THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1877.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2512, 24 January 1877, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1877.

We had hoped that after Christmas some improvement would be noticeable in mining matters, but we are sorry to say that there is little indication of the hope being realised. It is stated, and we believe truly, that at the present time there is a considerable number of men out of employment. This is partly owing to the fact that a number of tributes in mines expired with the year, and have not been relet; while others that were previously remunerative have not paid since work was resumed after the holidays, and considerable reductions in the hands employed have had to be made, which has further affected the labor market by curtailing the demand for crushing power, This is very much to be regretted, as after such a long period of depression, this community can ill bear the strain upon its resources which is entailed by the sudden stoppage of the earnings of the miners. When the miners are out of work they have to fall back upon their credit, and this embarrasses the retail traders, who again have to seek accommodation at the hands of the wholesale dealers, and so the throwing out of employment of a number of men affects more or less a whole community. There are other causes outside the immediate vicinity of the Borough and Highway Districts which tend to make the present position more discouraging. At Waitekauri there is little doing outside the Waitekauri Company's and Welcome mines, and the army of speculators and "shepherds" have run to the end of their tether, some of them now swelling the numbers of the unemployed. At Owharoa, from which so much was expected, crushing has not gone on with the success anticipated; in fact it is stated that the result is so different to what was expected that the battery and mines are to be closed. It is plain, therefore, that no relief can be expected from this quarter, and if our unemployed miners are to get work, it must be somewhere nearer what may be called home—that is, in some of the ground known to be auriferous, but which has had to be abandoned owing to locality, difficulty of access, or want of communication with crushing mills. The remedy for this state of things, as we and others have repeatedly pointed out, is to open up the country by means of roads and tracts, so that quartz can be conveyed inexpensively to -batteries. If this had been done years ago, when the inefficiency of the tramway system.was acknowledged, the Thames would not now have been in such tribulation over the uncertainty which seems to surround the fate of the Pumping Association, neither would it have been materially affected by the repeated disasters which have occurred in connection with the Waio-Karaka mines and drainage works. If roads had been made to Punga Flat, and even further afield, we feel confident that now many hundred acres of the goldfield would have been profitably occupied where not a pick is used or a shot fired. The mines would have been in the hands of small bodies of shareholders, whose interest it would be to work the ground economically and expeditiously ; and the successes of some would act as an incentive to others to follow in their train, and so the labor market would have been relieved of the strain which is continually put upon it. We have casually referred to the uncertainty attending the negociations for carrying on the Big Pump. We trust that any doubts as to the success of these negociations will be speedily removed, and that pumping operations will be started on a satisfactory basis. But we would urge upon all parties the undesirability of pinning their faith to this scheme. If gold should be discovered at the deep levels, undoubtedly great results will follow, but let us not bo content with this. Open the country as far back as possible, commencing from the present roads and carrying them back by degrees as it is seen the ground becomes occupied. In this work we recognise the duty of the County Council to take the initiative, and we trust they will appreciate the importance of the crisis and rise equal to the occasion. A step in the right direction now would do much to ensure the future success of county administration.