LECTURES ON THE GOLDFIELDS THROUGHOUT THE COLONY (PROGRESS REPORT ON, BY PROFESSOR J. G. BLACK). [In continuation of C.-2B.]

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1885 Session I, C-02c

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1885. NEW ZEALAND.

LECTURES ON THE GOLDFIELDS THROUGHOUT THE COLONY (PROGRESS REPORT ON, BY PROFESSOR J. G. BLACK). [In continuation of C.-2B.]

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Professor J. G. Black to the Hon. the Minister of Lands. Sic, — University of Otago, Dunedin, 20th December, 1884. I have the honour to make a progress report of my lecturing tour on the goldfields. I commenced on the 4th November at Lawrence, where I delivered fourteen lectures on the chemistry of quartz, quartz-reefs and their contents, the ores of gold, copper, silver, iron, mercury, lead, tin, antimony, and zinc; the tests for these metals and the methods of assaying their ores ; also on oxygen, carbon, phosphorus, chlorine, and sulphur. The lectures were attended by, on the average, about one hundred students, many of whom were mine managers, and miners and their sons, as well as others interested in mines. I also opened laboratory classes, which were attended by forty-one students, most of whom were mine managers and miners. In the laboratory classes the students themselves did the work under my supervision. This included the assaying and analysis of quartz and mundic for gold, the extraction of gold from old copper plates, the testing and assaying of the ores of copper, iron, silver, mercury, lead, tin, antimony, and zinc, and the analysis of coal and water. The laboratory was open for these purposes from four o'clock to eight o'clock p.m. five days a week. The lectures were delivered from eight o'clock to ten o'clock p.m., also five days a week. Free tickets were presented to ministers of religion, medical men, and the teachers and pupilteachers ; and three gentlemen had the discretionary power of passing free such miners as desired to attend the lectures and who were not well able to afford the fee. In this way about forty admissions to each lecture were free, besides a considerable number of miners passed in as explained. The price of the tickets for the course of lectures was 10s. 6d., but this admitted all the members of one family. The family-ticket for both courses (lectures and assaying) was fixed at £1 Is. The Eev. Mr. Jenner and I also delivered a double free lecture at Waitahuna on the chemistry of agriculture and mining—Mr. Jenner taking the first part. This double lecture was attended by about two hundred people, and was, like all the others, very well received. The number of students enrolled for the practical classes in the laboratory was so great (forty-one) that, single-handed, I would not be able to manage them. Fortunately, however, the Eev. Mr. Jenner, and Messrs. Selby and Joseph—two of my own old students—all residing at Lawrence, offered their assistance, and carried me over the difficulty. At Naseby I delivered a course of nine lectures on the same subjects as at Lawrence, and conducted laboratory classes in the same way. The lectures were attended by about sixty people, and the practical classes by about twenty-four, among -whom were many of the miners of the district. One student, Mr. Cogan, came from Serpentine, a distance of nearly fifty miles, as soon as he heard of the lectures, and stayed till the end. Another miner brought his two sons twenty miles from the country to reside in Naseby during the course, and we had, besides, three or four miners riding from eleven to fifteen miles to attend. The work of the assaying classes here was similar to that at Lawrence, great attention being paid to the best methods of testing quartz and iron pyrites for gold, also to the modes of testing the ores of copper, tin, antimony, lead, silver, and mercury. At Naseby the laboratory was open from ten o'clock a.m. to six o'clock p.m. for these purposes, and the lecture was delivered daily at eight o'clock p.m. to ten o'clock p.m. Several important visits were paid to various claims at Kyeburn, Eough Eidge, St. Bathans, Vinegar Hill, Mount Burster, &c, in which I was accompanied by from six to ten gentlemen interested in the mines. And the kindness and attention I received at the hands of the miners and residents both at Lawrence and Naseby could not be exceeded. The fee for the lectures course at Naseby was 75., and for the double course (lectures and laboratory) 12s. 6d.; many, as at Lawrence, being admitted free. I—C. 2c.

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A surprising amount of interest in the chemistry of minerals, and in the methods of testing metallic ores (especially for gold), was shown by the miners and others both at Lawrence and Naseby; and a great deal of useful work was done in these subjects, with the result that not only is there diffused widely an intelligent knowledge of the composition of minerals, and an eager desire to learn more on the subject, but there is also a keen appreciation of the value of technical and scientific knowledge of such matters springing up among those most interested. There is also at both places a number of men competent to determine accurately the proportion of gold in a sample of quartz, or mundic, or other gold-bearing material. And this itself is a great advantage most thoroughly appreciated by the miners. The identification and testing of copper, tin, antimony, iron, and other ores are also important adjuncts to the miner's qualifications for his work. Altogether the interest created in these matters, and the success with which the students grappled with the processes, as well as their general intelligence and active habits, surprised me, and impressed me with the incalculable advantage that would accrue to the goldfields of the colony by the organization of an extended and liberal course of technical instruction in mineralogy, the blowpipe, and the chemistry and metallurgy and assaying of metallic ores in the Various mining centres. I believe the services of two qualified instructors would pretty well provide for the goldfields of Otago and the West Coast —one for mineralogy, geology, mining, and the blowpipe; the other for the chemistry, metallurgy, and assaying of ores. From the results got by my nine days' lecturing and teaching at Naseby, I am of opinion that even one month of each lecturer would do a great deal of good in one place. And, as one lecturer or instructor would probably find "enough work for the students during his stay, there would be two months' continuous study provided for in each centre. Six weeks' or two months' stay in each centre for each lecturer would be far preferable if it could be provided for; but this would of course entail more lecturers or fewer centres ; and I think it is very desirable to include as many centres as possible, from the inability of miners to travel long distances and to absent themselves for long periods from their work. Such a system, if liberally devised and energetically carried out, I am persuaded would do incalculably more good to the mining community and the mining industry than any central school of mines in Dunedin or any other of the cities. Indeed, I do not believe a flourishing school of mines can be established until an intelligent interest is created among the mining community by such a peripatetic course of technical instruction as I have suggested. The Otago goldfields could, I think, be worked from four centres — Lawrence, Naseby, Cromwell, and Arrow—giving six weeks' course of instruction in each place, the two lecturers following each other, thus giving three months' continuous instruction in each centre ; the whole course occupying six months. Or, if the West Coast were to be worked with Otago, then make six centres —Lawrence, Naseby, Cromwell, Boss (or Hokitika), Kumara, and Eeefton—giving each centre one month of each lecturer; thus affording in the six months two months' continuous technical instruction in each of these six mining centres. The course just suggested occupies only six months of the year, leaving the other six months available for the lecturers as a holiday, during which time they could visit California, Victoria, or other goldfields. It also fits into the holidays for the professors in our University and school of mines here, and in a modified degree into the vacation of the Canterbury and Auckland Colleges, thus making it possible for an arrangement to be made by which the services of some of the professors of these institutions might be made available for the peripatetic school suggested. Ido not think the winter months are suitable for such classes on the goldfields, owing to the dark nights and bad state of the roads, over which many miners would have to travel considerable distances. It would also, I think, be very desirable to procure for each important mining centre a named collection of, say, two hundred characteristic metallic ores, costing, in London, about £10 for each collection; the collection to be under the keepership of some responsible local officer, such as the Town Clerk or County Clerk, or County Engineer, or librarian of local athenaeum or public library. Such collection of ores would be very valuable for comparing with other local unknown minerals, often disregarded by miners not recognizing their value. The collections could then be easily augmented by contributions from the Colonial Museum and Geological Survey and peripatetic school, &c. Should such a scheme of technical instruction on the goldfields as I have suggested be favourably considered by the Government, I shall be glad, under suitable arrangements, to take any part in carrying it out as may be assigned to me ; and my services will be at the disposal of the Government for this purpose for six months in the year—namely, from the Ist November to the 30th April. And with one efficient coadjutor, such as Professor Ulrich, or, failing him, Mr. Alexander Montgomery (M.A., with first-class honours), who is by far the most efficient student of the Dunedin School of Mines, and who has taken the certificate of " metallurgical chemist and assayor," as well as certificates in all of Professor Ulrich's subjects, I would have no misgivings in working the Otago goldfields, or these with the West Coast on some such scheme as the one suggested above. Lecturing alone, I feel I am doing only half the work, and have, in numerous instances, to inform my students that I cannot give the desired information on many questions that arise in connection with quartz-reefs, the principles of mining, mineralogy, and other mining subjects. Accompanied, or followed, or preceded by Professor Ulrich or Mr. Montgomery, this difficulty would be fairly met. Prom Mr. Montgomery's great abilities and acquirements and active habits, and with the facilities which he might have in studying the Californian goldfields in the holidays, he would verysoon become a most accomplished instructor in these subjects. I have taken the liberty of naming Mr. Montgomery only in view of Professor Ulrieh's repeated assurances that nothing will induce him to engage in any such peripatetic course of lecturing on the goldfields, and to point out that the scheme need not fall to the ground on that account.

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I am to begin a course of eight lectures and to conduct laboratory classes at Queenstown on the 23rd instant. I then propose to go to Arrow, and then to Cromwell and to Clyde if there is any desire expressed by the miners here. This will conclude my programme for the Otago goldfields, and will occupy me till about the 20th of February. My original proposal was to follow up the Otago tour by a similar lecturing tour on the West Coast, including twelve or fifteen or more lectures at each of three of the most important centres there —Eoss, Kumara, and Eeefton. The expenses of the Otago tour, which I am' going to respectfully request Government to pay,, will amount to about £185, including £25 for chemicals and apparatus, travelling and hotel expenses for myself and assistant, hiring hall, advertising, &c, besides which I shall expect a refund of railway fares and charges. The expenses to the Government of my West Coast tour I estimated at £200. As I have not yet had any communication from Government on the subject of these lecturing tours, I am under a great disadvantage in not knowing the mind of the Government on the subject. I have therefore most respectfully to request to be favoured with instructions on the general subject, and especially on the question of whether I should proceed to the West Coast, as suggested, about the end of February, at the termination of my course on the Otago goldfields. I have, &c, The Hon. the Minister of Lands, Wellington. James G. Black.

By Authority : Gbobgh Didsburt, Government Printer, Wellington.—lBBs.