WEST COAST MINING.

Kumara Times, Issue 2850, 20 November 1885, Page 2

WEST COAST MINING.

MR. C. MALFROY INTERVIEWED BY A REPORTER. [From the Dunedin Evening Herald, November 12.] With a view of ascertaining the unvarnished facts about the mining industry on the West Coast we have interviewed Mr C. Malfroy, Mayor of Ross, who is on a visit to this city, Mr Malfroy's right to speak as an authority on this matter requires no other verification than the statement of the Premier at a recent meeting in the Chamber of Commerce that he is "one of the most experienced miners, and one of the best mechanicians in the colony." The following is the information Mr Malfroy has to give regarding the mining industry generally and in his own district in particular : Reporter r What is the present state of mining on the West Coast 1 Mr Malfroy : Mining generally is in a depressed condition; but when the season is favourable, and there is plenty of water, the returns are generally fairly good. ** R. : Are matters worse than they have been ? Mr M.: It cannot exactly.be said that mining is worse than usual, because it is always spasmodic. The Government races have done a great deal for mining in our parts—such as the Kuraara arid the Waimea. We are scarcely so well situated in Ross, as we have uo public works on our side, unless it ia the Mikonui race. That unfortunate work has been in hand for the last 15 or 16 years, and some £20,000 has been spent on it. Some of the early work, owing to the delay in completing the race, has fallen back into its natural state. The Government should either finish the work or leave it alone, as at present they are only paying interest on capital invested in a wholly unremunerative undertaking. Last session a vote of £IO,OOO ivas put on the estimates for the work, but it was afterwards struck off, and a scheme that will probably cost £60,000 to finish has at present only six men employed upon it. The Government at present are just playing with the matter. R. : Will the race be of great use when it is completed 1 Mr M : The Government have been dilly-dallying so long that a great deal of the ground has been worked, but there is no doubt that even yet the race would give a great impetus to mining in our district. R.: You stated at the outset that mining was rather depressed in your district; did you refer more particularly to the number employed in the industry or to the yields? Mr M. : To Both. There are some powerful companies, who hold large areas of ground in our district, and who keep them locked up. They do not carry on operations to the extent they should do. R. : For what other reasons is the gold indnstry depressed at the present time? Mr M. : The yield of course has everything to do with it; a few good finds now would revive the whole thing at once. Besides, the miner has a lot of difficulties to encounter. For land which is of no use for anything else but mining he has to pay a rent of £1 per acre per year ; more than the purchasing value of the land. Then he has water and other things to pay for, all of which come very hard on him. Then he has a special tax of 2s an ounce gold duty to pay. R. : What are the grounds on which, you would advocate the abolition of the gold duty ? Mr M. : Yoa want to encourage local industries, and I maintain that goldmining is an industry which should be encouraged above all others. The product of gold mining never gluts the market; there is never a growl about over production in gold. But the gold duty instead of encouraging the industry tends to drive people away from i\ Now, for instance, if we take last veat's rtsturn there was £9OO 000 worth <f gold exported from different goldfields in the colony, and a rough estimate of 'he dnty ai. G! p--i .£ would give £22 ; 500 as the amount levied on the.

gold industry of the colony for the year The greater part of this money is no doubt returned to the districts for road making. too., but these works after mining is done are used by the agricultural population, and are a permanent improvement to the country, and 1 do not see why the mining industry should be specially charged with the whole cost of them. R.: Apart from this does not Parliament vote large sums for the development of the mining industry ? Mr M. : It is true that a sum is placed on the Estimates yearly for the purpose, but it is seldom spent. Last session £30,000 was placed on the Estimates, but it was ultimately reduced to one-half, and probably not £IO,OOO of it will be spent during the current year That would amount to a subsidy or barely 10s on the amount taken from the gold-mining industry by the local bodies. The gold miner is the only producer that is directly taxed in this way and I think it would be to the interest of the country that the tax should be taken off. For instance, millions have been spent on public works, and. every shilling that is saved to the agricultural and pastoral interests in this way is a clear gam to them, and for which they bear no special tax. The real barrier to the abolition of the "del duty seems to be the Upper * House. Though we have a Minister of Mines, who shows every disposition to look after our interests in the Lower • House, yet there is not a single member of the Upper House who can be regarded as representing goldfields interests. , . . • .i R • You hold, then, that it is m the common interest that the gold duty should be abolished? Mr M. : Every one must see that it ia to the advantage of the colony to foster gold-mining, and town representatives should assist the goklfield members in bringing about the abolition of the duty. However poor wages miners make, it ia all doing good to the country in finding work for consumers, and the gold they get comes out of the hidden purse, as it were, of New Zealand. .. R.: Does the gold duty bear heavily on the individual miner] Mr M.: It does. Say a man earns £2 per week, he probably will pay £1 of that for water, and then he has to pay Is duty besides, thus leaving him only 19s. *He is thus made to pay a heavy tax on every £1 worth of gold he takes from the ground and spends. R : Everyone agrees, I fancy, that the discovery of a good goldtield would set the country up again; what are your views on this matter? * Mr M. : That was what brought New Zealand to the front in the past, but discoveries cannot be expected to be made if no enterprise is shown. The youn« people do not seem to take to prospecting as the old stagers did, though no doubt a good find would give a fresh impetus to people. R. : Is there much unexplored country in Westland ? Mr M. : There is a large area of country in Westland to be explored that nobody has the least idea of the character of. It is so densely timbered that you cannot see the surface except in the gulliea and ravines. There is no comparison between prospecting there and here in Otago. R. : What else do you think should be done to encourage the gold-mining industry besides abolishing the duty? Mr M*: The Government have now adopted some very favourable rules for encouraging prospecting, and I think if these are given effect to, and care taken to have some competeut and industrious person in charge, that in all probability some important discovery will be made, and that is after all what will give the real impetus to mining. Then, as I stated pretty fully at the Chamber of Commerce, I believe the East and West Coast Railway would be a good thing. It would enable surplus labour in the slack season on the East Coast to find employment in mining on the West Coast, and vice versa. It would also open up some valuable resources of the colony. R. : What justification is there for the general dissatisfaction here with West Coast mining investments? Mr M. : That is a question on which I feel rather strongly. Where n-.iniug is carried on honestly, no one should fi-nmble about losing his money. There is a great deal of risk in the matter — you may either lose a lot or make a lot, bub where money is legitimately expended in works, no one has any occasion to growl about the loss of it. There might be a fair prospect on the surface, and a few feet down there mi"ht be nothing, and jnst the reverse might be the case. People have no more ri^ lt; t 0 grumble about losing money in mining than ihey have to grumble about Lrin- it in hid specnfatwas, tot of the mgnoy lost ia

mining speculations is the result of shares" being bought at a high figure and suffering a fall, but mining proper <*ets no good out of that, and has no ri«ht to be blamed for the loss. Another great drawback to mining is the fact that the mines are frequently loaded with a large amount of nominal capital, which prevents, a decent dividend being paid, while if interest had only to be paid on the money actually expended the return would be very satisfactory. R. : I take it that you think there is a great future for mining ou the West Coast ? Mr-M : I have not the least doubt that mining on the West Coast will yet be one of the gieatest sources of wealth for New Zealand. Apart from gold altogether, specimens of all kinds of minerals have been found in different parts of the Coast—silver, lead, copper, and a,host of otheis. It may take a. loug time to develop these ; but, judging from the character of (he country, of the final success of the mining industry on the Coast there cannot be the slightest doubt.