The Evening Star. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3670, 26 November 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1874.

The following article was published in the * Melbourne Argus’ of Saturday, November 7, and is so pertinent to the condition of mining in this Province that we prefer publishing it entire t® commenting upon it :

The decline of mining is a subject which is attracting the attention of many of our country contemporaries at the present time, but, so far, they do not seem to be able to give anything like a clear explanation of the causes of decay! Some of them, wc think are looking too far away, whilst others confine their attention to calling upon the Government to do something —that familiar cry of the argumentatively titute. From inquiries which we have made somewhai wide in their range, we are disposed to think that the decay of mining as an industry in this Colony is due to a number of causes, the chief one being the gradual but sure decrease in the quantity of gold readily obtainable. A little consideration will show that this is the true state of the case. M’hatever views may be held as to the distribution of gold in quartz lodes, it is impossible to deny the fact that a largo number of our lodes which were at one time extremely rich have been abandoned because they cannot be made to pay. Foi tunes were made by quartz-mining in places which are now wholly or partially deserted, and the lodes were, as a matter of fact, worked out. X lie gold did not go down with the quartz, or at all events the lodes did not pay for working as the depth increased There are many more examples of this than most persons siqipose, and it is easy enough to see that mining must decline just in proportion as the field of adventure becomes more limited and less rich. It is quite true that there is no discoverable rule by which to connect yields with depths, but neither can it be denied that hundreds of quartz lodes which once paid have been abandoned, and for only one reason, because they could not be made to pay any longer. Untold riches may remain in these lodes still, but who is going to look for them ? Ihere is a sort of tradition amongst miners, that if capitalists could only be induced to take up these abandoned lodes, they could be made to pay well; but the miners take care not to back their own opinions with their own money hut prefer very much to call upon other folks to risk theirs. The alluvial ground is, of course, worked out in most places, and no longer finds employment for thousands of men Exhausted alluvium .and a restricted area of quartz must necessarily greatly reduce the number of miners at work, and bring about that gradual decline about which so many complaints are now heard.

But the point rather seems to be that mining has declined to a greater degree than the exhaustion of the auriferous material warrants The goldfields are not only dull, but duller than they ought to be, The assumption is that something- is wrong somewhere, and that that something can be removed if we can only find out what it is. To this end the Gois asked to step in and try to put matters right, which is about as hopeless a proposition as we have heard for some time, though we have had some curious claims made in this Colony, Ihe fact is that mining mainly requires to be severely let alone. The auriferous hke the agdcuitural laud is getting locked up! chiefly through the non-enforcement of what is understood to be the law. We warn, too, those who expect a revival of mining from a mining on private property law, to be prepared for a disappointment, urgent as we deem such a law to be. The truth is that, so far as the decline in mining as an industry is unnaturalgreater than the condition of the natural objects of the industry warrants—it is the result of over-legislation or bad and expensive manage ment. The manager of one company at Sandhurst estimates that L6OO a-year is taken in the shape of duties; another non-dividend company pay L 250 a-year in the same way • T n , ™ IU lai 'S e quartz company consumes over L 4,000 worth of dutiable articles annually, these are examples of over-legislation for native industry, to which must be added the legislation which allows the auriferous Hnds to be shepherded under mining leases. Bad management is, of course, ultimately expensive management and both result from the general carelessness of shareholders, and their Simple faith in raining managers. The money squandered annually in utterly useless and expensive works is something enormous, and the cost of working is, in many cases, quite out of proportion to the results obtained. It is the small things which make success or failure. Attention to details will often change a loss to a gain, calls to dividends, and all, perhaps, through the supervision of one man. To all this must be added what we must call dishonesty, which includes concealment of the truth, and the working of a few shareholders for their own interest, even, sometimes, to the ruin of the general body. This is far commoner than is supposed, and has prevailed alike at wicked Ballarat and most guileless Sandhurst, as too many know to their cost. The truth is that really competent, honest mining managers are very scarce. Ignorant men, yet confident (as most ignorant men are), have ruined many a promising venture, and are at this very moment making ducks and drakes of the money of confiding call-payers in the metropolis and elsewhere. Half, or more than half of tho failures are the result of b.ul management, and it is a fact quits well known to this t-’fcfooiifced tbat a venture, wjtji cVcejiefit

prospects, Ins been brought to utter ruin by a single incompetent man. Other racial causes also go to make up the general outcome of tininess. Work is carelessly and unfaithfully done; expenses are often twice what they need be ; and the workman, when he does not steal, often takes a delight in wasting the very property which he should save. Every experienced man knows that a tribute party, which finds its own materials, can work at half the cost of men supplied by a company, and can make ground pay which was only a loss to the original shareholders. Mining could be revived to-morrow morning, if industry, care, and skill, combined with integrity, could be made the general rule, though, of course, the gold could not be made to grow in exhausted places, and old glories could not be equalled. Still, we hold that anyone who closely inquires into the reasons for the present depressed state of a great industry will find, apart from the inevitable exhaustion of the gold, many moral causes which make industry less effective and management more costly than they should or need be.

There was a capital house at the Princess’ last evening, “ The Streets of New York” being received as enthusiastically as ever. “ Madelaine” and “The- Nine Points of the Law ” constitute to-night’s entertainment Referring to Judge Chapman’s late ad dress to tho Press Club of Dunedin, AD Wakebn, of the ‘Wairarapa Standard,’ adds the following note :—“The pre.-s with which was printed the ‘ Gazette ’ and the ‘ Spectator ’ is now employed in printing the ‘ Standard.’ of which Mr Wakelin is one of the proprietors. ” There was quite an exodus of witnesses from the Resident Magistrate’s Court today at the outset of the case of Aiming v. Martin—a test case arising out of the late Comet actions—when Mr Haggitt applied that all witnesses be ordered out of Court. The Court was then crowded, but in less than five minutes about fifty miners had retired. The case is likely to be a long one.

A case of sudden death was reported to the police last evening. A one-armed man named Henry Makeham, who is well known as an account-collector, went into Wain’s Hotel a little after ten o’clock and locked himself in a cliset there. Suspicion was excited by finding the door locked, and when it was opened Makeham was discovered to be dead. An inquest will be held torn arrow.

There were on view t)-day at the shop f Mr His'op, jeweller, Princes street, some articles which are intended to be presented to that enthusiastic pisciculturist, Mr W. A. Young, of Palmerston. They comprise a silver tankard and an elegantly chased and prettily-designed fish slice and fork. The inscription on the whole of the articles is - “ Presented to W. A. Y ung by his fellow colonists in New Zealand, in recognition of his gratuitous and valuable services in the cause of acclimatisation, 1874.” .'a specimens of Colonial workmanship, the things r fleet great credit on Mr Hislop’s establishment, where they were manufactured. A fatal accident os curred in Princes street opposite Messrs Guthrie and Co.’s saw mills this morning, Mr Robert Young, a farmer resident at Mosgiil, was bringiu* into town a load of oats in a dray drawn by three horses, and was at the time walking by the si ,e of the team, bomefchiug startled the leader, which was a young horse, and made it shy, and when Mr Youn; tried to seize its head it started off, an t, the other horses following, the unfortunate man was knocked down and the wheel of the dray passed over hia body. Mr James Cotton, who was driving by at the time, rendered what assistance he could, and Mr Young was taken to the hospital ; but, although conscious aud able to speak for a few minutes, he died soou after being admitted. Deceased was a single man, but has, we believe, a brother living in the neighborhood of Mosgiel,

At tho Resident Magistrate’s Court, Port Chalmers, this morning, Clifford Wright w s charged with having, during the year 1872, obtained a sum of money and board and lodging from George M'Gavin, of Dunedin. The police asked for a remand, as the prosecutor was residing out of town and could not be present. The case was adjourned until next Wednesday, bail to be accepted, the prisoner in 1.50 and two sureties in 1.25 each, the case to be heard in Dunedin.—John Davies, an ordinary seaman of the ship Mataura, was charged by Henry de Sbockar with having stolen a guernsey shirt, valued at ss, and was sentenced to seven days’ im pmonment.

An accident occurred to one of the railway officials on the Ciutha line this morning. At about 12.35 o’clock, as an engine with several trucks of earth from Caversham for reclaiming purposes, was passing along the railway line near the front of the Universal Bond, Crawford street, a young man named William Lake, stoker of the Rob Roy engine, got off for the purpose of unhooking the toll rope, when his foot got between the crossing or rails ; and before he could extricate it, the leading waggon ran over and completely crushed it. He was immediately t ik-n to the Hospital, where his leg was amputated below the knee. Some of the waggons were thrown off the line, but were so n replaced.

The 130 th meeting of the Permanent Building society of Otago will be Leld to-morrow evening.

It is only necessary to remind our readers that another of Madame Goddard’s concerts takes place this evening, when she will play Home, Sweet Home,” the * 1 Moonlight Sonata,’ and “ Songs without Words.”

rno m Pli i de , i Dun ® din li ° d o e » No. 50, M-u rr 11 e l s regular weekly meeting in Milton Hall, Stuart street, on Wednesday evening, when a good muster of officers and members took place. Visiting members were admitted from the British Hearts of Oak Lodge, No. 51, from the Guiding Star, the rioneer of Dunedin, Star of Freedom, Linden - Oolden Arrow, Arrow district; and from the Liiumph Lodge, Mosgiel.

We have received the report of the year’s proceedings in 187-<-74 of the Dunedin Naturalist’s Field Club, with balance sheet appended, liming as is the amount of the annual subscription, there is a small balance in the hands of the treasurer. Although the report inform* us of the statistics of the work done, the chief interest lies in the appendix, which gives a short description of each trip, and theresults are written by Mr P. Thomson in that graphic style which characterises all his contributions to, the Press. Ihe botanical notes on Gatlin’s District are by Mi- A. C. Purdy, and are interesting, not only on account of the recently observed facts rolated, but through giving a historical summary ot the doings of different botanists who have examined the flora of New Zealand.