MINING IN MALAYA

Hokitika Guardian, 11 April 1931, Page 3

MINING IN MALAYA

USE OF LARGE DREDGES. DEPTHS OF 120 FEET REACHED. Some interesting details of tin mining in the Malay States were related to an "Otago Daily Times” reporter In* Mr R. J. Turnbull, who for. tnc past IS years has been engaged in Malaya in the production of ibis metal, an dwho is at the present time a visitor to Dunedin. New ZeaJaiuUrs geiierni'y are familiar with the bucket dredge with winch most of the alluvial goldfields in this country have at one time or anauother been worked, but few of those wfm have heard the protesting nimble and screech of the endless elm in ui buckets as they dug into the 26 lector sp ol' wash and overhead burden have envisaged a plant capable ol .scraping the bottom at 120 feet ami turning over 20,000 cubic yards per month at a. cost of approximately twopence per yard. The special difficulties which Imve been encountered, however, in mining tin in the Malay .States Imve demanded dredges which could treat ground of this depth and dispose oi a barren over-burden extending in some 111,stances for liO feet at a rate which would make the treatment of tin's type of country a practical possibility. The engineers have met the challenge ol th"ir mechanical ingenuity and skill, and the result has been huge floating machines embodying every known device for the dredging and saving of the tin ore. which in past years has risen to ~mh a price in the markets of the world as to render its production the most important industry Tit the Malayan States. With such means at their disposal for handling the great alluvia! deposits to be found over a considerable portion of the country, numerous companies have come into the field most of them possessed of large financial resources, and have placed tin* industry on so sound a looting tTmr C oa.dnotion has more than equalled demand, with the result 11 ■• 1 tin ha.-, slumped on tin* markets, and those <.nslnmped 011 tin* markets, and those engaged in mining the ore Imve been faced with a period of fairly intense depression. But the almost endless uses to which tin is put in modern life precludes ,tl] ( . possibility ol its commercial value remaining long in the doldrums aim Air Turnbull was oniifidcnt. that the industry had many years of prosperity before it in Malaya.

\F\Y ZEALANDERS AS ENGINEERS. New Zealand lias a special interest in Uii mining in that part of tin* world by reason of tin* fact that many men I mu this country occupy responsible. 1 ositions as engineers and experts w tli tin* various companies operating trine ami, indeed, it may he said that much of the success which has atteiiwieU their efforts has been due to tin* experience* which the pioneers or »<> dreding gain on the goldfield o'l New Zealand and Victoria. Bracticaity •• !! "vailnble mm of this type have hetr absorbed, and Air Turnbull stated that most of tile younger men who were being attracted to the industry were* drawn from Scotland where they had received that engineering expere* which under modern conditions was so essential. these men received a commencing salary of round about about £39 lor month in ■.x.iclition to which they were provided with free housing and amusement, by the companies by whom they wer * emp'oyed The climate, although hot and damp, was fairly healthy for Europeans, and thanks to the preventive measures which were being adop*ed, malaria was becoming increasingly rare among the white population, Formerly few women had accompanied their husbands to Malaya, but now with the provision of the amenities of civilisation many are taking up residence 111 the country. There was still however, a large proportion ol single men or men who Imd left their wives at home, and club life was a feature ol Malaya generally. The country was really remarkably wealthy, and life normally was gay in the larger centres where men of all nationality and creeds mingled in their pursuit of business and pleasure. The fall in the prices of tin and of rubber, the production of the latter forming the only other important industry of the country, bad hit the whole of Malaya very hard and many of tin* rubber companies had recalled large numbers of their stalls, with the results that the depression was being keenly felt but Mr Turnbull was confident that it was only a question of time till the usual air of prosperity was in evidence.

CHINESE AND INDIANS. A considerable proportion of the pop illation, Mr Turnbull stated, was composed of Chinese and Indians wbo were engaged mostly as traders and coolies and did most of rlie manual work. The was an extremely easy-going Individual with an aversion front anything in the nature oif hard work, although as a chauffeur or in charge oi machinery he showed himself to hi* intelligent and conscientious. The Government was nominally in the hands of native rulers, hut actually the real power lay with th eThitisli residents, whose control of afffairs was, genera* 'v speaking, entirely satisfactory and the only one possible with a population so mixed and containing such backward elements. Incidentally, Mr

Turnbull remarked that in 1 Iticieney and dignity it appeared to possess a considerable superiority hut that wh 1 is ill present in power in New Zealand. A point which Mr Turnbull regarded as being more than ordinary interest and importance to this country was the possibility of utilising dredges of the typo at present in use in .Malaya in once again exploiting the goldbearmg lands of Otago and oilier provinces of New. Zealand. He pointed out that with the depth at which these could operate and tin* Tinge amount of ground which they could turn over at a much lower cost than was the ease 20 or 30 years ago, it should now be feasible to work many areas that in the past it had been necessary to neglect. With the fall in the price of most commodities, gold I ad actually risen in value, and many of tin*' big English mining companies wen* anxious to secure concession which offend a piospect ol a reasonable return on the capital invested. Mr Turn bull was of the opinion th;*.l a revival of interest in gold mining in New Zealand, through the employment ol large 'dredges, was a distinct possibility, and one which would be highly beneficial to the country.