GOLD PROSPECTING

Hokitika Guardian, 7 March 1933, Page 2

GOLD PROSPECTING

•"; - i V»‘ '"V* ".’V •f*\ '/.;• *v :i •! \■ • .V A - • y*-’ i** -, .'. AS t >.•' •••A £*Y’»y > •»,. • IIE?/IJBF.~ OjF >TrtE .IJNEMP,LpYED. OUTLINED »/■ A. large and\ r#pr««antativa gath'iaflirig assamblad : -in th« County • Chambers lait evening When the , new'scheme, of the Unenipljpfymint Boardto place unemployed men* ■;. bn-a,definite system-of gojid pres- 1 pipictirig was outlined by- the Deputy - * Chairman ©f the Board (Mr. J.* S. •vy;

those-present wore Messrs ■£.\/A: ;3^urdopih,; (County- Chairman), G'.’ 14. ..Perry (Mayor of Hokitika), jphiisto.ni;XX)istr;ot Engineer, jp.W.D.), 1' j : ' G. Sytes (Inspector;' Of; Factories), • MoCluiky, (local’unempioyment otfioer), ■T*l Cagney (Commissioner of Crown '•'W. J.}/Radford (managing Ckpl«l'‘ipSre!^P^ r Gip'.), ;W. Jeffrie?, T. it. Qhestjerman, ■ M. Keenan ■'Hyndjinfn/l W.'-Boyd,V %■ H?enan, .-fit/ ’IT Warren, G.- Sutherland, J.' J. Mclntosh apdtF/ tiSpwman '(Prospecting Association), D. ' Evans, (County Clonk); and It. Cox (Postmaster). - . ; Tltb /chairman (Mr Murdoch)' said thfV &&#?>.-ytyy pleased ;to - s?e aUch a . rpp^aenfatiye, gathering. qf active, dxppfiehced/ gold , rjiiher*; tiy« \o|. the/ hwd»e*». community, and jg'enerAl.intereatp. s He jtie?sed/the im» pbiyed v }n connection-fjfith’the administration o| by. ’.saying that > ■ the Mmaater in charge, realiy took.'.his: mie .ftoip’lMr'Jessep’: Ip ’'other-‘pari* f of Tl(erw, Zeal{ind /where Mr Jessep had been/ there had! ' been' heartening resljlts. ’ The 'Opaet was really the; home of /ftido' mining, /ever 'since tHe early dsijia, .and ;in the .'past, ’.and .eyen- : today; ip, smaller /nieaspfe, : it. bad bbnefitted considerably from;'-'/g01d..,. <He wa4‘ theje still a . lot/pfc, gold ;to.;be won on the Coast—ip( .the/deeper lpvelsi';; and V. in other localities) where;*it; had been ’bvfii.’lopksJ>y experienced /men dp ; the; enrljer days/;' Quite" valuable ifnlis had;.rtemit]y/been in the. Itosis, ffnd ,-districtsi ,• there • were deep levels whicji ,;.he‘ considered, copld .quite •profitably- bo workfsd.. ‘. \ / " “ s - 1 ’ 'id - '

G&ntiftwing ;W r : Murdoch , said" that hefw» 'pleased' was t^lcipjr-snich an 'active interest in/ and ; devoting > Bis • attention ;to the rpyiyal ibjfygold; mining;, generally. • ffite Ranted tb .bring under, .notice;that,; while they - dfsirpi to co-one ratp to the very e^tpßjjti/iii.'./the"/schemey 'prbr, ■'■n|ul'g&tcd ‘ byvMir: J^P!?». ; :Bo Mped that pHyaW'i enterprise. would not - .be for* gotten: 1 V . ' very <pl©aeed *to he ( m Hokitityi again, hut 'sorry that,he had heen iinabjo jto -make his Visit" earlier,, as he' ;/ had. at’bir. territory coyer, it wait- yeiry. :h | l®a£iiii''-t<>! jremArhs; ; Jle(the, speaker), hadcoroperatipn on the ;.€dflet;j aliid' jiehitfdi)o;. had'; .gpnp/ He want to; dwell, , ; Ott the guestion of .unontployjjgneiit to any extent. It was a theme , 'of Much they were .'K¥a|id£/ too much, ‘ arid which: was apt to ibbdoine idepfetsf : jjig. However he ; would like tb mention it briefly to the magnitude task Board'.’ ' The : .first reportion thb unemployment question; was meant ,to f deal . with a .v totah bf only SO,ooo,"and then i30,Q00, and later' ;4.0,CC0." NbvV, tho total was ~7Q,00Q /meny.'who, .through, .no .fault of theirown, were 'unable to* follow ' their ordinary Inisi ness,- and who were a ! ttfOih: on the public.';,»There r > were . many' men,/too,', rctr' dh relief whose' were very close to those who were, oil relief, ' . i ; The Act, he said, called to create • work- 1 It was the Board's intention to concentrate .on the creation -of employl ment, rather than the relief of un- ; einiploynient, but this was very difficult to follow out. While. employment' was • being increased in one industry, unemployment- was growing in othere. i But in gold nrih;hg, 7the ; more engaged, .and successfully, •' the better it was all round. Ih this district -the first great industry was' gold, which was'follbw’ed by; coal f and timber, and then farming. Now everything tended 'to back to gold- /and, I ', in -this, the Board was designer g to assist. In the

.past 26? years- industries had advanced, a?i I while imich progress had 'resulted dn machinery, fewmodern applica-

ticas ’had' been introduced into min■ir g. •> Cfenerally speaking the machinery yr.j Lilith 'old, while iny the present day factory..it' was quite.up to date. The .basis of allgood' bu-.iness was

'to prepare the ground carefully, and * in gold mining,’ the area had to be tested thoroughly. ' • The ‘ Board’ intended to ?; cooperate jwith ..county' conncils^in testing the ground. r : He,'wanted to stress the fact that the .'Board dad not wiyh to check legitimate private - enterprise,' which wao also helping to solve the problem, h-jt on the'other hand, it'might assist in thiß directmn. ■ To undermine the sturdy snirit. of the pioneers, and the old miners was -far from their .idea.. • *' Fifteen- months> ago the scheme with the count-v . councils was;- started. The; idea was thqtaq executive committee of Council'/should be formed in order’that the' Unemploymen t Board might function through the Council, as it was only through a public body that'the scheme; could.‘be-, undertaken. Members of the Council would have a 'fair knowledge of which were the wddb- likely .harts where- men might h* engaged profitably.- The--hnemplor-pd • Were *oht ouj under the-charge

.f " ' -.v'' v . . '. > • S , ' ? -• * ' « • *f •; ; of, appointed by the.. Coun'.cii: When the ■■ scheme' was . first' introduced; there Were many.difficulties in the ;way, but. they were/gradually < 6vei cbine,' 1 Mr.. J eAsep. detail ed ' the 'progress' made with the scheme in .Otago;. Hundreds were working who, •at 'first i knew nothing of -mining, but ..they' had .been taught there, ; and had soon './picked . up.; sufficient knowledge. They w r erenow keen, and,, above all, -they’ were working, and retaining their ‘manhood. They were no-longer among .the ranks ,of the unemployed- but Were ‘ .practical miners. One of the of mining .was! the -psychological effect that it-had on the man/’.. "

A.. few days ago, he had come to •Maud Creek. ..Seventy men had gone out ;on to the Maggie, but the results were not encouraging. Only a few or them were experienced, and one day one of them went. on to the Maud and found a. f&W pennyweights of .gold. The'.remainder deserted the camp and followed -him to the Maud where all were reaping varying successes. How many hundreds, and •thousands of such' gullies were there going to waste on the Coast ? Thesupervisors would be in control of. the men who would work as the supervisers wanted them, but experienced ' men would need little supervising. He was of the' opinion that there was a lot of ground in the buck, country which was well worth a trial, Where it was inaccessible it would be the Council’s work to form tracks. The, supervisers would virtually bo under the control of the Council executive, . while • over them Would be » mining engineer or engineers-' 1 :

Continuing he sajd that ,it would -pe@d a Very remarkable revival in the industry to abpQrbAtjm whqlip of the unemployed jn the' four main centres. There would be' no limit to the extension pf the scheme, provided that the areas were ' worth while, as it meant that- the men would be off relief, and. doing > some valuable practical work, while the Board’s funds would be expended iff much the same manner"' as if the men were still on relief. Quartz mining was a phase of •the - industry ’which ' would require more careful handling, and skilled menSurely, it was not .impossible that there were many more reefs which would be equally ■as profitable as those already discovered. What the Board wished this Council to do wag- to elect an executive, and elect supervisers to. he paid by the Board. The equipment for the men, or for the' opening up of tracks would be supplied. The Board w<iuld make a nominal grant to the Qpuneil. for their < provi sign. The key to the whole position was a few experienced supervisers and the co-,

operation, of the Council staff. “This,’’ •he added, “is a rough- outline of the Board’s scheme.” The County covered' * very-large area'*, a.nd the Council might, -want to enlarge its/ executive, hr to appoint i .Teffries thanked Mr Jessep for his explanation ‘of tire scheme. He said that he had 'ah "inward conviction .that/if the proposal were put into effect, it 'should have, good, farreaching results; Hp agreed that, as far as the West Coast wag concerned, chilly .file ‘surface had heerv touched for th*» recovery of gold. -.lf. ‘modern machinery wore used excellent results must be obtained in the future. The .%vboine would have a . 'good ,'effieict

pn the men who ’would • thereby be enabled to maintain • their independence.' H©. was sure that the Council would give the,Board its,fullest support. He hoped that Mr Jessqp would be able to report to his Minister that Something definite had been achieved liern. •. /Mr Lawn v on . behalf of .the Prospecting Association, welcomed Mr p Jessep, and said that they had been i looking forward to this visit for 8 long time. They were,not a big body, but they had just “kept at it” all the time. At present they had about £3OO in hand while they had received, a generous offer from Mr Radford, for which he wished to take' this opportunity of thanking him publicly. The Association included active, minors, with years of practical experience, and their knowledge .and advice, together with the use of their , drill would- be at the services of the executive.

Mr Jessep said’that the manner jn which the Association worked in with the Council was a matter for local arrangement. He suggested that they might have a representative on the executive.

Mr -Lawn assured him that- the (Association would work in with the Council in the best manner they could.

Mr Chesterman agreed with the provision of supervisors for the men. Since the old-timers.had-knocked off, lie said, the yoiinger generation had got away from mining, there being many other attractions, arid now that a lot of unexperienced young men were wanting to go back to, and take ,up mining, the services of experienced supervisors were needed. , Without them it was no use going out- as the average prospector did not stick long enough to. find out- for sure whether a place were payable or not.

Mr Keenan endorsed the remarks of previous sneakers, and referred to the necessity of providing tracks for opening up now inaccessible country. He urged that attention he paid to the Wataroa, W-ilberfore and Boss Road localities, of, which the latter had scarcely boon prospected. Mr Perry pointed out that the chief reason, why the men had left their claims in the old days was because there were more remunerative avenues of employment open to them. Now, however, gold was worth more, and there was no avenue of employment so little affected by market fluctuations. Mr. scheme was practicable,

and would be proved bv work. He had no doubt there there were many places which would be well worth trying if only they were accessible. The scheme was ,one of the best yet put forward. “We want to get the men off relief work on to something really productive.” The psychological effect must' be considered, and they must do what they could to help .the men to be’ relieved from the Government. Mr Perry hoped that Mr Jessep’s visit Would' be an incentive for the men to work along the lines laid out. He had every liqpe that reward would be met with. Mr Evans said the scheme was very feasible and practicable. There ,yvere several things he desired to knpw: What part did executive play? What were the wages of the supervb'sersi? Would the men themselves receive the same rate of pay as they did on relief work. How many men would there be in the partise? Was there any restriction of localities or distance? The Council would be meeting next week", and if he were in possession of all . details, the Council could get the men out in a very short time. In a- way the scheme was really toe good to Im true. If carried out as it should be it would cost a lot, but there was every hope of a good reward.

Mr Jessep said that he did not expect that it would cost the Council any more than at present-. There would be no limit to the scheme if it were definitely associated with the number of men who needed it. He hoped the West Coast, would absorb the whole of its unemployed, end more from outside. In Central Otago, they were going in off relief work at the rate of fifty a week from the outside. If th*e Council could absorb another 400 or 500, the Board would supplement t-heir funds to meet the situation! The supervisers would be paid, at the rate of £3 a week, while the men would receive 30s and 15s a week respectively as now, or perhaps a little more in some,.cases'. The executive ' would be allowed fairly wide latitude, and would be treated as a cotrustee by the Bool'd. There would be innumerable difficulties, but those could be straightened out. Mr Newman, spoke of the possibilities of. quartz mining. He said, however, that wherever trace.? were followed up they wore found to be ultimately buried by a - slip. He also ■ referred to the advisability of having a mate to work with in, the .back country. It was time something was done, he said. They had been waiting for the Mines Department .to give a lead, but nothing had been forthcoming. In reply Mr Jessep said lie fully understood ; the difficulties of working in the high country and the-necessity for a mate. Tracks wag the most important question. In fact the a.b.c. of gold prospecting was good facilities of access. With regard to quartz mining he had been reading old reports of activities on the Coast and each conpipdqcl with the tag,, “we. carried on, through so. and so, but the company’s funds would not permit of the work being brought to u conclusion.” Ho hoped that before they were finished with this scheme new fields would be' opened up' which would be good for years to come, Mr Heenan asked if those, men who had been receiving relief work would oe able to get 'aii extension of time under the new scheme. Mr Jessep said that this was one of i

the . most cumbersome questions. Ini-

mediately the new system came into force, all the men would become the employees of the Council, and ; would be put on for a period without limit, except -until they found themselves in a position to keep themselves, or go back- to other relief labour if they were no good on the gold field, but the percentage of the latter would ■ be very small. ' Mr Warren dealt briefly with quartz mining, and referred t 0 the difficulties facing the man to-day, who goes out and gets a few pennyweights, but on visiting the bank, has 12/6. an oz. taken off the standard rate, and a further 10 per cent, if he has an endossed license. Could these charges be placed against his subsidy instead of his actual return which was often so small? Mr Jessep: The 12/6 is more than balanced by the rate of exchange. Mr Warren; Yes, but it is taken off immediately. I have been asked by several miners to bring this matter up to-night. After the reductions are made, the miner is left with very little with which to carry on. The same speaker said that he had been assured that the sales of gold had gone up by 600 per cent, locally. Mr Bpyd also stressed the point raised by Mr Warren. Mr Jessep said that it seemed hard to 'immediately deduct the amount.

Even if it were worth while, he thought it would be difficult to tackle the question at present. The Board’s . object was to assist .the men to get more gold, which was a better solution.

Mr Mclntosh agreed that it was a timely visit. There was still quite a let;, of gold, but it was more difficult to . secure than in the early days. They had the men willing to search for 'it, but they required financial assistance. "It’s money we’re short of in West-

land to-day,’’ he said, and added that lie ■ understood that Mr Jessep was there to offer some sort of financial assistance. The credit system to-day was not so elastic as in the past, and f or that reason, at any rate, more money was needed to further the industry. “It helps a man to keep his independence if he is winning the gold,” he added. Ho was pleased Mr Jessep was present as it gave them some encouragement. He hoped the Council would be able to select good cxnociertcod supcrvisers. Mr Mclntosh' spoke of the Blue Spur district which, lie considered, in com-

- liion with many others would be profitable if the Humphreys Gully race could be extended to give play to a hundred heads. A long extension wa,s not needed. Private enterprise had been unable to take it up, so perhaps the Department 'might. Others would vouch for the possibilities of these terraces. He honestly thought it- was worth looking into. Tile speaker concluded by expressing -the hope that the Board’s scheme would bear l'ruit. Mr JAssep, iii reply, said he muen appreciated the welcome that had been extended to him. Sometimes lie did not gdt‘a Welcome in connection with his work on unemployment. It seemed a hopeless task seeking work wherein men might be placed profitably. In the cities tilings were now just about at a dead end. On the Coast there were immense possibilities. The Board did not anticipate being wholly successful in its-new scheme. If only one venture in ten were successful, the Board would feel that its ends were achieved. Regarding insurance lie 'said that the men would each pay 3d and 6d a week, and would thus be covered. Individual miners were prospecting for themselves, but, when they were engaged by the Council, they became the responsibility of that body. “It is only the unemployed man that the Board is concerned with,” contin- ■ ued- Mr Jessep. The independent man must still battle for himself. We wane to relieve you of the unemployed man. .This is not a revival in mining so much as relief for the unemployedj and it is only eligible men that we can

assist. Mr Murdoch questioned a statement by Mr Jessep regarding the appointment of mining engineers over the supervisee, and asked why a goed local man could not bo appointed instead of a Government official, “We have nad Government' men before down here, whose work was not worth their salt, and .whose reports were not worth the paper they were written on,” he added.

Mr Jessep replied that there was a dearth of mining engineers in New Zealand. Four engineers had, recently been appointed. “In this connection,” lie said, “the brunt of the work will be carried out by the superviser and the men themselves.” He did not think they would have any difficulty on that point, and the staff of the Public Works Department would always be available.. . Mr Murdoch: Give us a man like Mr Johnston, then. Mr Mclntosh said that there were quite a number of good, experienced men whose services and advice would be very welcome and valuable. Moving a hearty ~yote of thanks to I Mr Jessep, ;Mr Murdoch said- that he believed that a very, important epoch in the history of mining in Westland had -been' marked that evening. The motion w r as earned and Mr Jessep expressed the hope;that the.scheme wpuld soon be in operation. The appointment of an excutive was deferred to the mdetitig of the Comity Council next Tuesdhy, 1 Mr McOluskey has stressed the utmost desirability that* in putting this scheme into effect, first preference should naturally be given to local men, ,and. that men from the outside should not . come lierp immediately expecting to get work ,on the subsidy. When the, local men are absorbed full attention can then be paid to those from beyond this district,' and ft is suggested that outsiders should first make application for work under the scheme, and not arrive here practically destitute. In months ’past large numbers of men have tramped the length of the Coast after arriving from the other side, seeking work and the majority, being unsuccessful, have returned, after adding to the burdens of the various! unemployment authorities who have been striving to do what they could for the local men out of work in tlie respective centres.