THE GOLD OF THE SEA.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 20 July 1901, Page 4

THE GOLD OF THE SEA.

It has been calculated that every ton of salt water in the sea contains one grain of gold. If any means could he devised of extracting the whole of the precious metal from all the oceans of the world, the company that worked the business would be in possession of one hunderd and seventy-two thousand million cubic feet of gold—enough to pave every inch of Great Britain, and leave a top-dressing for New Zealand as well. If this sum were divided by a Socialistic Government each British man, woman, and child would have as their share 62(!7,000,000, or supposing the managers to he cosmopolitan in their sympathies, they could bestow £'7,220,000 on every person in the world. It would be rash to predict the consequences of such an acquisition. Even the mildest Socialist has not yet contemplated making every human being a millionaire. Of course, people would not be much more contented with their lot than they are now. Perhaps they would soon find themselves, like Midas, longing for something more eatable than gold. Wc might devise other plans forgetting rid of the awkward commodity. One writer in the “ Eoyal ” suggests making a million 4.7 guns of gold and firing off ten golden shots a minute, an ingenious and strictly up-to-date scheme, but still not altogether satisfactory. The sea, however, refuses to yield up its treasure, and the question arises whether it ever will, Not long ago the idea of extracting it excited the imagination in America and Great Britain, and there was a good deal pf discussion on public platforms and in the newspapers. Some enterprising people even went so far as to examine the south coast of England for a convenient piece of shore on which they might erect oceanic gold-extracting works. But anc of the company—doubtless a Scotchman—insisted on figuring the thing .out on paper, and the gold-extractors then discovered that every £'l of gold evtracted from the sea would cost £lO to obtain. The company promptly collapsed, and the gold is still waiting. All it wants is a twentyfirst century Edison with brains and machinery a century or two ahead of ours, and with the wealth of a hundred millionaires. With these few trifles, the enterprise would succeed, the world would be innumerable millions richer, the mines of Australia and New Zealand would soon be abandoned, everyone would be rolling in wealth, and the Bi-metallic League would vanish.