THE PREMIER AND THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 213, 30 July 1887, Page 1

THE PREMIER AND THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

A special meeting of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce "was opened at 11 o'clock on July 28, for the purpose of considering matters of public interest. Amongst other matters The chairman urged the claims of our goldfields to a special vote for assistance in the reduction of lefractory ores. The Hon. Mr Larnach, had promised, the support of tho Government in this matter. The Premier replied that he had received a deputation at the Thames on this subject. There were two tilings that would make Auckland the wealthiest province in the whole colony. One was the proper utilisation of the vast mineral resources of the Coromandel Peninsula, and the promotion of small farm settlements in the North, where the growth of fruit should be a very profitable industry. The Government had been blamed for increasing the expenditure on mines and it was only on mining, education and subsidies to local bodies that their expenditure had increased at all. The Thames had got moro from the Government than the West Coast. In Germany, where lead was cheap, they could treat the ores cheaply with lead fluxes. We must adopt some equivalent fluxes. He could assure them that the Government were not overlooking thia matter. At the Thames he had suggested a means whereby the Big Pump could be assisted — allowing the mines to be pledged in security for a loan. With regard to Land Settlement in the North, he did not see why we should not only locally produce the LIOO.OOO worth of fruit now annually imported, but also open up a large export trade.