Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News AND UPPER THAMES ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1895.

Te Aroha News, Volume XI, Issue 1717, 23 February 1895, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News AND UPPER THAMES ADVOCATE.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1895.

• Thlffl abort all—to thins own Mb' b© true, And it rauat follow as the night tho day Thou conob not then bo false to an; mao.' •Shakhspkake,

Our readers will uotiee with genuine interest the new life infused into Waiorongomai mining, particulars of which will be seen in our advertisement columns. Waiorongomai once boasted of the largest and at that time most complete goldsaving plant in the Southern hemisphere, but unfortunately the gentlemen who ran it, clever in battery process as they no doubt were, neglected opening up bodies of ore to employ their plant, and having expended some £60,000 on plant and failed to secure Government aid in thoroughly testing the hill, preferred the first, certain loss, to risking further capital. Had the present Government been then in office there is hardly a doubt that the £SOOO advance, repayable out of firet profits,

requested by the Te Aroha B.G.M. Co., would have been granted, but the Atkinson Ministry was notoriously indifferent, if not inimical, to goldmining. The big Company’s failure was, however, primarily due to their initial mistake of putting the cart before the horse, or the plant before the quartz, and the way in which they afterwards did their best to damage the place as a gold producing field, showed neither justice nor generosity on their part. Since their collapse their plant has been sacrificed piecemeal, and mining on the hill was confined to intermittent spurts until the few individuals started the Prospecting Syndicate, which resulted in the opening of the Loyalty mine. The really brilliant success of the venture, though worked only on the smallest scale, backed by the recent discoveries of the Palace Syndicate is, no doubt, responsible for our new glimpse,of sunshine. That there is gold in the hill has been proved, its extraction requires only systematic and thorough working. South Africa has shown conclusively that the poorest reefs ate profitable if only worked on a sufficiently large scale, but unfortunately, hitherto in Waiorongomai those who have retained their faith in her have been too poor to do work not presently remunerative, and unable, consequently, to deal with the large quantities necessary to make small returns payable. Not the least welcome announcement is that of a new plant. Mr Adams, no doubt, deserves great credit for sticking to the place as long as he probably was able, but the present arrangements for treatment or ore are by no means satisfactory. Terms are being constantly altered from crushing to crushing, whereas in all business matters one of the main essentials to success is a reasonable prospect of calculating expenses on a steady basis. This, we regret to say, is not the case at present. Competition will, no doubt, make a favorable alteration in this respect. We would suggest, tou, that the Warden should, in dealing with the new application, make full use of any powers he may have to enforce reasonable rates and conditions for the treatment of outside dirt. We offer a cordial welcome to the new company, and wish them every success in their venture.