MONDAY, DEC. 28, 1896. THE MINING BOOM.

Hastings Standard, Issue 206, 28 December 1896, Page 2

MONDAY, DEC. 28, 1896. THE MINING BOOM.

There is a free flow of printers ink in painting the collapse of tbe mining boom. The journals that have seen fit to deal with the subject, have done so in a supercilious manner, with just the faintest touch of venom in their outpourings. The theme of the whole crowd is " We told you so," although not a single paper was able to advise its readers when the collapse would occur nor are any of them able to say how long the depression will last, and whether there is to be a revival at all. First and foremost in discussing this question we must settle the point whether or not the mining boom has collapsed. We say no to this. There is 110 collapse in mining, but there is the natural depression due to circumstances that are easily discerned. What our contemporaries term a collapse, is merely a fall in prices of shares and a disinclination on the part of speculators to furnish business for the members of the Stock Exchanges. Prices are down and business is flat, and that becomes something extraordinary to the leader writers. '• The boom has collapsed," •' the mining market has burst," " the bottom has dropped out of the market," are the fiery phrases that some of these senseless articles contain.