REVIVAL OF MINING

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXVI, Issue 7910, 3 October 1929, Page 2

REVIVAL OF MINING

SOME QUESTIONS IN PARLIAMENT

AID TO PROSPECTING BATTERY FOR OHINEMURI When the proposed expenditure on mining was reached during the discussion (in committee) on the Estimates in the House of Representatives Mr A. M. Samuel, M.P. for Thames, expressed disappointment with the inadequacy of the item for prospecting for gold. It was, said the member, a most important matter and one that needed every encouragement, The value of the gold .produced in 1928 was over £IOO,OOO more than was produced in 1927. What was wanted was a steady revival of gold mining, but not a boom, which was very undesirable. The Government should consider granting some assistance to bring about a revival of gold mining, because there were plenty of small companies and prospectors who were prepared to carry on mining if the necessary assistance were granted. The city of Auckland had grown out of the gold won from the Thames goldfield, and there was no reason why similar gold strikes should not be made in the future. He would ask the Minister to give his inspectors greater powers to encourage prospecting for gold. It would be a great help to the industry if they could report, for instance, to the department that certain miners in certain districts deserved assistance. The Waihi mine, continued Mr Samuel, was discovered by an individual prospector. The solution of the unemployment problem , might be effected by the discovery of a new goldfield. He wished to urge upon the Minister the necessity for granting further assistance to prospectors. Some of these men came across difficult ground and the subsidy was not sufficient to enable them to carry through their prospecting opertions. Explosives cost these prospectors a considerable amount, and they would be materially assisted if they were enabled by the department to get their explosives at a greatly reduced rate. The Minister- had had this matter brought under his notice on several occasions by reputable miners with a thorough knowledge of mining conditions.

PROMISE TO OHINEMURI There was no doubt the Minister would do all he could to help the mining industry, about which he was so sympathetic. The Minister would remember that a committee, consisting mostly of business men, was formed in the Ohinemuri district in order to resuscitate mining. Would the Minister state whether anything had been done to liquidate a certain promise given in that directibn. There were numbers of men who were ready to go out prospecting if they were furnished with facilities for crushing, but unfortunately if they went out now they would not derive any benefit from their labours. Would the Minister state exactly what was being done in that connection? The sum of £IOOO on account was provided last year for the purpose of subsidising a crushing battery at the Rising Sun mine, but the proposition fell through owing to the Rising Sun closing down. It was to be hoped' that the Minister would do something to help the people to win the ore and to get the benefits of their own labours. The Minister (Hon. W. A. Veitch) replied sympathetically to the repreesntations made by Mr Samuel and referring to the question of endeavouring to bring about a revival of the gold mining industry on the Ohinemuri field said that this matter would be gone into again on the return of an official who was absent from New Zealand.