Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1881.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 183, 3 August 1881, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1881.

The annual report of the Secretary for the GOidfields has been laid on the table of the House, and, as usual, Is a very interesting document, m showing the progress made in mining, the most important of all our industries. The report gives most eatisfactory information relative to the growing activity displayed by prospectors as proved by the opening up of new fields, the area of ground known to be auriferous having largely increased during the year. But while the restless pushing prospectors are at work in all pai-ts making new discoveries, the steady plodding miners have been ceaselessly engaged in turning to account these already made, and the result of their labors is shown in the large increase in the yield of gold, the returns for 1 880 showing 1 7,784 ounces, valued at £79,144, mere than was obtained in the previous year. The Nelson fields share to a small extent in the increase which from them was 229 ounces more than in 1879. The total amount exported for the year ending 30th Jnna last, was 114,036 ounces, valued at £45(5,319. The whole amount exported since the discovery of the first goldfisld in 1857 is 9,G59560 ounces, the value at which i>. set. down at the very respectable !i-tlr. -inn of .£37. 8i0,653. The best year smoe 1857 was ]Sb 6 nnfen the export was 735,376 ounces ; an-1 the worst was 1860 when it was only 4538 ounces. On tbe 3 1st March last there were 15,036 men employed in gold mining in the various parts of the colony, their average earnings, as ascertained by dividing the yield by the number of workers, being £76 8^ per man. For the three years it was £81 2s ; £75 10s ; and £97 10s, respectively, or for the three Years 1877-81, £82 7s 6d, being slightly in excess of Victoria* where it was £80 15s per man There are now ten million acres' in the colony over which the miners have a right to Bearch and mine for gold, and to occupy such portion as they may Beledt for either residence or mining purposes. For ihese privileges the annual charges to which they are subject are £! for miner's right, and £1 per acre as rent for ground held on mining lease, in addition to which there is the gold export duty of two shillings per ounce. The total receipts from theße sources reach £49,000 per annum. As an instance of the amount of labor expended in gold mining it ia stated that no less than 5000 m les of water races have been constructed privately on the various fields in the colony, which, together with the tail races and dams which form no essential adjunct to them, represent a value of very nearly £800,000. In addition to these there are tbe Government water races and dams which have cost in construction £450,000. The alluvial diggings still continue to yield tbe larger quantity of the aold raised, two-thirds of the whole quantity for the year haviDg been obtained from them. Mention is made of the workings on the beaches, and it ia stated that about a couple of miles north of Charleston there is a little colony of Shetlanders, who have settled down there with their families, and who divide their time between cultivating their miniature farms and washing out from the sea send the very fine gold which, after certain weathers, they are found to contain in very fair quantity. Some of these beach claims are of very great value, and "as much as £250 has been paid for the transfer of the right to work a few square yards of what, to a casual observer, would appear a flat patch of barren sand and nothing more." There are similar workings on other parts of the west ccast of the Middle Islnnd, including Karamea, and a place called Mormon Town a few miles north of YVestport. A table attached to the report shows the number of tons of quariz and cement crushed during the year, aud the amount of gold they have yielded, the total quantity of the former being 80,455 tons, and of tbe latter 88,878 ounces Ths Auckland Btone is by far the most auriferous, 720 tons at Coromandel having yielded 4960 ounces, and 32,404 tons at the Thames 53,414 ounces. During tbe period of the last three yearß the crusbings of Auckland have yielded from Icz lOdwta to lcz 17dwts per ton ; of Ileefton and the Lyell from 13dwts to 18£dwts ; and of Otago from lOdwts to 18£dwta. A compamon of tbe crushinga ia New Zealand with those in Victoria show that the former from 80,455 tons yielded 88,878 ounces, or lcz 2dwts 2grs per ton; the latter from 968,883 tons yielded 466,404 ounces or 9dwts 15grs per ton. The information ig added that within the last six years there have been crushed in Victoria the enormous quantity of 5,619,776 tons of atone which have averaged half an ounce to the ton. With the higher price of labor ruling here, and the more difficult nature of the conntry this average would not pay in New Zsaland. During the twelve months ended 31st Match last there were 25,926 tons of stone crushed at Ileefton yielding 17.802 ounces, and 6880 at the Lyell yielding 5,675 ounces. There are ia New Z:aknd 188 companies with nominal capital of £3,137,045, and paid up capital £2.4i7,957 : registered under the Mining Companies Limited Liability Act, 1865 ; 32 with nominal capital of £457,890, and paid up capital £5«,437, under the Joint Stock Act; and 214 with nominal capital of £2,689,400, and paid up capital £646,457 under the Mining Companies Act, 1872 The fcregoing facts and figures will suffice to give some idea of the value and importance of the gold mining ioj ustry in New Zealand.