TUAPEKA. MINING NOTES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 14, 27 July 1888, Page 19

TUAPEKA. MINING NOTES.

(From an occasioual Correspondent.) There has been very little of interest trauspiring of late in mining circles, and bezond the ordinary work-a-day operations of the various mines and holdings throughout the district there is nothing to speak of to record. A rather good story is in circulation regarding the 12cwt. of stone which Captain Pearse, the agent of the Waipori quartz miners, has taken with him to London as a sample of tbe O.P.Q. reef — not a picked samp c, you know, but a sample taken promiscuously from the reef. The work of picking the stone was entrusted to certain miners holding a direct interest in the concern, and so it could hardly be expected that they would select the worst specimens with which to dazzle the eyes of intending Bnglish investors. They just did what nineteenth-century miners might be expected to do under the circumstances. They got together into that 12cwt. parcel of " promiscuous " quartz the very best specimens they could lay their hands on. I don't know how much of this to vouch for ; indeed, I will not vouch for auy of it, but as the story is in pretty general circulation, I think the readers of the TABLET may as well have the advantage of it. As an old settler in these parts, and ene wao hus the progress of tbe district at heart, It makes me glad to see tbe tide of English capital flowing ia this direction, and I would not be the first one to saj anything that would tend to stem that tide and turn it in some other direction. But I must most emphatically object as a New Zealand colonist and one who cherishes tbe good name of my adopted country above all personal considerations, against the system of gross misrepresentation which the promoters of miaing ventures have of late been indulging in. If they have a property to sell let them tell the iruth about it, so ttut waen EaglUn capitalists do invest their money they will know what they are getting for it. There are many really good mining investments on the Otago gold-fields which would handsomely repay an investment of capital if judiciously expended ; but if, in disposing of them, we represent them at fifty or a hundred times their true value and demand prices for them far in excess of whut they are wonh, disappointment is sure to follow, and New Zealand will come to be rec >gnised as the land of mining swindles and the happy hunting-ground of dishonest adventurers. By-ani-bye, I miy revert to this question, but for the present I think I have said enough, I may have occision to say more shortly. The Blue Spur and Gabriel's Gully Gold Mining Co. has nowbeen in operation four months, and the yield of gold to date is 335 ounces, valued at £1,2G5 ss. As only one branch of water has been at work, this return may bd considered very good. Toe manager expects to have four jets on shortly, but it remains to be seen whether this will quadruple the yield. Let us suppose that it does ; a year's working with tour jets would only give £15,075 worth of gold. This would be the gross reve iue. According to the report of the meeting of shareholders published in the Financial News, Sir Walter Buller told them that from the tailings alone they were to get a net profit of £50,000 a year for eight yeais. I'm afraid t*ir Walter will be a tnfla out in his reckoning at the cad of the year. The men at present eagaged on the Spur by thj company ara working in three shifts. When the additional jeis are turned oa the number of man is likely to be increased. I understand the Otago Cjrnpany, one of the claims on which 10 per cent, wag advanced with the option of purchasing at the end of the year, had a fairly good washing up a few days ago. The operations of the Fidelity Company, which is the only other claim at work on the Spur, have been interrupted for the want of water. Aft?' a rin of several months the men are now w-tshing up. Not a little feeling has evinced itself of late over the manner in which political considerations have been introduced into the management ot the Spur claims. I think it is a very wrong thinjr that a workman's fitness tor a billet should be gauged by bis political leanings, and that the manager should b ■ obliged to employ men, whatever his opinion of their fitness may be, for no other reason apparent, than that they voted straight at last election. In speaking of the Tailu.gs Company's claim in my letter of last week I stated that though that properly was guaranteed by the agent who was commissioned to ex ou'.e tne sale to yield an annual net profit ot £50,000 a year for teu yeais, yet it was disposed of for £30,000. In this statement, I have, it appears, somewhat erred. The Tailings Company's claim was sold not for £30,000, but for just the half of that amount — £15,000, two-thirds cash, and one-third shares. Nothing of the kind has been h -ar>l of in modern times— a clear profit of £50,000 a y^ar goin* a btjg^ing for £10,000, the oneihird shares of course I don t attach ruuen importance to — nobody does, except, perhaps, those singularly confiding Cockneys who are learning colonial experience at the nan is of Sir Walter Buller and Co.