The Fohangina Reefs.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1499, 5 November 1885, Page 4

The Fohangina Reefs.

We take the foHowingjeitract ftprb an article m to-dny'a; Ckftnicle > which putß the .matter m 4. ,yery ,f air . ;light,:-~ With, regard to the Pqhangina ,dj»coyerf iesjit is reaiVymarvtllouß howpibrdißienl have been the attempts. to deery 1 th'eiul If'ttie^rpmoterßi lhid''Weu f njakiug the most 1 of tests of^foreign- BpeCiutens, $ had given to the public falseiepbrts of ■the tests; ; with". -the view; of "/floating companies,; systfcfu of detraction that has .been, pursued; ..would . hare been undeWtandabTe. \Ms' n ° ln l ' ing of the sort has been , the case. v No companies have,. been "' floated;; and no shares are m the' maS^et/ The promo* tors have experimented' on their own account and at their. own cost, and the least thafc.the pfets and" the : public can, be, i fejcpected, , , to ;do is ; to wait with patieiice the fullest, inyusjtigation and tjhe,,m f Qßt^.bßolutepropf before, th.ey proj ceed to cdadeuin" 'that winch at present they can know 1 very little' about. Thej original promoters comiuitted an erroij of ju\fgln*rit m not iuaking known the, result) of- th« Melbourne test as soon »i it was received ; but it was merely anj error of judgment, and nothing more? X was certainly a matter m which tfiey were entitled to exercise thoir own discretion. .They sent the stone, to Melbourne it their" own expenseV tand what it produced was certainly their own business and-nqbody else's : unless they ohose to maice Unknown: Doubt has boen thrown 'oh the ''private tests; but the best answeris that tests have buen, raaide, \n \ all .^an^ina| dtone, picke/i <jp mi •different place's; , and! that the r^ultei have been publislu-d wilh equal freecJom whether they -have ibeeii.gootl, bad, or f indiffti rent..; < lif ipne case the result was so : satisfactory to^lie asaayer himself that he , immediately made^ up a party, visited the gfbund/aud marked out a claim, and followed* it iip b^ applying fcir a' lease. 1 It mayl safely be taken for granted that the gentleman m question would not have gone to allthe expense thereby involve^ if he hadr not felt highly satisfied with the result , of the test applied m. his own estajilishment. We may say that to our miud it as been made abundantly /clear that the'Pohangina stone contains both gold and silver. It has yet, however, to be determined whether the precious metals are to be found m payable quantities, and for that reason it is satisfactory to know , that the cl.aim-hq.lderß. . m., tye district have joined Jog«jther to gt* t out a top fit stope and.send it.to^he/rhaniea for testing. It would be loojtish for anybody W incur aliirge expenditure on 'the faith of the tests that have' been' maHe up to the prespnttimiß ; butitwouldibe equajly silly. to, condemn, and-r abandon the field .before a test on ,a larger, and more satiafactbriy. scale has been, applied, i;n the VipeVntime ,' let the field . a,nd its promoters have fair 'plfcy,' and' let' thfefli be judged by results that, whether good or bad, bahnot' be "gainsaid/: '■ if ' '" il