MELBOURNE EXHIBITION. AUCKLAND'S MINING EXHIBITS. MEETING OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. Auckland August 15.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 291, 18 August 1888, Page 4

MELBOURNE EXHIBITION. AUCKLAND'S MINING EXHIBITS. MEETING OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. Auckland August 15.

A meeting of directors, legal managers of the Hauraki goldfields district, the Goldfields Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, and others interested iv mining, was held at the Chamber of Commerce this morning for the purpose of securing exhibits of the mining industry for the Melbourne Exhibition. There was a good attendance, and Mr A. Porter was voted to the chair. There was exhibited on the table some very fine stone from the Union mine, Waihi. The Chairman stated the objects of the jneeting, which had been called in consequence of repoits that New Zealand niii ing was very poorly represented at the Melbourne Exhibition, and with the mow of augmenting the mineral exhibits already forw arded. He stated thathehad wi itten to various mine-owners and interviewed others and. had also communicated with,the Government to see it" they would allow samples of ore to be sent to the Exhibition duty free. The reply rec ived from the Hon. Mr Richardson was to the otl'ect that parties sending ore, and giving a guarantee to icimport it or pay the duty, would be ailowed to do so. This proved rather a damper, becauseit was well-known thatthu'u was not much possibility of the ore being sent back to Kew Zealand. They thought that possibly the exhibits might be lost and that it would be wry hard to ha\ c to pay dutj- on goods that might never be returned. He (Mr Porter) then communicated with other of the g^ ldtielc's membcic, and the effect had been that the Go\ eminent were now willing to remit the duty, and take the oro to Melbourne fiee or cost. Most of the local managers had been communicated with, and from t e steps already taken they could bend h\'e tons ot oiv. The Waiorong> mai Company would contribute a fair collection, aud tho Tui \ ton ot galena and -\ ton of silver ore; Kaiangahake, 1 ton ore. Tiie Waihi Company and the Maitha wmld also some He thought that no attempt should be made to obtain a collection of specimens of high value, and ihat the ore sent should be fair samples of those now being woiked, in order that those who were anxious to imest could judge whether t.iey weie likely to get a fair return foi their money, it had been suggested that the Government should undeitake to return the exhibits, but in all probability the AdeLii le rimelting Works would be allowed to pumhaso it, and the proceeds be i emitted to tho \at ious ownei s. He suggested that a small committee should be appointed with power to act in the matter. Mr S. T. Geoige said ihat he wa& prepared to send one ton of ore from the Waihi, but he would require a guaiantee that it should not be given way as it was probably worth between £7Q and £80 per ton. Mr McDonala suggested that terms could be ananged by the committee. Conditions could bediawn up and submitted, informing the Government that upon their undertaking to lc-import the ore, 01 di-pose of it for the benefit of ov, nois, they (the owners) would be p epared to forwaid a certain quantity. He could find 5 cwt from the Mara to to on those conditions. Mr J. M Lennox said that he could promise one ton from tho Caledonian. He moved, " that Messrs A. Porter and Young be a committee to gather in all the quaitz they can, so as to supply some kind of a show of our mineral resources at the Melbourne Exhibition." Mr George seconded the motion. The Chairman said that His Worship the Mayor (Mr Devore), who was present, had taken great interest in the matter, and had carried on a lot of correspondence with the view of having the mineral resources of the colony properly represented. The Mayor said that what had already bsen done would complete what he had already commenced. So iar as Te Aroha was concerned, he found that the mine owners wanted to have the option of disposing of their property as they chose He thought it would be well that portions of the ore sent should be crushed at the Exhibition, and have the advantage of new machinery ana new processes. He (the Mayor) intended to go to Melbourne next month, and he would be pleased to do what he could towards seeing that the exhibits from Auckland were put in a prou.inent place. The Chairman sa-d thaz the crushing machinery at the Exhibition was not in a very satisfactory state. There weie a large number of machines there, but the Melbourne people wae no further ahead than we were, and owners hud to find the motn -o power at their o\v n cost. A.s a matter of course, he thought that owneis of should have control ot it. It was refractory ores that weie going to help Auckland out of her difficulties, and he did nob think they should be tieated except by some piocess superior to, those available at the Exhibition. The motion for the appointment of a committee was then put and canicd. Mr Jno Blown sa:d that, if they sent a lot of lefractory ore to Melbourne or Sydney, they would simply damn the country. Melbourne and Sydney people had a perfect horror of lefractory ores. Ho suggested that 10 tons or 20 tons? ot good free milling ore should be obtained and forwaidccj to the Exhibition, as he believed that thi-, would do more for the goldfields than sending all the refractory ore they could lay their hands on. Fiom the Thame- ptope' any quantity ol tict-inillin^ ore could be obtained, and he suggest d that a guarantee fund of £1,000 should be raised with this object in view. He was piepaied t:> contiibutc £.~>o personally. They should get the best ore that could be obtained in order to prove to the Melbourne people that f^old was coming; from the district. Li they sent 10 tons worth about £100 per ton he did not think they would lose any money. Mr Joshua Jackson, as a shareholder in the Union and Tui, said Le would be opposed to any attempt being made to treat their ore in tho Exhibition. He thought the ow r ners should have the option of sending the ore to Adelaide where a superior class of machinery was available. Mr George s-aid that on the authority of experts in America and England, the Waihi ores were not lefractory. They were free-milling oies, but the gold was in such a fine state that it was impossible to save it by a water process. The Chairman said that the £1.000 mentioned was a difficulty. He was. prepared to contribute a share, but he did not think the whole could be raised. He also stated that what they called refractory ores in Melbourne would be proved not to be refractory ones in New Zealand, and mentioned an instance where Messrs Fraser and Sons had obtained gold at the rate of £48 per ton by the pen process, from stone which one of the best men hero had called refractory ore. He belie\ed that seven-tenths of the ova sent would bo at the absolute disposal of visitor^, five or fix tons now on the road having been forwarded without any condition?,