The Hokitika Guardian FRIDAY, JUNE 2nd. 1922. PROSPECTING.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 June 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian FRIDAY, JUNE 2nd. 1922. PROSPECTING.

The almost forgotten tusk oi prospectinjr in Westland was revived at the Loctil Bodies Conference at the Town Hall on Wednesday night. Th e paper read on the subject met with general approval, the only criticism offered being I bat the pfopbsnl was iiot ahlbitiolls enough and should cater for an expenditure at least double that pioposed iu the estimates. As to the general question it must be admitted that the Government and local bodies alike have neglected their obligations with regard to prospecting: This country Is very highly mineralised. yet iio research is going forward at all- The secrets of nature—valuable as they must be—are undisturbed, and at the present rate of progress only sheer accident and not design will reveal the Stored uj) mineral wealth which tile geb. legists tell us is about us: This is a reflection oil oUr energy ahd_ business thpacity, ailil is nob in keeping with the enterprise usually displayed New Zbnlslnd iir other respects. Perhaps Ihte coldness wliibh has bonlributed to this is diie to the fact that the legitimate miner of the old school is passing litvay and he has no worthy heirs to take his place. In the circumstance, a better lead should be given by the Government. There is -an organised State Department, equipped not only with the official but also tlio'scientific service to carry on practical work. More should be done by the Department in a comprehensive way to forge ' llie goldminiug industry ahead. The discovery of gold ill this country, and in particular the great wealth easily won on this Coast was the chief factor to give New Zealand its first leap forward. Without the magnet of the gold discoveries New Zealand—outpost as it is—would have remained long in the background of the oversea countries. That, however, is so palpable a fact that it need not be further stressed. Coming to what has been proposed here, the general idea is a good one. It proposes to found operations on the work of tin- experts in the past whose reports have never been used by the Government in a practical way. The reports cost a great deal of money, and the information should be utilised. At Wnilii lately, the Government geologists have been engitged in a practical way and according to a late statement of the Minister of Mines, valuable results are to follow. Here th*. same satisfactory returns would follow if the experts took up again the work of exploration where Dr Bell left off. The officer was able only to touch tile fringe of the great question, but he has done enough to. lay the foundation for practical work now. On this subjict we notice that a correspondent writing to the •‘Auckland Herald" says“l read in the papers during the last few days that the Government of Western Australia had organised a large prospecting party of a dozen or so oi men to go out into the backbloeks of the State and prospect for gold. The men were to be paid sufficient wages to provide for their wants while out, and any gold discovered wa s to lie equally divided between the party and the Government. I think this is an example our own Government might very well follow. A strong party sent out to prospect over the Coromandel Peninsula would be very likely to meet with some success. The discovery of a rich gold find on any of our goldfields just now would do more than anything to revive the drooping fortunes of the community." The same idea was developed in-the paper read at the Local Bodies Conference and the outside endorsement of such a scheme as has been proposed might well he taken up. Now that the whole subject of prospecting has been broached, we hope the matter will be followed up with the object of hastening practical results.