THE GOLDMIMING INDUSTRY.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 219, 10 September 1887, Page 1

THE GOLDMIMING INDUSTRY.

A mining association is being formed to work gold beaiing reefs of proved value on the Auckland goldfielcls. That this city is encircled by ranges of incalculable mineral wealth is admitted by all, but little effort h being made to extract the gold and silver from the mountains. Gum-digging-has been resoi ted to with success by hundieds dining the past year, and many thousand 1 : ot pounds have been received for the pioduct, greatly lolieving the distress of numerous families. Cum is recognised as an important product-, but ib cannot, like gold or .silver, hold any permanent position as an industry ; and altoady the adjacent fields are showing signs of being worked out. Gold and silver reefs, on the contrary, are remaikable for permanency, and though changes of countiy may occur at certain dupths, it i-> an a->ceitained fact that lodes continue as deep as it ia possible bo bore, while in Australia the Band and Albion mine i<- paying dividends at 2,000 feefc from the surface,ancl .silver mines in America arc paying at 3,000 feet. Such a grand ii.duatiy is surely deserving of enthusiastic support. Tleie around Auckland, in the (Joiomandel peninsula, only thirty miles distant, are immensely lieh deposits of gold and sihor; and though but a small area has been worked, there has been a couple of million pounds worth of gold extracted, and a surface area ten thousand times greater .still lemains unprospected. According to the olo\ eminent handbook of mines, C 553,440 was paid in dividends by the Caledonian within one year, a total of £717,000 being altogether Avon fiom its reefs, five tons of gold weie taken from the Queen of Beauty, and 1374,590 worth of gold was turned out of the Moanatairi mine. Theso aie referred to merely as positive evidence of the golden mn of countiy having been detei mined. The expressed wonder of English \isitois i~> as to why the field is nofc being worked, and particularly such enormously lich mines a& those above quoted. A Wiltshire gentleman who visited the rielda last month expressed his unbounded surprise on being informed that, with the exception of tributers, thero were nob a score of men working on the two former great mines, and the Queen of Beauty stopped altogether. These facts serve to indicate that there is a lack of local capital or confidence. It cannob certainly be the latter, as for the area of ground worked the gold returns are nob sui passed by any reefing district in the woild. It cannot surely be want of capital when we hear of thousands of pounds in our banks awaiting imestmenb. Local appreciation of the value of our mines is readily show n when an attempt is made to negotiate their purchase, as in the case oi the Moanataiari. Auckland citizens have not, however, for some time past gi\ en their premier industry the support it deserves. Land and property transactions have in some measure diverted capital, Other reasons may be^ adduced foi tiie w'uliurawal of public sup* port, the result being a low output of gold. It is now felt desirable that special efforts should be made to ve\ ive mining: prosperity and as a practical start towards extracting gold from the ores on the Coromandel Peninsula, a mining association is being organised, free from all the lisks and expenses of ordinary gold-mining; companies, and so constituted that the working capital will not only be always maintained, but will bo added to ab the rate of 10 per cent, on all moneys available for dividends. The terms are easy, and the conditions simple. The shares are £12, payable £1 monthly, in advance for one year, with no liability whatever. Expeiienced miners will be employed at the late of £1 per week ; this money, together with other expenses, will be the first charge on any crushing of quartz, the balance of profit (less 10 per cent., to be added to the working fund) to be proportionately divided between those who subscribe and those who work. By working chielly on known gold-bearing lodes, there will be little doubt of this fund being maintained ptrmanently, after once subscribed, thus providing the neeessai % ies of life for men while mining, and giving them a chance of striking a .patch for their own and their supporters' benefit. There will be no charge for the management, which has been undertaken by Mr Witheford, while the direction of work will be leffc to a committee of &ix experienced miners. Cheques will bo signed by the Mayor of Auckland and countersigned by themanager, and the banking account will be kept at the Bank of New Zealand, As the contribution only amounts to 5s per week per share, ib gives the general public an opportunity of joining in a mining enterprise which, though having no liabilities, has promise of paying dividends. It will confer a benefit on miners during the existing stagnation, and will, if successful, increase the wealth and prosperity of tho district. Auckland has already received a great impetus by tho de\elopmenb ot tho Thames goldfield ; and the approaching " mining boom " is likely to eclipse the first both in its magnitude and permanency. Prompt and welldirected efforts will receive the support of tho public of Auckland, and the more so as there is to bo no responsibility incurred beyond tho actual amounts paid,— and there appears to bo no difficulty in getting firstclass ground to work. Persons desirous of taking a share in the association can give in their namod to Mr Witheford, and miners who would liko to work in connection w r ibh the proposed association may do the same. — Auckland Star.

Pompous Young Lawyer (bo prisoner) r "As you liavo no counsel the courb has dopuLcd mo to defend you." Prisoner : "Am dab so?" Young Lawyer: "Yes.'* Prisoner (to judge) : " Den I pleads guilty, yo' honah, an' frows inyse'f on de mercy ofo de court."