The Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2636, 29 July 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1871.

It is scarcely possible to imagine a more striking contrast than is presented between the Provinces of Auckland and Otago in the matter of gold mining. We hardly know which condition is preferable—the over-excitement m the one Province, or the deadness in the other. In Auckland the whole population seems animated by a speculative spirit. The price of shares is made of more importance than the price of bread. Calculation seems out of the question. People do not buy for investment. They stake their money on the probable price of the Caledonian shares on the morrow, just as gamblers risk their gold on the color of a card. As far as we can gather from the decriptions we occasionally get of the mine, rich as it has been, there are not the prospects of continuous yield. When first the diggings in Auckland were discovered, it was said that the gold was found in thin veins of quartz, which were occasionally lost, and had to be recovered by driving. Such mining, however rich when the vein is reached, is precarious and precisely of the character to induce and foster the the gambling spirit that, apparently, pervades the whole population. Such a state of sociely is very demoi’alising. Habits of settled industry are destroyed, for people look more to chance than work for making money, and live in a state of unrest, knowing well that their fortunes depend upon the analysis of a few tons of earth or rock. That such is the case is evident from the wild fluctuations in the prices of Caledonian shares. No sound principle of investment can justify running prices up to £215, and within a fortnight “ bearing ” them down to £loo. The whole system must be rotten, as such unhealthy excitements have ever proved to be from the time of the South Sea Bubble and the Dutch Tulip Speculation to the present day. There is no solid basis. From the nature of the ground, no estimate can be formed of the extent of auriferous rock, and, necessarily, the first break in the continuity or a deficiency in the richness of the yield creates alarm in the minds of those who have paid high prices for their shares. In such a state of affairs there are always men in the district ready to take advantage of a turn in the market. Sellers at high prices, they are buyers at low; and, living npon public credulity, they become adepts . and co-conspirators in creating the fluctuations by which they live. In all probability, there is as little reason for the fall to £IOO a share as there was for a rise to £215. In both cases the unsuspecting or unpractised will suffer. The share speculator is quite as remorseless as the gambler, and equally ready to teach the uninitiated a practical and expensive lesson. But undesirable as is such a state of society as that of Auckland, the deadness of Otago to the development of mining is hardly less detrimental to progress. Mr Reid said in the Provincial Council that he was afraid the extent of auriferous ground in Otago was over-estimated. He may have reasons for this fear of which the public know nothing. In all probability there may have been an over statement, assuming that the term “ auriferous “ ground,” means ground that will pay for working with present appliances. But it seems somewhat singular that though accounts have been received of discoveries of auriferous quartz, the yield of which has been reported to be from one to two ounces to the ton —an ample margin for profit, and for large profit, too, for working—we make no progress in quark mining. We have no doubt

that such a prospect, if known in Victoria or California, would bring men hither who would know how to work the reefs to advantage. It seems to us that what is wanted in the statements is reliability. When there seemed to be an inclination to invest in quartz mining a few years ago, the inhabitants of Dunedin were fleeced by men, who i by false representations, induced them to take shares. The lesson has not been forgotten, but it has not been “ improved ” —to use a clerical phrase. We hold it to be one of the functions of a Provincial Government to ascertain the real value of the resources of a Province, and to institute such inquiries as will enable persons desirous of investing money, to do so without being placed at the mercy of men who are interested in exaggerating advantages. When, therefore, quartz reefs were reported here and there throughout the Province, their extent and value should have been so far approximately ascertained by careful scientific examination and testing, as to enable capitalists to invest their money with confidence. Until this is done, our goldfields will be comparatively unworked, or bo thrown into the hands of ephemeral visitors like the Chinese. Had intelligent attention been given to surveying the capabilities of our quartz reefs and alluvial fields, our coal mines and other mineral resources, and had the result of the examination been published with the necessary information as to the facilities for working them, and the means of transporting their produce to market, instead of seeking theoretically after enriching the settlers by alterations in land regulations, the Province would have been far advanced in riches and settlement. We have been sitting with folded hands, theorising upon these things being done by private enterprise and forgetting that the Government can aid private enterprise best, by adopting means for giving certainty to investments. Are we to continue to sit still or shall we rouse ourselves to exertion ]