TASMANIA.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 713, 13 August 1870, Page 1 (Supplement)

TASMANIA.

— Amongat the latest papers to hand we select the following general remarks upon the prospects of the mines in Tasmania, from the JEfobart Town Mercury : — The mining prospects of the Colony are not at the present moment of the brightest. Doubt and uncertainty may be said to be just now the characteristics of our mining enterprise. To say that none of the ventures now being prosecuted are paying expenses, would be as wide of the truth as to say that any single enterprise is being prosecuted with thoroughly satisfactory results. It is not so much " hope deferred " that we suffer from, as from a consciousness that we are r .not making the most of our ad vantages— that, in a word, mining has hitherto been conducted more with a view to business in the share market than to working the ground in order to test its real worth, and this not for the purposes of a day, but for the establishment in the first place of a permanent industry, supplying working-men with the means of earning daily bread for themselves and families, Snd it may be "laying aside something lor a rainy day ;" and in the next place as a means of investment, in which the capitalist may place his funds, not for gambling purppses, buying in to-day and selling out to-morrow ; but for developing our mineral resources ; and after paying a fair day's wages for a fair day's work, securing for himself a very handsome return on his capital ; it may be in many cases making a fortune. This is but a simple statement of what a gold field of even ordinary richness is capable of effecting- if properly worked. This has not been done in Tasmania." It has, in fact, scarcely been attempted. A few well meaning enthusiastic speculators —we use the word with no offensive signification — have joined this or that venture, with the intention of sticking to it ; but what are they among so many ? Their co-partners look for something immediate, either unfavourable to depress stock, that they may buy, or favourable, that they may sell out at a profit ; and those who fail to avail themselves of the changes in the market see their property sacrificed, or, at any rate, their wishes thwarted, that the stock of the Company may be made saleable. Legitimate enterprise is thus injured. Within the last year the last year the mineral wealth of Tasiriania has forced itself on our notice. A short ago the idea of gold being found in payable quantities was looked on as a fancy. It is now an ascertained fact ; and though people believe that some time ago they regarded with the utmost scepticism, we have not made that progress as a gold producing country that we ought to have done. We have got paying Gold Gelds, but have we jet discovered' as auriferous a country as Tasmania contains 1 We cannot tell, and why 1 Because from the manner in which mining has been carried on, the working miners have not receiyed sufficient encouragement to spread themselves over and prospect thfe country. ; The next year or two may, make as much change, and in the same direction, as has been* witnessed for the year or two past. Meantime the advantages we admittedly . possess should be subjected to a better and more judicious trial. Were any one, possessed of scientific and practical knowledge to be asked his opinion on any of the gold fields of which we speak so much,

and on which we do so little, he 1 would, there can be little doubt, say that to each of them there is a bright future. That there cannot he, unless there is also the present means of obtaining wealth from the earth in which it' is deposited. We do not obtain that wealth ; and the conclusion, therefore, is that we are possessed of that which we : fai^Q utilize ;. that in short the gold is there, arid we do not raise it. We do not Accept it as any explanation of the present' insufficient working of the gold fields, that some of the alluvial companies aregettinggoodreturns. We might ask, are they working their ground to the best advantage and making all of it they might ; but if we are to have prosperous aud permanent alluvial diggings, we must not be cbhtent with surface scratchings or shallow sinking. These have in other countries been soon worked out, and so will they be here, unless the • rich treasure is sought and found at a greater depth. It is the same with quartz mining. Waterhonse, if not itself an extensivegoldfield,formsallnk of an immense extent of auriferous country. But taking it in its most limited extent, those whose opinions are entitled to weight, and who speak with no interested purpose to serve, have no hesitation in saying that it has never yet got a fair trial. We willingly acknowledge the obligations of the Colony to the pluck and enterprise of the promoters of the United ' Tictorian and Tasmanian Quartz Mining Company. But for what they have done, auriferous quartz in paying quantities in Tasmania would have been still a problem to be solved. They have solved that problem, and laid the foundation stone of Tasmania's future as a gold, producing country. But they have not done for themselves or the Colony all they might have done. With their management otherwise the public have nothing to do ; nor are we aware that there hat« been any grounds of complaint. With their mode of mining it is different. The public have no right to dictate or interfere with the directors in the course of mining operations being carried on ; but the public are interested, and will not hesitate at expressing its opinion on that mode of mining ; and that opinion is, that the system hitherto adopted has had in view present results, rather thaa a systematic and thorough opening up of the mine.i What has been aimed at has been to get as high fortnightly returns as possible; to give the mine a character ; and if possible to pay a dividend ; and the directors have no doubt been very much urged to this by the shareholders, who were naturally anxious to prove the United a good speculation. The supposed run of gold was thus more looked after than the efficient working of the mine. A private company with sufficient capital, looking on the claim as a permanent investment, would not have so worked the reef. Regardless of any immediate return on their outlay, they would have worked the ground, so as to do it to the greatest advantage, keeping more in view a distant date than the present moment. They would not have neglected the sinking a main shaft that they might by underhand stoping secure & few hundred ounces of gold at the expense of impeding the future working of the mine. Their neighbors, the Alliance" Company, may have exercised a. wise prudence in confining their outlay to a Chilian mill ; but an enterprising owner, satisfied, of the wealth of his claim, would as soon have thought of - tooting -fch^ stdtia by a pestle and mortar. If mining is to prove with us a success, those engaged in it must not expe*ct to be rich all at once. Unless shareholders in private or public companies, are prepared to lay out money, and to lie out of It for a time, they but purchase disappointment to themselves. We would, have intending investors to think well . what they are about doing. If their object is to take stock in a company that they may without venturing anything, sell out as soon as the company is successfully floated, let them for their own sakes, and the good of the Colony, abstain from joining the venture. To reap, they must sow. The gold fields will never be proper!/ developed, nor will those engaging in the work do so successfully, unless the principle- is acted on, that money must be laid out before a return is obtained.