THE THAMES GOLDFIELDS. PRINCE IMPERIAL G. M. CO'S MINE. (Written specially for the Aroha and Ohinemuri News.) Thames, August 11.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 291, 18 August 1888, Page 7

THE THAMES GOLDFIELDS. PRINCE IMPERIAL G. M. COS MINE. (Written specially for the Aroha and Ohinemuri News.) Thames, August 11.

WnisN concluding my former articles, giving a brief history of tho Thames goldfield, I promised to refer in my next io the mines now in existence, and have chosen as the subject of the present article the now famous Piince Imperial •Co's property. It will doubtless be recollected by some of your readers that on the 29th of August, 1881, the Prince Imperial Licensed Holding, containing 22 men's ground, together with the -winding-engine, etc., was sold by auction by Mr Win. Carpenter to Messrs Price Bros., of our local foundry, for the ridiculous sum of £250. After lying idle for some months the property was again •submitted to auction by them, and bought by Messrs Fratcr Bros, on behalf of a syndicate for £500, and after some little difficulty the present Now Prince Imperial Go, was formed, consisting of 18,000 shares, to vigoiously prospect tho ground, which had lain almost dormant for years, although it had yielded some good returns of gold in former times. B*it, like most new ventures of the present day, it was looked npon with , — to say the least — disfavour by several "who considered themselves mm ng expert?, and the idea of even payable gold being met with was ridiculed — for had not the ground been thoroughly prospected in every imaginable direction, and had it not been proved to be exhausted tind consequently bc n n abandoned ? Such | was the general impression entertained regarding it at the time operations were ■commenced on behalf of the company under the management of the present manager, Mr G. S, Clark, to whom the success of the company must to a great extent be attributed. Only Gd per share (£4 ss) was called up when payable gold was found, and shortly afterwards a rich run of gold was struck in the No. 2 reef, which yielded an enormous amount of gold ; but the returns from which are so fresh in the minds of your readers that it is unnecessary for me to go into -detail. It might be interesting, however, to mention that the largest yield of gold obtained as the result of one month's operations was 37890z5. Cdwts., from G'2B loads of quartz and 15cwt. of specimens, which was banked for the month of January, 1884- ; while from the first crushing on September 9th, 1882, until the end of 1885, n total of 30.014 tons of quartz and 220cwt of specimens were crushed for 41,-J73ozs I6dwts gold, of the vwlno of £114,130. Since that time returns, which have been .almost payable, have come to hand, and although the exact amount of gold obtained yip to rlate is not ascertain able, yet from figures compiled I find that it -would be about 50,0000z5. The total sum paid in dividends was £3 7s Gd per shaie. making the amount disbursed £G0,75O — a spWded result for an investment of £450 ! Besides this, bewever, the amount of money paid away in wages was enormous, and the winding engine and offices now in use were purchased. In the past IS months the mine has not been looking so well, but I am pleased to state that there is now almost a certainty of its paying its way from the gold won, as two trial •crush ings just completed have yielded at the rafcp of 10% and I^oks respectively, "which .nil pay handsomely, and as thorp is pmclicaily an unlimited snpi.ly nF iinariz available, there is an cxr^llont chance of this mine once Hiorc- coming to tliu front a^ one of our principal goh l producers.

Two following- iiupoiLint extract fioma letter from Messis E<hv;ml Stiavenhagan .and Co., L<>n<ion, i\ published l>y the Christohuich Press : — "Since our mutual frieixl, Mr Kummeror, you his opinion on fine wools, things have altered materially. There lnve been g\e;\t changes in fashion and machinery. The class of ileeces washed, shoifc-^rown wool, which wns once all the iro, i^ now totally neglected. Wools hko X! 0 (in diamond), .even it' they got back to their old style, would not coimi.md such prices in rclartion to otheis a^ they used to in foimer times. The wool which is in favour and like]}' to remain so, is a line, elastic -combining wool — it need not be too long ; and if, with the help of your fine sheep., assisted by the good soil and climate of JNew Zealand, you can pioduoe a wool of medium length (if rather moie thin medium length it will he the better), fine, sound, and elastic, you will ha^'e the article which h required. You must thenr in gteas<\ as ijiea«y wools command the best competition KLeco washed wools have fiom>e'ir to yea: become woi-,0 oi" sale, and aic a dru^ in the maiket We wrote yens airo to the l.ttc 7\h C. K. Cox to tho fsamo effect, but Mudgee was not tho country to produce combing woul, but New Zealand is." The Gazette of the 20 th uU. couloirs a statement of the li.vbilitie.s ,uid u-.se. ts of the seveial Uanks in the colony fur the quarter ended 30th Jiwe. The total liabilities are us follows: — Bank of New Zealand, £5,117,GGB 8s 3d ; Union Hank, fc2,33j,8Gl 11s 6d; Bank of New South Wales, £1,572,095 Is lid; Hank of Au-,lral.>siu, X1,00t).52G 3» •9d; National Bank, £1)71,861 14s 7d'; and. Colonial Bank, £1,152,348 19s 3d : total amounting in all to £12,155,945 19s 3c 1 . The assets ol these Banks aie : £8,489,277 Us. £'2,580,954 11 .s 2 »1, £2,407,043 14s l')d, £1,382,651 14s 10d, £1,772,330 0s 9d , and £2,283,4GG 12s sd, mnking a total of £18,985,324 ss. The total amount of capital paid up in these six: banks is £0,000,000, the total of the last dividends declai eel by them was £350,G25,and the total amount of their reserved pioiitsatthotimo of declaring such dividends was £3,428, 454 5s Id.

I Some oxtraoidinaiy stories arc lold in i thoEngli^hp.ipeisn bout thcf'tl>ulous wealth !of the Welsh gold mines. For instance, , the Leeds Mercury said :— " Messrs Johnj son and Matthoy, oC London, assayers to the Bank of England, have made the following Statement with reference to the last specimen of ore from the Dolgolly mines assessed by ,them : — ' The specimen of gold bearing quartz weighed 2£cwt, nmV yielded 1720zs of gold, or an average of 13760za per ton uf ore.'" This is far and away the richest quartz yet found, if the figures are coircct, and of that the public should be very sceptical. The Can tci bury Times, one of the strongest protectionist papers in NewZealand, snys in reference to the removal of the wool duty in the United States : — lt The Senate may lake it into its head to leversc the mnjoiity, and the free entry of wool i»to the State may bo delayed for that indefinite pei iod known in the vernacular as " ever so long." Then, again, even if wool is admitted free, it is possible that increased consumption mny not come about nil in a day, and the cheapness of the ! ai tides bo against our piofiting by the thcoiies of the Democratic party. What we have to comfort us is that the division marks a decided step in the reversal of a policy becomo almost (uiditional, and ilia pioppcct of gaining, at all events, a footing, in a splendid and ever-growing market. Of so much we may be sure: the rest — free entry, splendid profit. 0 , and al! — is for the present problematical For all that, the news brings a blight gleam, which is very welcome." Surely the Times ought to deploic this movement in favour of frcetiade and abandonment of protection. We have received from Messrs Sargood, Son, and Ewen, of Auckland, a copy of their new spjing circular. It is very handsomely got up, great tas-to bring displayed in the harmonising' of colon: s and general desigris. On the front page me cuts illustuting the vaiious warehouses of this old established fiim. A leaflet enclosed announces a gieat dealing sale of the stock of Mcsms Owen and Graham — recently purchased by Me^bid Sargood, Son and Ewen.