Western Star And WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. Published Every Tuesday and Friday. FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1922. OUR POTENTIAL WEALTH.

Western Star, 24 March 1922, Page 2

Western Star And WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. Published Every Tuesday and Friday. FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1922. OUR POTENTIAL WEALTH.

The recent local excitement over a discovery of metal at Pukemaori, .suppose!! to be platinum, received a wide advertisement in an embellished form. A - leading North Island/ journal reported the discovery a& “a rich find qf gold,” and that an extensive rush had set in. Probably this may /account for the large number of visitors Vs ho have been making west during the past few weeks. That they were strangers was evident from the enquiries made of fellow travellers about the various localities. Should the alleged gold discovery be the attracting power, they will receive, a rude shock when they reach the field. Of course’ we are only surmising that such is their objective. They may have other ends, in view. They may be lumber men,, prospective ’settlers, or mineral prospectors. It matters not '‘which. All these mien open up the pouutry. It is gopcK to know that clespite depression and a’ that, some people are “ trecking west.” It is a terra incognito to most people in the North, although it is. one of Nature’s storehouses where are to he found, timber, limestone, coal, asbestos, phosphate, oil, shale and land as good as one will find anywhere. Then, why should! it not attract the pioneer and prospector ? '"So far as gold is concerned, in all parts of the Dominion old workings which were not thought to be remunerative enough years s ago are bemg\ re-opened, and the nature of the reports concerning these may be considered satisfactory. Asked by a Dunedin ‘gtsfrreporter if anything .was moving in the Minesi Department, the Hon. G. J. Anderson, Minister of Mines, said there were good indications of gold at the Thames, the scene of the sensational rush in the sixties, there (existing in that quarter a well-founded belief that the payable 'gold has not been all taken out. On the Thames Peninsula another old field at Coromandel, one of the first to be worked in New Zealand, is being re-opened. At To Puke, in the Bay of Plenty, it is fully expected that prospecting will result in the finding of more quartz reefs, and at Rimu flat, near Hokitika, a. party of Americans are carrying on dredging, and are doing well: They are operating on a field that was tested by Government drills some years ago. The. results of that testing ‘were published at the time in a departmental report which was available to anybody and everybody. But it was loft to the Americans to make practical us© of that report. They sent men to test the ground in. order to’verify the borings by the dtepnrtment, and, finding them reliable, they brought over their own dredge, set it up at Rlmiu Flat, and havedone so well with it during a. trial of three op four, months that they are talking of placing a second dredge in til© vicinity. This ,is a strong arguI ment in favour of the Mines Depnrtf ment extending its activates to other j parts., The Minister made a cryptic j statement regarding mining in Otago. |l“ Since I came to Dunedin,” he said, j “a project, bars been put before me \ 'with a view of further prospecting for gof(l in Otago, lout as the details ar© not yet formulaidS, I cannot say anytime: about the proposals.” As to other minerals,, coal is receiving more than usual attention. Our full ’ report of the activity in the Oliai district, which appeared iu our last

issue, • is evidence of the immense mineral wealth located there, and affords convincing proof of the vast possibilities of that portion of Wallace. As its rapid development all hinges on the question of transport, everything possible should be done to provide railway facilities so that the coal 1 of Southland, absolutely the. bast tor ranges and gratis, should get the hold on the market tin advance of other districts. The quality of the coal ntf present coining from the Nightcaps-Wairio-Ohai district is exceptionally good for household purposes, and this industry is going to be a big one, of great value to the' province. Prospecting parties are out in various parts of the West Coast of the South Island searching for coal, and at Reefton, as its- name implies a gold centre, attention is now being turned to the huge uuworked coal beds. In the Nelson district a company is just about ready to start smelting iron ore, large deposit- of which exist near the surface, and if the iron ’industry is developed, it will prove a valuable one for the Dominion which is at present dependent for all its ,iron find! steel on Britain • and America. Ab these deposits, of ore are the property of the State, if properly handled the State could receive handsome revenues which would go a long way in relieving the burden of the National Debt.