Te Aroha Ohinemuri News THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 1898. THE MINING OUTLOOK.

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2098, 28 April 1898, Page 2

Te Aroha Ohinemuri News THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 1898. THE MINING OUTLOOK.

The complete withdrawal of the New Zealand Exploration Company from the colony is announced. In common with many others we received an intimation that after the 30th inst. they would not require further copies 1 of this journal, so we presume that date may be taken as the one on which the , doors of their well-known office in the Victoria Arcade will be closed to the public. Without any exact knowledge on the subject we have always believed that this Exploration. Company was founded in London not for the purpose i of working mining properties,; but rather with' a 'vieW> to acquiring undeveloped and- partially developed claims, with an eye to financing them \' through their City (Lmdou) connccI tions whenever it seemed desirable i and profitable. In the pursuit of this eminently capitalistic idea the Crown Mines G.M. Co., Ltd., and the Aioha G.M. Co. were successfully floated i some time ago, and it was in consequence of the sales of these properties that the Exploration Company, without doing a stroke of legitimate mining themselves, were enabled to pay ; such good dividends to the wealthy promoters of the parent company in the year jusi; past. Noe Zealand no I longer offers e. field for such wholesale epeculattßil^'in metalliferous lands. Minister for Mines (Hon A. J. Cadman) turned the tide (set in motion by the late * boom ’), of mining legislation against the continuation of such imperial annexations of reefing country by Home and foreign syndicates. Wo all know the severe tension that at one time prevailed in the .Cabinet in consequence of the severity of the clauses in the original Mining Act directed against the grabbing tactics of outside capitalists.; Under the plea of bring ing money into the colony and assistingin the development of its resources , the capitalists in question fastened on large tracts of territory ; the larger the better, from the character of the gold deposits, for purely speculative purposes, and held them pending de velopinents in the Home stock markets. The friendly relations so’long existing between the Premier and the member , for Ohinemuriiyrere strained almost to breaking point in consequence of the latter’s firm adhesion to the lines upon which he. after due deliberation, proposed to conduct his campaign against the ‘ smart ’ men on the London Stock Exchange, who, with a subsidised and interested press, were strainings every nerve to stem the tide of legislation which threatened to operate against their efforts to absorb all the available rich ‘ patches ’ in the goldfields of the Upper Thames. Mr Cadman emerged from the difference of opinion with his chief with a few ruffled feathers ; but nevertheless, triumphant.' One of the fruits of that triumph is the departure from our shores of the Exploration Company, shorn of its occupation. The original promoters of the Explor ation Company, we venture to think, reaped ft' substantial advantage from their speculation in the sales of such properties as the Crown and Aroha mines; but we do not think that a penny beyond office expenses, was spent by them in the colony after the successful ‘ brokers’ deal ’ iu the above mentioned mines was completed. We do not blame for an instant the astute financiers, of which the company was composed, for taking advantage of the laxity of our mining laws as they found them; moreover we think we .can afford to smile at the statements of the Opposition that the Company is leaving the colony in, consequence

of the insecurity of mining tenures under the present Government. Tfu capitalists composing the S company have probably exploited the South African and Westralian goldfields on .exactly similar lines, only in due course to abandon them in turn. Klondyke or tho fields shortly to be opened up in northern China, will next presumably claim their attention. With regard to the Aroha Company’s tunnel, the prospects opened out by recent deve lopments in the tunnel go a long way towards proving the vexed question of the possibility of the reefs living down and the prospects in question are, as far as we can learn, of a favorable character, As the New Zealand Exploration Company has hitherto managed the Aroha property for the English and Colonial shareholders, something like reconstruction will have , to take place. Webelieve, however,that the present interregnum of stagnation but preludes an era of exceptional activity in the prosecution of the Aroha Company’s design of ascertaining beyond a doubt certain facts in connection with the famous hill at.Waiorongomai. Yesterday we were informed that the Great Western Company’s experimental crushings were such as to justify them in taking the important step of leasing the Aroha Company’s battery, "and from our end of the goldfield comes the gratifying intelligence that a trial run of the Montezuma G.M. Co.’s plant on Tuesday last was attended with marked success. The outlook for the future of mining in the immediate district is consequently distinctly favourable.