The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2764, 27 December 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1871.

Amongst the little known papers read at meetings of the New Zealand Institute is one from which we have before quoted “ On Mining in New Zealand,”

embodiment of a series of lectures, containing much valuable information. Few persons who have not paid attention to the geology of the Colony, would be prepared to believe in its vast mineral wealth, only waiting to be utilized, and it must be remembered that the known must of necessity be only a small proportion compared with the unknown. Dr Hector only proposed to himself to explain in a condensed form, the dillerent mining operations which have been commenced in the country. He does not enter largely into the reasons wh} r some of them did not succeed, not does he say too much as to the prospects of success. We think Dr

Hector quite right in being thus cautious. He knows well that so maii'y unexpected events occur to prevent the success of apparently the best founded mining schemes, that his own professional reputation might very easily suffer, through unsuccessful miners throwing the blame of failure upon his shoulders, instead of on thenown mismanagement. In a Colony so young as New Zealand is, there is a tendency to enter into mining with incomplete appliances, and with insufficient capital. This remark applies more to other minerals than to gold. Gold lias peculiarities connected with it that tend to cheapen production. It is a concentration of value into the smallest possible mass of matter, it needs no heavy cost ot carriage

to bring it to a market. it is no sooner obtained than it becomes available for reinvestment. No tramways are needed to cheapen transit so as to bring it within the range of price at which it can be sold. An ounce of pure gold is worth within a few pence the same weight of gold stamped with the royal warrantry as to value. It is convertible at once into food and clothing. Successful gold mining, therefore, is an immediate and permanent advantage to a country, and should have a degree of skill and intelligence brought to bear upon it that has not hitherto been deemed necessary. Dr Huctor says—tl I would remark that all mining in- « volves a certain amount of specula-

■“ tion ; and if, so far, the adventures “in this Colony have not been in “ variably successful, yet when we con- “ sider how very limited and fitful the “ attempts have been, and the few “ localities that have been tested, it “ must be admitted that there is good u evidence that New Zealand is endowed with a fair share of mineral “ wealth. At the same time we should “ not forget that, unless we have _ a << thriving population, minerals will “ not increase the real progress of the “ country. Many of the richest “ mineral producing countries in the “ world occupy a very inferior position ,c among nations, and it is only when “ the development of mineral wealth “ comes as an accessory to other pro “ ductive industries, that it is a real “ advantage to the country, by afford- “ ing employment for labor and manu- “ facturing ingenuity.” We have given the extract in full, although we think

the Doctor, in the paper before us, proves himself a better geologist than social economist. Other reasons must be sought for non-development of mineral treasure than those he suggests,. With the sole exception of the precious metals, the probability of success depends upon the cost ®f conveying produce of the most abundant mine, however easily worked, to a market. Coal may be picked oft' the surface of the ground, and yet be unsaleable at a port through cost of carriage. Copper may be tound in profusion, and yet prove a loss to miners, it is by no means necessary on the other hand that the market should be a local one. Precisely the same argument would apply to ftax and wool : yet, for those products a valuable market is found at the antipodes. If the produce of the mine can be disposed of at a profit, mining operations tend to create that thriving people the Doctor assumes to be a prior condition to success. No country has ever yet risen to eminence without the help of the produce of the mine. liven the Phoenicians of old were aided in their progress by the mines of Sarepta, The fact is that commercial position is of equal importance with mineral wealth, and it is Just this advantage that New Zealand possesses. There can be no valuable mineral product situated at such a distance from a port, when our railroad system is developed, as not to pay for working, and the thriving population will always follow successful investment of capital. Dr. Hec .tor has correctly described New Zealand mining as fitful, when conducted by guess instead of being guided by knowledge, and a judicious application of means to an end. Agriculture does not escape this character, as it is conducted in the Colonies. .Let any one go over the farming districts and say how it can Ijjb otherwise, when the land is allowed to be overgrown with weeds, and when no system of manuring is followed. The great want in New Zealand is an appreciation of the value of applied science.

by Doctor Hector. It is in effect the Until this is realised, our progress in nil the arts of life, as in mining, must be fitful.