Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News AND UPPER THAMES ADVOCATES. TUESDAY, MAY 10, 1898 THE MINING OUTLOOK.

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2102, 10 May 1898, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News AND UPPER THAMES ADVOCATES. TUESDAY, MAY 10, 1898 THE MINING OUTLOOK.

Tiie London correspondent of an Auckland contemporary has for some time past been deploring, the fact that English and continental capitalists, eye New Zealand askance nowadays in consequence of the insecurity of tenures under the present Government.. In the dawning days of the tboom ” when the ability of cyanide-to deal fully with-some of our low grade ores was beginning to make itself apparent and/the outlines of a revolution in our languishing fortunes were looming through the mists of the future, a, gliber pvophot of the good things in store for English adventurers in our metalliferous regions did not exiet. ■ The warmest advocates of the cyanide' ; treatment, however, had to confess in time that even that powerful agent has its limitations. Not so this Fleet Street scribbler. Someone had to suffer for the non-fulfillment of his /glowing forecasts, and with the facility of an accomplished journalist he emi braced the opportunity of killing two birds with one stone. Hence from month, to month, we are presented with a London letter bristling with charges .'against the Government of the day and ascribing to it, and to it alone, the present depression in the mining -industry of the North Island, aadsueh episodes as the withdrawal of thc N.Z Exploration Company. In following . this course he justifies his iwi.indis- : orations,' and gratifies his etnplu & >’ political prejudices. The/ ‘'boom ’ 'speedily taught legislators of the ; Cadman . stamp one- thing, _ namely, ;that it was imperative in the interests ; of the colony aa opposed to the interests of tire, that our miuing laws should immediately . revised. The Minister of ; Mines ('Hon A. J. Cadman) was amongst the first ftp. recognise this- and if his anxiety for our protection carried him into extremes im the first instance, no, one ■ with a kmowledge’of the situation as he found it, and its dangers, now has the hardihood to blame him,. Indeed the Opposition almost to. a man .now-- ; adays, admits the vast debt of gratitude the industry owes Mr Cadman fon his firmness during that critical time in odr mining history; for the zealous impetuosity, if such a term can be applied tu the honorable gentleman, bo displayed in, many a memorable passage of arms in. the House., Last week our profound observer of , passing events reports more cheering i accounts of the position, of mining in /Northern New Zealand,. • Now what is the reason of this change : in his tone-1' The repeal of th.e re cent enactmentaso obnoxious.to capitalists ! Not af all. The origin of this Jubilation among London financiers is distinctly traceable to our latest yield of bullion of which they had news at Home. It was the largest for a considerable time past. It was more than £BOOO in excess of the-production for the corresponding period of last year. Ex- ' perience unhappily teaches us to question the purity , of men’s ■ motives in almost every undertaking they may engage in. Reflection in such a case as we are dealing with points to the fact that the increasing dulness of the Home markets :: the sapping of speculative vigor ;; the tempered activity in investments were not due entirely to the rigorous regulations which- checked, for example. the continuance of the Kauri , Gold Estates’ gigantic dealings in auriferous lands, but to quite another cause. And that cause may be described in a very few words—the inadequacy of returns for money invested and this inadequacy is attributable to two- causes : extravagance and ignorance. The extravagance in expenditure attending flotations we may dismiss from consideration. It is. too well known. With Regard to iguorance. By ignorance we mean lack of knowledge in knowing how to deal with our varied and complicated ores. As far as physical features go the Hauraki Peninsula is an ideal gold producing country. Wood and water abounding in an accessible region blest with, a splendid climate. The recovery of gold from the extraordinary conditions tinder which nature conceals it contains a lesson in evolution sometimes lost sight of. First we have the alluvial fields, such as Thames could show in its palmy days, affording scope for thousands until the last of its treasure houses were rifled. Then came the true prospecting era ; the exploitation

of the hills so long silent witnesses of the busy scenes in the valleys below. Then those deserted valleys themselves awoke and sent back in answer, to the pick ringing on the ‘ hard tack ’ on the hillside, the dull thunder of their, rude machinery Years pass broken occasionally by unheeded complaints about the heavy per centages of gold lost. Still the work was carried on and miners ! laughed, as is their- way, at the illomened croakers. ‘There is plenty more where that came from.’ But the . day of reckoning was at hand. The rich patches and runs of gold were f. sb panning out and new finds were beccm ing rarer. We were looking at a picture of Thebes—once the capital of the world—yesterday, Once the most splendid city of a splendid empire, now a broken mass of shapeless masonry.. Nor is Thebes more desolate to-day : than many a famous Hauraki gold mine around which clustered in by- ' gone days the homes of a busy swarm ! of workers. The fiat had gone forth, no, longer do the smithies resound ’ with cheerful music while the picks, ; were being sharpened for the next shift ,aud the tall poppet legs straddling over ' the yawningshaft creak mournful dii ges to the night winds of bygone glories. But if the. .Genii, of -Eastern fable were powerless to restore Thebes a mightier power has come to dwell,among uien—science—and in her cold practical way she deelar Sitdat man in his ignorance had let countless millions slip, through. I life fingers. She introduced the most cunning contrivances, and bade the masters return- to. their abandoned ’ works . And the story goes on and, on uciil it seemed at lasi' as if science herself was to be b ffl 1 by those who knew not.her fediily of invective ness,. The Succesdul application of cyanide to the staggered men for a time with.', the results attained.. Aucklanders went mad as ever men did ever Law’s gnldpn promises and south sea schemes. But there is no sentiment about.science,, as many a bruised and aching heart in Auckland knows to-day, as Te Aroha and Waiorongomai learnt to their bitter cost, when they woke up after their' delirium. The real reason of the despondent tone in "the Northern mining market is the recognition of the failure of cyanide as of universal application in the recovery of gold. Not for a moment would we belittle the achievements of the cyanide process in. the history, of New Zealand mining, they occupy a large place in that unfinished volume. But while investors wrung their-hands, unsleepscience wrought on and to-day we are on the threshold of a new development of her marvellous teachings—the hyperplioric process. Te Aroha has been standing on * the tiptoe of expectation so long that s,he may be excused if she is growing impatient, hut neither sci-nce, nor Joseph Campbell wili be hurried. We are as anxious to witness the process and judge of its results as anybody, but if the reverened expert is not a Maorilande he at anyrate knows to the full the meaning and value of ‘ taihoa.’’ One thing, however, we would caution: expectants not to overlook. None of these processes, not the most successful are all embracing, and for very obvious, reasons., While the stone Mr Campbell’s process e js best fitted to treat is forthcoming, so long will the process be a suecess, but when the supply of stuff amenable to this expensive, process ia exhausted we. feel sure be will.be able, such is our confidence in -his scientific ingenuity, to'lmdve another process to. deal with the ultra-refractory remainder-.