A Faithful Servant

Feilding Star, Volume VIII, Issue 66, 4 December 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

A Faithful Servant

Now that the Globe has become the quartz claim not only of Reef ton, but also of the whole West Coast, it is curious to note how narrowly it escaped being a disastrous memory in mining to a great many, serving merely as a door to open another claiui' with a new and attractive name. Ami probably so it would have been hud the reef been discovered by a '•smart" man or a dealer hi " wild uatH." For the reef ,vh'u:h ha* caused such v furore in mining circles is quite outside of the original lease area. Just previous to tho late discovery the Globe was practically defunct — dead an a door nail. The shares were without a quotable figure, so low kad they fallen. Some thousands had been forfeited uti'l thrown back on the hands of the company ; thousands mor« were sold at public auction and bought in at up> uny each. A costly plaut was O'i the ground, but crushing after crushing had given practical proof that the a tone could not be made to pay with th>* very best machinery. The outlook could not be well more dismal, ami further operations ceased. The richest and most confident of companies soou gut tired of working at a loss. One of the hands employed in the mine was kept on at a small wage to act as a caretaker to prevent the plant receiving any injury. It whs this mau who, in pottering about the surface, came acr«»*s a cap of aurifei--OUB quartz running 1 east and west, a very uiK-oinmou feature in any par o; the Eeeftou district, ax the lodes are generally in a northerly direction, the run 01' country being flanked on eitln-r side by coal foimai ion. Instead of the wages man taking up all the available ground bet Wf mii the Ulobe and the Oriental for himself — -and there is a large lump of it — as h« might hnve done — he took it up certainly — but only to preseut it to the company, by whom he was employed. The result we all know. From being the value* less aud unmarketable stock it was a a few days ago, the Globe has sprung into eminence, and bids fair to be the best mining property in this Islaud. It is reported that the company intend to make a present of £500 to the wages hand who thought more of their welfare than of hifl own. Wo only hope that rumor does not in thin instance belie them. The thousands he ha. thrown into their pockets can as yet only be speculated upon ; but the difference between a penuy and 80s — about the value of shares at present — may be easily computed. How much more they may run up to, and how many years they may hold their place in public estimation as an investment will no doubt he told by-and-l»y. Hut we should imagine that whatever vicissitudes are before the claim, so long as itß name is kept afloat, the man who was the means of putting it on its legs once more should at least receive a decent reward and always find a job on the property. — G. B. Argus.