SWANSEA SMELTERS, AND CUBA. COPPER MINES.

New Zealander, Volume 1, Issue 16, 20 September 1845, Page 4

SWANSEA SMELTERS, AND CUBA. COPPER MINES.

(From Hunt's New York Magazine.) We were not aware of the commercial importance of the Copper mines of CuUi, unlil otir attention was called to the subject by the letter of George Ditson, fcsq , the United States Cons>ul at Neuvitas, which we give below. We have since conversed with several gentlemen, familiar avulj mining in Cuba, and in our own country, from whom we have gathered many valuable facts j and to George Bacon, Ksq , the Secretary of the Coppei Company of New York, we are indebted maml> for the information embraced in ihe remarks with which we introduce the letter of Mr. l)iiM*n. The quantity of ore shipped from Cuba to England, during the \ ear from Ist July, 1812. to 30!h June, IH4B, \vas'2B,BBH ions of 2l'cwt., and the amount lor which Hie o»e mid at Swansea, Wales, pi eviously i.> smelting, was £MOB,Sb5, or 1,978,890d011ais } from VxlpMi^iso, Chili, and Copiapo, 12,^01 ions, w hich sold f0r' £2.05,084. or Jj42>,2»6 dollars, and making- a total ol 3,407,102 duJlm-s, impoite-1 into Great Bnlam from ihe&e t v>u sources. The whole amount of copper oie

sold in England and Wales, during the same period, of one year, was 7,790,749 dollars ; the ore imported from Cuba and the west coast of South America, is therefore, nearly one- half of the amount smelted, or nearly equal m value to the product of the mines of Cornwall and Ireland. The vast product of the mines of Great Britain, and the extent of her smelting works, together with the fact that English merchants appreciate the value of copper ore and mines, and are working the mines of Cuba and Chili, give to her the entire controul of the copper of the world; the business of smelting, being also in the hands of wealthy capitalists, its value remains steady under all circumstances. -The quantity smelted by one house, in the same period, was £473,293. Bs. 5d., or 2,314,940 dollars. By reference to the sale of ore, since June 30th, 1843, we find the foreign supply continues steady, and Mr. Bacon entertains no doubt but that it will be found to have increased when the report for the last year is received. The whole of this vast amount of copper which Cuba produces, and a share of that from South America, Might readily be transferred lo the port of New York. The English companies in Cuba have been anxiously enquiring for a position nearer to their mines, where they might smelt their ores, and avoid the duty in England of £i. 10s. and £6. per ton of copper. No position offers advantages equal to New York ; and the business of smelting, if established here, would command the whole ore of the Island, English, as well as Spanisn and American, besides ottering a new branch of trade to South America, from whence our ships bring large quantities of copper, but no ore, there being no market here for want of a smelting establishment. Not the least difficulty exists, except the want of information in relation lo the existence of so large a business passing by us, and the courage to invest a few thousand dollars in demonstrating the best method of smelting The English method is not the best, and would have been long since abandoned, but that the whole is in the hands of five or six houses, who have a vast amount of capital already vested in their works, are subject to no competition, and are able to realise large profits by their present method. The mines of Mr. Dilson are situated about twenty five miles from the port ol Neuvitas, near the line of the Neuvitas and Principe railroad, now consti ucting. Their operations can scarcely be said to have commenced— every thing is new ; the information necessary to the prosecution of mining, to be acquired, shafts to be sunk, madiinery to be erected, and the late drought in the island has retarded their operations; yet the Company have shipped to England since their operations commenced, ( two or three years since) , about 1000 tons of ore, yielding from 12 to 20 percent., and which must have furnished ample means for the prosecution of their business ; and having now erected their steam engine, and other machinery, they will be able to increase their product to 100 or 200 tons per month, all of which must go to England, unless his wish ♦ that American furnaces require them,' is realized. The Copper Company of New York have recently purchased three mines in the neighbourhood of Mr. Ditson, and are preparing to prosecute the same business. Want of capital is retarding their operations, and like most new projects, it meets but with little encouragement from individuals of capital and influence; should it however, outlive its difficulties, and by the establishment of smelting works, — a leading object of the company, — open a new branch of commerce to New York, and bring only one quarter of the copper ore of Cuba to our market, of the value of half a million of dollars, their efforts, which are now but little known, and less appreciated, will be more properly estimated. That our readers may be. able to form some opinion of the profit ol mining, and the value of copper mines in Cuba, we may state, on the authority of Mr. Bacon, thai the Ro\al Santiago Company, at St. Jago de Cuba, realised a net profit of £32,000 from their business, for twelve months, from 18*3 to 184J, equal to about 50 per cent per annum, upon the capital invested ; rind that the Cuba Company paid for their mines £480,000, upwards of 2,000,000 dollars. A Spanish compam are also working mines in the neighbourhood of Mr. Dit«?on, which is probably one of the richest copper districts in the world, and quite unoccupied. They hare shipped lo England some hundred tons of ore, through New York ; and the mines at Caenfurgos, worked l>y an American Company, also send their ores to England, thiough the port of New Yerk, several cargoes of which have been forwarded within the last year.

j Consulate of the United States of America. i Neuvitas, Cuba, June 19, 1844. I Deai* Sir,— Aware that you, as well as a great portion of your readers, are deeply interested in all that concerns the commerce of the United States, allow me to present my opinions, along with the many widely disseminated truths of your invaluable Magazine, upon a very important branch of industry, which has, as yet, unfortunately received little or no attention in our country.— l mean, the Smelting of Copper Ores, which is so productive of Revenue to Great Britain. Are you aware that there are several American companies in the island of Cuba, who ship the ores of their copper mines to England, uuder enormous expences of duty, freight, &c, for wantot purchasers in the United States 1 Such is the fact Now, if these ores could be smelted in the United States, eveu at double the sum it costs at Swansea, (which js £2 JOs. per ton, ami called return charge,) hundreds and thousands of tons not only from Cuba, but fium South America, would be sent direct to the United States in American vessels, and thus open almost a new channel of commercial advantage, and give to our own shipping that profit of freight iheyT should have, and mighi have had, years ago, with tho§e various, other benefits which have so long been ceded, without a struggle, and almost without a thought, to European energy and enterprise. The.ieason why we could afford lo pay twice as much for tnc smelting of onr ores, in America, as it cost in England, is, because the other expences connected with the introduction and sale of it at the latter place, solar exceed ulut it could possibly cost in the former. '1 he expences on a cargo ol mineral from the tune it leaves New Yoik till it is sold in Liverpool or Swansea, amount io,iie«rly one-fifth of

the entire value ; and if it is shipped direct j^on Cuba to the latter place, they will exceed even that as freight is usually from £2. 10s. to £'i. per ton To prove to you the truth of what I have here stated I be? to present a copy of account sales rendered t< i»e by my agents in England. (See subjoined table.' The freight of mineral from this place to New York for instance, is ftom five to seven dollars per ton, There is no duty on copper ores introduced into th< United States. In sending ore to the States, foi smelting the wastage would be little, compared witl: what it is by our present and cheapest mode of getting it to Swansea. Several copper mines have recently been opened in this district, and some of thorn bid fair to be yen productive. At the one at which lam interested, 1 have put up a high pressure engine, the first steam machinery ever in.roduced into this province. Mineral appears to be very abundant here, and I shall be delighted to know, when I am again loading American vessels with ores, that American furnaces require them. This subject of smelting, at which I have hinted in the above very hasty and imperfect sketch, I shall endeavour to present to our government in a more extended form for its consideration, in order that ii may have an eye to the minutest interests of the commerce of the United States, as well as the welfare uf.its subjects here, and in other foreign places. I have the hoi or, &c. &c. &c. GEORGE DITSON, Freeman Hunt, Esq. Vice-Consul. Account sales of Copper Ore, received from New York, per Joseph Cunarri, Captain Harrison, and sold here by oider, on account and risk of John Simmons and Son, Boston. Sold at three months' credit. March 21, 1844.

The Jews.— The admission of the Jews to! municipal offices is one of those things which must be done, and there is an end of it. Aigu-j ment can neither accelerate nor retard it. All! that remains is to adjust the necessity to the existing state of things, and show that we are committing ourselves to no new principle, but only id a developemennl of the old. The yearly Act oflndemnity with which the legislature was wont to nullify the working of the Test and (Jorpoiation Act, testified to a general bona fide case for legislation. '1 hat bona fide case 1 Lord Lyndhuvsl and his colleagues met with the permanent application of an admitted principle— the principle, namely, involved in the Act of Indemnity. Again the Irish Catholiesdetermined to t etui n O'Connell to Parliament. The law was properly vindicated against an individnal invasion, but a genuine case for legislation was recognised. Lord Lyndhurst was one of those who listened to the fair demands of a people, and admitted the Roman Catholics to legislative, and to nearly all other civil functions. The case of the Jews is now strong enough for legislation. Sir Moses Montefiore, Mr. Salamons Mr. Lousada, Mr Cohen, and one of the Messrs. Rothschild, have been placed in the commission of the peace,and other important offices > which they have discharged with ciedit. In the city of London a Jewish gentleman, after serving the office of sheiiff, has teoently been elected by his ward to the naturally consecutive office of alderman. At Birmingham, Portsmouth, Southampton, and other places, J ews have been elected aldermen, In the former instance the person elected was not admitted to the office ; in the latter they were. But the difference arose from the mere accident that in the former instance the declaration was required before the oaths of office j in the latter it was left till afterwards, and therefore left undone, and the omission protected by the Act of Indemnity. Having regaid to the former precedents, here is evidently aproper case for legislative interference and decision. It is too late to disown the principle, and impossible to deny the fact The Uw cannot help legitimatizing the acts of the people, so long as they are in unison with the existing system. Whatever law may be imagined or desired to be, whatever it has been here, or whatever it may now pretend to be elsewhere, in this state, at this present time, the law does not affect to teach religious truth It leaves that responsibility to other more direct and authorised agents. Let them Chi istianise the country ; let them bring the whole people to the gospel and the churcn, if they can ; let them reduce separatism of every kind to an insignificance below the recognition of the state, if they succeed, the law will come in to ratify and harmonize their work; it will accumulate the lule to the fact. If'they cannot and do not achieve this ; if naifthe population is Roman or YV,esle)an, or Congregational, or Independent, or Unitarian, ' or Jewish,' or oiherwi&t} dissentient — then the law of a free, popular, a»s representative btate, cannot possibly escape adjustment to that actual state of the case. Quid prosunt leges sine mortbns ? Laws in collison with facts, laws in spite of opinion, may be obtained by a military despotism, and, for a time, by the ascendancy of faction. They cannot be maintained long in a free country. — Times. I

Cwt qr. Ins, 3ross weight—Pile No. 1. -.- . 1210 3 0 Pare — Moisture, &c. . . 55 3 20 (Or 54tons 20cwt. 3qrs. of 21 cwt.) 1155 0 8 3ross weight—Pile No. 2. . . 563 3 0 rare—Moisture, &c. . . 38 024 (Or 25tons sc\vt. 2qrs. of 21 cwt.) 530 2 4 Joldfur £. s. d. £. s. (I. I4tons 20cwt. 3<jrs. at per ton 14 8 6 = 793 4 1 >5 " 5 " 3 " " H 4 0 = 371 7 0 £1,164 11 1 Charges Insurance on cargo 16 3 6 Freight of 89 tons 70 710 Bond, &c. . 5 4 6 Duty . . 78 010 Receiving & weighing 10 5 2 Rent &deHverieg 33 12 0 Assaying . . 2 5 0 Juierest on charges 2 310 Bank commission 2 IS 2 .Brokerage . 46 11 7 . + 268 2 5 Net Proceeds £896 88