A Strange Anomaly.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4248, 12 August 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

A Strange Anomaly.

'"Fax off pastares look greenest, is a sayipg tbat one's eyery day experience frequently verified : On the Thames we hare the Queen of Beauty, that never looked nearly as well as at present, that is turning out magnificent stone from the winze, which has crushed at the rate of nearly ;Bozs of gold to the load, and has carried payable quartz for a considerable distance in the 600 feet level, and yet there are sellers, as plentiful as blackberries; in Auckland, at 225. Again, the Prince Imperial'has found rich- gold at a lower depth than any mine expect the Queen of- Beauty, and gives promise oi an ample reward for the frith of the shareholders, yet there are sellers at 8s 6d Further, the Otahui district is generally thought 'to be ft continuation of the Moanatairi district, that has yielded almost fabulous wcalih ; it is comprised of the likeliest sandstone ci-untry one couUl wi&h, aud the specimens from a four-foot reef iv the Eureka claim, vow on view at Messrs Frater Bros, office, are a sample of what the country can turn out. Yet Auckland men will not invest in the district. But with Te Aroha it is far otherwise. One thing is certainthere Has not been a trial crushing of any importance,' and yet numerous claims find'purchasers of their scrip at prices ranging from 3s 6d to 10s. No quartz worthy the name of specimens, or. even picked stone, has been found, nor is there' likely tor be an opportunity of crushing regularly for six months henoe./ But %ithal Te f Aroha stocks are Active and firm, being the staple mining" business .on 'Change. To those jrho " have watched the course of erents it is patent that there is a rise and decline of new fields just as clearly as with kingdoms and empires, only there is no Gibbon to relate, in graphic language the history thereof. Let us look at the Tiki. Before the erection of the battery was commenced Blackmore's were worth 20s per share, and Blackmore and Fitz gerald, who owned half tin; mine between them were popularly regarded as good as millionaires, or, at all events, i endured independent for life. Indeed, tbe former stood, as a candidate for tbe Colonial Par* liament. Hume .Rules were not less in favor, and it our memory trick us not they were in request as high as ] ss. Aud so on in proportion with the surrounding iaines, Tiernan's, Hokitika's, Btodart's, &c, having all their ardent admirers, or, -'.possibly, they might be styled at this late hour of the day, victims, Time wore on, and the battery was started, but the patients who had been suffering from the severe attack of scrip fever were convalescent. High hopes were entertained that the mines would yield rich returns, but the amounts speculated upon had dwindled away considerably. Not a few who were confident of 5000ozs were satisfied to state that lOOOozs would be a very handsome return. Shares 1 had receded some shillings, and perhaps 15s was the price for Blackmore's about that time. The battery had not running more than a few days when the scrip had eased off still more, and when the cleaning up took place the yield, although a satisfactory one, was far below the most modest estimate. The story, of the Home Sale mine is a repetition of that of the Blackmore Company, and now the Tiki is at zero. > The history of tbe Ohinemuri, the first Te- Aroha, and Waihi rashes might be related similarly, but "'twere long to tell and sad to trace," and it is unnec essary to 1 enter upon the task, for the instance stated is enough to point a moral. The Aroha field may not yet have reached the zenith of its first blush, but it will be a matter for wonderment if many of the shares now so much in demand are not procurable considerably cheaper when the batteries are ready to start ensuing. What a grand thing it was for the Aroha that it started its. career under such influential auspices. It is a matter well worth the consideration of the sturdy. County Chairman, and the energetic Town Clerk if some powerful Queen street gentleman (not Queen street, Thames) could be persuaded to purchase the country around the Thames township. We have all confidence in the future of the Waihi and Te Aroha, but cannot help holding an opinion that much of the scrip of the mines in the Aroha district is now fetching fictitious prices, and these scrip '\ rackets " invariably lead to bitter disappointment, with an ultimate loss of confidence lasting for a considerable time, and fraught with disaster. As for the Thames mines, they may be trusted to tell their own tale. The Thames tradesmen are prospecting the Otanui district, and by-and-bye the Auckland people will open their eyes to the fact that the district is a rich one, and will rush in, and, in order to obtain shares, pay them such prices as! wiU leave a handsome profit on their plucky expenditure.