MINING NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1132, 14 March 1872, Page 2

MINING NEWS.

[l<aOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Ah auk a, March 13,

Every other care and business appears to have given place to the discussion of the exciting news from Reefton arid the Inangahua. Scarcely anything else is talked about, and matters which a few weeks ago were looked upon as ali-impor-tantj are over- shalSowed byi" the reports of the new quartz discoveries. Not that the older claims look any better than • they did, or that they* are a whit more valuable intrinsically .than they were twelve months ago, except in one or two instances, but it ia the frequency and reported richness of these new discoveries, extending over such a vast area of country that creates the excitement. A continual stream of traffic is passing upwards.all day long, and returning irom the new land of promise, loaded,: not like the Israelitish scouts of old, with enormous bunches of grapes, or monster gooseberries, as example of the exceeding fruitf ulness of the future dwelling place of the wandering tribes, but with wallets, full of "speciments " of another kind, are eagerly questioned and cross-examined as to: the accuracy or otherwise of the almost incredible rumors constantly circulating. That extensive, discoveries of auriferous quartz deposits have been made, and are likely, to be made on the Inangahua,. cannot be denied ; but there is nothing yet found that will justify the furore now existing. It should be remembered that there have only been ; about lOOoz of gold obtained yet from quartz on the Inangahua ; and' it should also be borne in mind that the place is now nearly two years in work. ] The first prospecting claim for the discovery of auriferous quartz was granted to Thomas Cooney and Company for the claim, or a portion : of it; now known as No. 1 north on felly's line of reef, and although the certificate of registration of this claim was afterwards cancelled at the Warden's Court, Ahaura,. the ground has "been constantly worked ever' since, and the only admitted yield of goldirpin it is some trifle over 3oz, said to be crushed from one ton of quartz sent from the reef ;tp Victqria to be tested. The prospectors' claim on Shiel's Reef was oponed a month or two after Cooney's, and : although the outlay made on the. property up u tp this time, cannot be far, short of i>IO,OOO, the actual yield of gold amounts to nothing. It is the same" with other claims, and therefore it is no wonder that people who are uninterested, except in a general way, are inquiring the cause of the present mania. There cannot be a reasonable doubt that the claims mentioned, and a few others, will eventually pay splendidly, but how many such claims are there on the field. Everyone who holds even an infinitesimal interest, in a piece of ground anywhere within cannon-shot of one, of these good, or fancy claims, is looked upon in the light of a millionaire in prospective, or at till events he looks upon himself in that light. But what foundatiou is there for all this uproar? These remarks are not made with any intention of depreciating the few good claims which are opened, or of undervaluing the importance of the quartz discoveries'.,. But. they are, niade.,w.ith. a view of showing the great danger to the future prosperity of the Inangahua gold field it-, self, by oyercrowdiqg it at the present stage, to the alarming extent of the rush now ?oing on. The class who Me bleeding so freely at present are just the men who are always "to be had " on similar occasions— cute and cautious small tradesmen, who would, to use an extreme vulgarism, " skin a flea for the yalue of its hide," in the ordinary affairs of businessare always among the foremost in these headlong races for death or glory ; glory being the ultimate possession of ' a divi-dend-paying claim, a glorious consummation which usually takes place in about one in every two thousand instances. After all his available capital is invested in the purchase of a share or an interest in a good position, the habitual caution of: this class of. investors' returns to him, and it is at this time the mistake is generally made. It often happens that during the excitement he meets a greater fool than himself, and that he could sell at a good profit if he choose, but he doesn't, and makes up his mind to hold on to what he. calls "his luck." He scrapes and saves, and . begs and borrows the where withall to' pay his calls ; because machinery must be had, and -an immense amount of preliminary unproductive and expensive work must be done and paid for, and at ; the end of a year or so his means run out 'and he is com pelled.t^seil for leaa than he could get at first, Tjiis is supposing a case where the property is ; intrinsically valuable, and. it merely requires a large outlay to develope it,- but it happens far-more frequently that the claim is not worth the four half-crowns it cost the original "discoverers" to register it in the garden's books. This has happened before, and how frequently those who lived through' any of the great quartz rushes in other countries best know. The rushes ampngst others to. Tarrangower, Inglewood, Tarnagulla, and Wood's Point,: in Victoria, affords thousands of instances where men with small capitals were ruined by rushing into ' speculations beyond^ their- reach. Now, it may be asked, does anybody make money at quartz-reefing ? Very few at it, but great fortunes have been amassed in connection with.the.pursu.it. The shrewd capitalist who treats a quartz mine as he would a cargo of potatoes, i.e., merely as an article of commerce, makes money at quartz- mining. He invests his money when money is scarce, and then "hedges." He can afford to wait until there is a demand, and prices rule high, when he disposes of a portion of his interest for what the whole of. it cost ; he can then doubly afford to let the remaining portion " lie fallow, " because it owes him nothing. You never find one of these men continue long a shareholder in a "progressive" quartz mine, where the outlay is going on for years without any return. Another class of persons who sometimes make a haul during a quartz rush are the " carpel-baggers," who make their appearauce as suddenly and unexpectedly as if 'they dropped from the clouds. These are generally "brokers" in every sense of that convenient word. They hire a sentry-box in " some good business situation, andthey assist to float companies innumerable, of which they are not the " legal managers," butjthey are the financial advisers •of the legal managers, or rather the managers of the legal plunder. They are iiaiially to be

seen Twzzing about with pockets stuffed full of; papers, and with an air of important business occupation, as if the ommercial safety of the place depended on them. They disappear on the first sign of a collapse, but they always manage to feather their nests by virtue of that clause in the Limited Liability Act, which empowers the promoters of companies, no matter of what description, to demand so much per share on application and so much on allotment." The only other class who become rich by quartz-reefing are the original discoverers who continue at work at their claims, or in personal supervision of them. .These \tnen have great opportunities of investing their money to advantage. They are. always on the spot, and when a share is put in, the. market they can form an estimate of its value, and in like manner they know theproper time to sell and turn their scrip into cash. ..... The miners in the alluvial . districts are mostly idle for the want of water. A small rush took place on Thursday to a terrace near the upper town - s at . HalfOunce. There are two claims on gold. The Warden has decided to recommend the quantity of gold-mining leases at the lower end of the Half-Ounce lead, and the Colreavy party are about applying for ten acres. Itisoniy.by some such concession as this that the lead will ever be recovered again. • • There is nothing; fresh at the Teviot Ranges, beyond the bottoming of another shaft, which will more clearly iidicate the position of Ohe deep ground. *■■;: The tenders for making the road from Ahaura to the Little Grey Junction are closed, and the names of the 1 successful j tenderers are, for the first section, White | and Garth ; forthe" second, John Tracy ; and for the third, terminating at t£e Junction, J. Kitchen: The chances of . getting the road made from the -Arnold to Ahaura appear to be as remote as ever. Mr Dobspn was supposed to have recently visited the district with special reference to this road, but nothing was done about it. The winter will soon be on. again, and with the increased traffic on the already bad roads travelling will be something dreadful. ;• y There was a rumor last week that Mr Mackley, one of onr representatives .in the Nelson ProyincM.{(Douncil, had resigned, but no a^thprit^tivS communication from Mr Mackley announcing his resignation . has yet appeared publicly. The, names of several gentlemen who woulcL make eligible candidates for the. doubtful honor of Mr Mackley were spoken of^ but it seems to be the general "opinion that should a vacancy occur in the representation of the district,::it would be. a ; fitting protest against the mismanagement and incapability of the Government to allow the seat to remain empty by not electing a member to fill ifc~