THE Evening Star. FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1933, 16 July 1869, Page 2

THE Evening Star. FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1869.

There is something very exciting in the accounts received from Auckland of the yields of gold there. Every mail that arrives from the North brings news of enormous produce, of transfers of shaves in claims at fabulous prices, of investments by great men, .and of the success that attends the labors of prospectors. It would not be surprising if-some of our mining population, dazzled by the glowing accounts that reach us, should imagine that they can better their condition by giving up the certainty they have in Otago, for the prospect of becoming rapidly rich by some lucky hit in the North. Experience has shown that it is useless to point to the ad van age, as a rule, of Steadily holding: tst to the good in "possession, in preference to running after the vision of wealth that is conjured up by the success of others. It must riot be forgotten that the gold fields of Auckland are not what are termed poor men’s diggings. For years it has been known that gold was to bo

found in the Province, but very little success attended the labors of the miners. The diggings languished, and while Otago was yielding its riches to the thousands which were working its alluvial field?, the Auckland goldfields , scarcely gave‘"back wages. A change I has taken place there, and from the last accounts speculation seems to have run mad. But this, so far from oeing a healthy sign, is a beacon to wain those who read of it not to be thrown off their guard. It should never be forgotten that the reports of large yields are only frequent repetitions of the same fact. Were each correspondent writing from Auckland telling of different finds in his narrations of the astonishing yields from quartz claims at the Thames, there would be great reason to think that investments in labor there, would be certain fortune making. But the half-dozen different newspapers in reporting the produce of the Long Drive, or other claims, do not tell of different facts, but of the same fact; and the scores of letters that appear from time to time in different papers only corroborate their statements. The true test of the value of any industry is its effect upon wages, and there is nothing in the rates paid in the Province to justify the idea that the goldfields of' Auckland have yet proved sufficiently extensive to do more than give employment to the population. The fact that long preparation in the construction of machinery, and the consequent outlay of large capital are necessary before returns can be obtained, in great measure accounts for this. The success that has attended the opening up of several very rich claims, will no doubt tend to induce less caution than before, and lead to investments that will prove unprofitable ; but those will not be blazoned forth to the world. The richness of the successful workings is chronicled : but the failures can only be guessed at. Few care to think about their losses, much less to tell them to the world. The consequence is, that the drawbacks to the probabilities of success are not known. All looks fair and beautiful. Taking into account the yields reported, there is no reason to imagine that quartz mining in Otago might not be nearly as profitable. What have been the hindrances to success in this Province we can only guess at. When the Scandinavian and other reefs were tested, there seemed every reason to believe that working them would prove remunerative. From different parts of the Province reports have been published from time to time, that crushings have given two ounces of gold to the ton, and although the Thames goldfiields in some instances give as high as fifteen ounces to the ton, and occasionally in patches more, it is not considered a poor claim that yields two ounces. In Victoria very much less than an ounce per ton is made to pay very good dividends. The truth seems to be, so far as Otago is concerned, that those reefs that were likely to be payable were attempted to be worked with too scanty capital, and in not few instances fell also into incompetent hands. But worst of all, capitalists have been deterred from entering upon gold mining investments, because they have been misled by interested projectors. It is unfortunate that there is a class of men, who, sometimes, led away by their own sanguine temperaments, but in many more instances by a settled design to benefit themselves, whether or not those that they induce to join them sink or swim, take up the management of mining companies. Themselves incompetent to judge, they contrive to pitch upon some incompetent mining engineer. The capital that judiciously expended would have yielded rich return is wasted, and those who have entrusted them with it are left to bear the loss. This has been Victoria's experience—this has been Otago s experience—this will be the experience of Auckland. From every report that has been published by competent men on the gold deposits of Otai'O, there seems no reason to doubt that little more has been done than to pick up that which can be obtained with comparatively little labor. The few that are now engaged on the diggings represent only a fractional part of what they are capable of supporting. What is really wanted is, that, so far as quartz-mining is concerned, practical and reliable men should be engaged to test the different reefs, and that then sufficient extent should be allowed to any company that might be formed to justify the outlay of capital in an investment that would become permanent as far as mining interests can ho considered so. The raining population have stood in their own light by the jealousy with which they have viewed the application of capital to gold-find-ing. They have acted in the spirit of the agricultural laborers at home some fifty years ago, who thought that thrashing-machines and other improvements would throw them out of work. But that there is ample room for capital and science combined to reap a harvest jn Otago from gold-workings,

there cannot be the slightest doubt, Mr Eyton, in his prize essay, says of the West Coast and Otago —“ A con- “ siderable extent of country has been “ worked by individual exertion in an “ inefficient kind of manner, by which “ much gold has been lost; but woik- “ ings on a large scale, when capital is “ to aid labor, are comparatively few. 11 Nevertheless, there appears to be “ ample room for capital. My infor- “ mants tell me that there can be no “ doubt of the existence of extensive “ alluvial deposits of an older date “ than those found upon the surface, “ and that ‘ men and money ’ are the only requisites for maintaining, 01 “ even increasing, the yield of gold “ from these diggings.”