The Evening Star SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2030, 6 November 1869, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1869.

So important is the development of quartz mining to the prosperity of Otago, that the Provincial Government would be doing the utmost service by encouraging it in every legitimate way. This proposition needs no proof, but the inquiry may very properly be instituted : V What must be considered legitimate 1 So far as legislation has gone, every opportunity is afforded for the formation of companies on such a principle that in the event of non-suc-cess, the limit of loss can be prescribed at the outset, so that no man need _ fear going beyond a risk perfectly within his own will to define. We need not point to the evasions of the Act that have marked the mining evolution in Auckland, The New Zealand Gazette shows that there is laxity somewhere in the administration of the law—a laxity that in all likelihood will be productive of future litigation. But this looseness Las been winked at by all classes for their own present purposes, and is only likely to be exposed by some who having become victims of the misrepresentations endorsed by public advertisement, dispute the liabilities to which in consequence they have become subjected. In this respect men must protect themselves. Where a law is laid down, it is for those about to avail themselves of its provisions, to ascertain whether they have been complied with by directors and actuaries who profess to have fulfilled them. So when a company declares that a certain amount of capital has been paid up, any intending shareholder ought to be able to ascertain by inquiry whether that statement is true or false. That, in the majority of instances in Auckland, the averment is absolutely false needs no enquiry—the lie is written on the face of the statements. The only duty of the Government with regard to the law is, to afford easy means of ascertaining the truth or falsehood of the statement, that so much capital has been paid up, and to require sufficient proof that such is the case before allowing it to appear in the Gazette . In the absence of such proof, that which was intended to be a safeguard against fraud is made the means of victimising those who may have considered themselves safe under the provisions of the Act. We do not wish to undervalue speculators. They have their uses in society. By their means riches are developed and enterprise fostered. Were no risks run, no wealth would, be gained ; but it is the capitalists to whom society must look for progress, and every precaution should be adopted to encourage bona fide investment by rendering it secure. The risks to be encountered should there fore be lessened as much as possible. One of the chief risks to which capitalists desirous of aiding in industrial development are liable, is deception with regard to the value of the material. The method followed by miners is rough and haphazard. A reef is discovered and prospected by knocking off a few pieces of quartz from the surface. Some of the fragments have a few specks of gold in them. That gold is present in the quartz, is therefore plain and palpable ; and because there is some seen, it is assumed there is much more that is unseen. Further search enables them to pick up similar specimens ; and these evidences, we hold with them, are sufficient ground for application for a claim. But in many instances, in Victoria they have been held sufficient to justify the investment of large amounts of money, in working reefs that have proved utterly worthless. There is to this day a strong tendency to put great faith in the dicta of what are called practical miners. It is undeniable that men of sound common sense who are engaged in a specific occupation for a series of years, must attain to a greater knowledge of it than those who have had no experience in it. And there have been marvels in genius who, like Brindley, have constructed works requiring all the skill and knowledge that education can confer. But admitting their powers of observation or calculation to have reached the perfection that ordinary men arrive at by cultivation, there are so many instances of failure on record that the opinions of practical men should always be verified by the more reliable inductions of science. To the neglect of the use of

means available in the present day, as well as to doubt in the ability of scientific men to give sound opinion, many notable failures ate attributable. One of the most striking instances of the latter class is the attempt made in Victoria to obtain coal at Cape Patterson, where thousands have been vainly spent. A practical man persistently, for years, urged upon the Government that a good mine was workable there. Mr Selwyx, the Government Geologist, was instructed to investigate the ground. He did so three or four times to satisfy different Administrations, and in his evidence invariably pointed out that the seams were too thin to be profitable, and that the dip was under the Straits, so that the depth from which the coal had to be dragged would preclude the possibility of profit even assuming that the veins increased in thickness. His advice was disregarded ; practical men saw what was hidden from the eye of science, and have had to pay the penalty. Nov/ it is the reliability of science that gives confidence to capitalists to invest, and much security would be given in the development of quartz mining were the actual value of different specimens attested by an authorised and efficient analytical chemist. There must be several in Dunedin equal to the task. Government authority is accepted in matters in which deception is far less possible. Land surveyors am named whose surveys the Government will accept as reliable, and we see no reason Avhy a person or persons should not be appointed to whom reference may be made, and who shall be responsible for a correct analysis of the mineral products submitted to them for examination.