THE EDUCATION OF QUARTZ MANIPULATORS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 124, 26 March 1872, Page 5

THE EDUCATION OF QUARTZ MANIPULATORS.

As quartz-mining is becoming so general, and from all present indications likely to resolve itself into a permanent industry, a momentous question arises ; and that is, — Where arc our future managers and manipulators to come from ! Is there anything being done in the schools and universities to fit the rising generation to (ill such positions, if necessary / If not, it is time some attention was paid to this department of education ; i so that in the future a class of young men may arise, who will be qualified, after a short probation at the practical work of quartz disintegration, to grapple with the mysteries of gold saving, and, by the application of 1 their acquired scientific knowledge, meet and j conquer the vast sea of difficulties constantly arising in the way of successful manipulation. I It is notorious that the present supply of I qualified men for the work is totally inadei quate to the demand. Important mining j interests often rest on the fiat of a person I totally unacquainted with the rudiments of | chemistry, mineralogy, or geology, or if he I does boast of a smattering of either science, j is probably found to be a charlatan or perfect tyro in the business. If the ore with which he has to deal contains gold in large quantities and in a tolerably free condition, the shareholders owning the mine maybe blessed with dividends ; hut if any peculiar obstacles ! arise, such as the character of the ore essentially changing and putting his local experij ence to fault, he, being unable to institute a i scientific investigation, which might lead to 1 a solution of the difficulty, cohqnally speak- ! ing “ caves in,” declares the mine non-pay-I able, and the company, knowing no better, ! probably take his unsupported word, and wind up their affairs : mining credit receives | a rude shock, a'.ul the community Suffers a j loss. This is no fancy sketch : there are dozens of instances to hand : and time alone i must show whether the application of scien- | title principles might have conduced to ditl’erj cut results. | I have often road, both in the English and j Colonial press, of the glowing'distaste of the j “ youth of the period” to learning trades or occupations where mechanical skill or : manual labour is involved, and his intense I yearnings after something “ respectable” : of a plethora of candidates for the legal or , medical professions, for clerkships, Av. Ac. ; Well, this may ho the fault of the age we live i iu ; but, such being apparently the case, what i better outlet could be devised for these “ respectable” aspirations than the educational method 1 haVe indicated ? Not only would I the anxiety of I'atcr-famUias for the future

of his scions he allayed, but :i body of young men would bo in readiness to uphold one of the most remunerative industries the Colonies possess in the time to come, when, probably, from continuous and exhaustive production, the paying or non-paying nature of our goldmines will have to ho determined by the extraction of the precious metal even to the most minute particle. Some of the larger quartz-mining companies of Victoria, recognising the absolute necessity for correct scion!ilie treatment of the various ores met with in their mines, have retained the services of a large stall' of experts,—notably the Port Philip Mining Company, at Chines ; and it is probably due to Ilnur exertions that this Company has been and continues to he able to pay handsome dividends from the poorest quartz operated upon in the Colony. Having said so much as to the urgent necessity for at once initiating an embryo race of future “ gold-savers,” I will endeavour to point out how the consummation may he reached. The Province has the good fortune to possess, in l>r P.lack of the University, a gentleman, as 1 am informed, eminently qualified to impart a -scientific education to his pupils ; and I road that the Government intend erecting a crushing machine fortesting quartz. Mow, if, as it has been suggested, the operations at the mill were carried on in i connection with the Professor's department, a i splendid Held for students would he opened. Here lies the matter in a nutshell: scientific I instruction, illustrated by practical application, would in all probability furnish the j mining world in a very short time with youths who might commence at once as i “cadets” at our principal mills and mines ; ! and in time the chrysalis would expand into the full-blown, intelligent, practical, and j scientific manager and amalgamator. I n con- ! elusion, 1 would remark that until the above I desiderata arc acquired, wc cannot expect to ; have stability assigned to our gold-fields, confidence felt in mining ventures, or an uninterrupted prosperity for the Province ; as, i without the two first, the onward march of Otago will ho slow indeed. Viator. I Bendigo, March 18, 1872.