OUR MINERAL RESBOURCES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1764, 11 February 1888, Page 4

OUR MINERAL RESBOURCES.

While it is necessary to the progress and prosperity of the co'ony that the land should be opened up fcr settlement and not less so that every enconragement and assistance should be given to the d velopment of our manufacturing industries, it is equally necessary and important that the vast mineral resources which yew Zealand is known to possess should be turned to the best account. Now, while as regards the opening up of land for settlement, there is every reason to believe that the present Ministry are* tho ougli'y m earnest, we are quite sure that they are not so convinced of th* importance < f fostering local industries and mannfac tures as were their predecessors. "They believe m a Laissez jaire policy m bucli matters, and, worse still, seem disposed to pursue the same " let alone " policy m relation to our mining industries. In this respect we think the colony has lost much by the change. In the last Administraton there >7pb a Minister who devoted his sole attention to those industries, and m Air Larnach we had, as head of that imp' rtant department, a man whose heart was m his work and who, during hisjterm of office, did much to give an .impetus to mining ; wh;le his successor. Mr Richardson, has his hands full m th«* administration of the Lands, and has not the time, even if he have the disposition, to pay much attention to mining matters. And. yqjfc the hope of the future lies greatly m that direction ; for there is every reason to believe that m the mineial-bearina: reefs wLich are to be found at numbers of places m the colony there are untold sources of wealth, only requir ng the exercise of the needful skill to develop . them. But m many case the precious mptals— silver especially — exist m tlie form if what are termed •• refractory ores," that is to say m combinations from which they cannot be resolved by the methods at present employed. At Karangahape, for instance, we learn there are immense stores of ore containing silver m quantity ranging op to hundreds of ounces to the ton, which is not utilised simply because it is n<>t known how to separate the precious metal from its base surroundings, ro also with gold there is reason to be ieve that not infrequently the result of the methods of the so called " gold saving " employed is the l>ss of by far the largest proportion, and the saving of onW a fraction We have, * indeed, bean told of a case m which tailings or residue from which 3 zs t<j the ton had been extracted, subsequent^ yielded when subjected to more scientific treatment, no less than 48ozs. f>ow, sot only m such case is knowledge " power," it is also the equivalent oi money, and we are persuaded that there could be no wiser expenditure than that proposed bat unfortunately rejected lar>t year viz., that a small sum of money should be devoted to the acquisition ul the necessary knowledge to enable us to develop the latent wealth which exis-b m cur goldficlds and gold and siherbearitifi' re»-fn P..r such refractory ore? as we have hitherto fousd ourselve m capable oj dealing with are reduced with compete success m other parts of the world, and the Mines Department should nor h> sitate to incur the expense m volved m sending one ef its officers to some of those countries m order to make himself acquainted with methods which might be applied m New Zealand with like succpfsfal result. Ihe knowledge desired might we think, be gained m California the miners of which eountiy have, we atej reaii, recently acqu n-u the secret. Prior to tnat, large quantities of refractory Bilver ore were br light down long distances from the mines on the backs of mules to Los Angelep, thence transported to Wan Francisco and thence shipped round the Horn to Swansea and back (the secret of smelting the ore being known then m Swansea only and on the Continent of Europe) and after all this trouble and haudlii g and consequent expenditure, mining was made to pay welL Now the Californians know the secret themselves, it must pay infinitely better. In Bohemia a bo, we believe the secret is known, ar d miyut doubtl ss either be lear ed o. bought. And it is of the very first importance to the colony that knowledge oi this sort should be obtained, and the outlay of a few thousands to that end would be a mere bagatelle, for wo verily believe that if such a step as we coun>el were ttken, - ew Zealand would ere long rej' ice m a mining bo<>tn such as has broken out m New {South Wales and honti Australia, and that not m one part of the colony only bat m several different localities