The Patea Mail. Established 1875. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1883. THE QUEEN OF BEAUTY SWINDLE

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1115, 21 November 1883, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Established 1875. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1883. THE QUEEN OF BEAUTY SWINDLE

That mining business in connection with the Queen of Beauty mine at Makara is rather a peculiar affair. First there was some talk about the reef; then a company was formed, directors were elected, and they took out ten tons of stuff and sent it lo the Thames to be tested. The next thing was that a cake of gold was exhibited in Wellington as the product of the crushing at the Thames. Of course shareholders were very pleased at seeing, the piece of gold, fondly imagined that they were in for a good thing. But their dreams of dividends were rudely broken, and their hopes wore crushed almost ns soon os their quartz. A Mr Walker, a mining expert from the appeared upon the scene, and made a trip to the Queen of Beauty mine. After prospecting, he wrote to the Wellington papers and said that wherever the cake of gold came from, it was not from the Queen of Beauly. The fat was in the fire then, and there was a deuce of a row. The luckless Walker was pelted with letters, so lo speak, but he remained firm. He had them another way too. He (f put up £2O that lie was right, and one of tho Company s directors agreed to l( see him for a similar amount. Messrs Blundell and Harris, those impartial newspaper proprietors in Wellington—a 11 journalist save impartial—were appointed as referees, and undertook to settle tho matter one way or the other. And settle it they did in a way that showed that the Queen of Beauty was a “ duffer,” and that the man from the Thames was entitled to the stakes. A funny thing came out during the investigations of Messrs Harris and Blundell. They obtained a small quantity of gold from the mine and sent it to Dr Hector for examination along with tho “ cake,” about

which the months of shareholders had been watering so freely. The skilful doctor discovered that the “ cake ” was of very different composition to the specimens forwarded by the journalists It appears that gold from different parts of the Colony can bo identified with almost unerring certainty by the amount of silver alloy it contains. Thus while the gold in the neighbourhood of Wellington contains from 8 to 10 per cent, ■that from the Thames averages rarely less than 30 per cent. As the result of Dr Hector’s analysis, the “cake” was declared to contain 32 per cent, o! silver, and the specimens from the Makara reef 9 percent. The inference is plain that the n cake” which had been shown temptingly to an admiring public in Wellington was not of local production, but was the produce of the Thames goldfields, the very place to which the Queen of Beauty stuff had been sent for testing. The next question is how did it come to be shown as the outcome of that testing, and what was the object of exhibiting it ? There has been a swindle somewhere, anil the Wellington papers ought to ferret it out. .Either the directors of the Queen of Beauty have been trying to gull the public, or they have been gulled . themselves. If the latter, they ought to be ashamed of themselves ; if ihe former, then they ought to be punished “as the law directs.” Anyhow, thanks to Mr Walker, a very pretty little job has been exposed. It seems funny, too, that the cake of gold having come from the Thames, the man to denounce it should come from the Thames ns well. It is curious,also,that he should make straight for the Queen of Beauty mine, and having “ exploded ” that, should return whence ho came as speedily ns possible. We, say it is curious, that’s all. But why did not Mr Walker burst a few of the Terawhiti bubbles as well? Ho might have got some “soft things ” on with the Directors, and thus have made: a handsome sum out of it.