this can be done without injustice to tho patentees, it would be better that thiuga should remain as they are and trust to circumstances to bring the patentees to see the wisdom of a reasonable royalty. The Premier stated in the House a few days ago that the Government; would undertake proceedings for the purpose of upsetting the patent in this colony. Such a course, even admittiug the grave importance of the question at issue, is fairly open to question. One would imagine that the State, having granted the patent rights, should rather protect and guard the interest) it had created and leave the task of destroying ib to private hands. The position would be much more comprehensible were the leading mine-owners ot the colony to combine and fight the matter, as the question,' whatever it may be, is certainly not one affecting State rights. The export of chilled meat from the colony has so far been a highly successful experiment. The shipment sent by the Gothic recently averaged as much as sjd per lb in London, some of it even commanding as much as 6d. This method of preparing meat for shipment has been long cultivated with great profit by importers in America, and as the difference of time in transit does not appear to affect tho quality of the meat, there is no reason why it should not in time be included in the staple exports of this colony. If successful, as there is every reason to assume it will be, the trade, it is calculated, will increase the value of the eight or nine hundred thousand cattle in the colony, suitable for conversion into chilled beef, by something like £20 a head. The importance of a trade capable of increasing so largely the wealth of the colony deserves to be fostered and encouraged, particularly in its early stages, by such means as may be suggested to the Government by experience learned in other departments of export. Want of proper Government inspection seriously injured the butter export trade in the early stages of its development, and only the most drastic regulations and the closest and most vigilant inspection saved it from absolute ruin. The case was even worse with the flax export trade. Measures should be taken to ensure that the meat was properly fitted for market and landed in England with the least possible expense to the exporter. The consignments of chilled beef placed on the English market from here have been described by experts as nearly equal in quality to the American artiole, which is certainly encouraging, and augurs well for the future. When the superiority of our soil and climate is considered, there need be little doubt as to our position in the Home market in this commodity when the exporters have attained that stage of perfection which has come to the American shippers Irom experience. The process of chilling appears to be a matter of much more delicacy than freezing, requiring a more absolute uniformity of temperature; and because of this the trade will, for a titne,at least,be attended with much greater risk, as well as greater cost, than that of frozen mutton , It has long been discovered that because of some peculiarity in the substance or fibre of beef it cannot be carried in a frozen state as mutton may be, and does nob commend itself to the taste ofthe Home consumer in such a manner as to command a ready sale and a paying price. It is however thought that the chilling system,when properly employed, as it is by American shippers, will not only remedy the defects produced by the freezing system, but will preserve all the important qualities of the beef in its freshly-killed state. When that stage has been reached, the chilled beef trade will take front rank among the most valuable of our national imports.