PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

Thames Star, Volume XVII, Issue 5251, 16 November 1885, Page 2

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

[By Csossbeef.l

(Continued.) In 1880 the Alburnia and New Whau Companies obtained good gold, and paid substantial dividends. Groat interest was evinced in the works carried on by the latter company at this time while driving for the run of rich gold then being worked by the Alburnia, and shares rose in conic» quence to about £3 before, anything of importance was met with. But the extent of the gold, which was certainly good while it lasted, did not come up to expectation, and proved disappointing. It ia not my intention, however, to dwell upon the excellent yields obtained, from the various other mines—Bright Smile, Queen of Beauty, and a host of others,—but I will now pass on to the stirring events of more reeeht times. It will doubtless be remembered that on the 29th of August, 1881, the Prince Imperial Licensed Hold« ing, containing 22 men's ground, together with the winding engine, Ac, was sold by auction by Mr Wm. Carpenter to Messrs Price Bros., of our local foundry, for the ridiculous sum of £260, and after lying idle for some months, it was again sub* mjtted to auction by them, being parchased by Messrs Frater Bros, on behalf of a syndicate for £500, and after Some little difficulty the present New Prince Imperial Co. was formed, consisting of 18,000 shares, to vigorously prospect the ground, which had lain almost dormant for years, although it bad yielded some good returns in former times. But, like most new ventures of the present day, it was looked upon with—to say the least—disfavor by several who considered themselves raining experts, and the idea of even payable gold being met with was ridiculed—for had not the ground been thoroughly prospected ia every imaginable direction, and had it not been proved to be exhausted ? Snob, I can safely, say, was the general opinion regarding it at the time operations were commenced on behalf of the company under the able management of the present manager, Mr G. S. Clark, to whom the success of the company must, to a great extent.be attributed, owing to his thorough practical knowledge of mining in general, and this piece of ground in particular. Only 6d per share was called up (£460) whoa payable gold was met with, and shortly afterwards the rich run of gol£^ was struck in the Ko. 3 reef, which yielded an enormous amountof gold; but the returas from which are so fresh in the minds of your readers that it is unneees* sary for me to go into detail. It might be interesting, however, to mention that the largest yield of gold obtained as tbe result of one month's operations was 3789039 edwts, from 628 loads of general dirt and 15cwt of specimens, which was banked for the month of January, 1884* while from the first crushing on Septem* b«r 9th, 1882, until October, 1885, a total of 30,014 tons of quarts and 2200wt of specimens have been crushed for the handsome yield of 41,473»zs 16dwts gold, o? tbo value of £114,136. The loui amount paid in dividends was £3 7g gi per share, making the sum distributed £60,75Q-<a splendid result for an invest* Went of £450!. Besides this, however, tbe amount of money paid away for wages was enormous, and the winding engine and offices now in use were purchased. Since the run of gold was worked out, the mine has continued to produce good payable returns, and I can only hope that the new block of ground being opened up at No. 5 level wijl prove most valuable, and produce a large amount of thenre* cioos metal for some time to come. When the rich gold just mentioned was •xbauste4 io the tfew Prince In*

perial, nm<ii>i» r.mitirs were very ria)l for some time, nothing of importance being Struck in tbe other mines, though several were producing aood payable crushing dirt; and the outlook was certainly any* thinfc bat bright, while there were some who were prophetic enough to declare that the field would gradually sink into oblivion. But this opinion has frequently been expressed, yet when mining matter.", appear to "be almost as dull rs it is posnible for them to become, and people have sunk into a lethargic state, something has occurred to suddenly .rouse them and spur them to greater enerey. And this was destined to again be the case, for when the Darwin, which consists of the old Nightingale ground, and is situated in the Waiolahi Creek, was pegged out by Mr Edwards, and formed into a company, t shaft was commenced, during the progress of which gold was struck in a promising reef,; which had tbe effect of awakening considerable interest in this portion of the gold field, which was well-known to be auriferous, being situated very close to the Nonpareil, which, as previously mentioned, produced, good gold in the early days. But for some years this locality had been neglected, as it was believed (how many pieces of ground are there lying idle at the present time which are regarded in a similar light?) that the ground bad been worked out. But it certainly seems difficult to imagine how, this idea got abroad, i as practically no work had been done at any depth npon the ground, though it is situated between the Waiotahi Co.'s claim, which has been a steady dividend-payer for some years, and the old Nonpareil. As I have mentioned, a reef was struck in the Darwin Co.'s shaft, in which strong dabs of gold were seen, and several pounds of specimens obtained. Considerable importance was attached to this discovery, from the fact that nothing bad previously been done in the ground at this depth, and that it was altogether unprospected. Only a few months before this, the adjoining gfound—the Cambria—had been pegged out by Messrs Edwards and Fairburn, but after putting in a surface drive for some distance without intersecting anything of a payable nature, they neglected to man it, and it was consequently forfeited by the Mining Inspector. But upon gold being struck in the Darwin, it became of considerable speculative value, and there being several applications, it was submitted to auction by Mr Warden Ken rick, and purchased by Mr J. M. Lennox, of Auckland, on behalf of a syndicate, when it was formed into the pre■ent Cambria Company, consisting of 31,500 shares. It might be interesting to mention that about 1868 this piece of ground was known as the Warrior, and some work was done upon it, but it was soon abandoned. Then an effort was made to work it under the name of the Manukau Extended, but it was again given up as worthless. After this a little prospecting was at times carried on by private enterprise, but, strange to say, operations were always confined to putting in surface drives; And now I come to the time when operations were commenced by the Cambria Co., which have proved a thousand times more successful than even the most itnguine could have wished, and have again been the means of demonstrating how a piece of ground may lie unworked and condemned as worthless for years, and yet when prospected be found abounding in treasure. It was only required to call up Is per share (£1575) when payable gold was found, and tbe mine soon commenced to pay dividends, a total of 31s per share having been distributed since work was commenced, or £48,825, while tbe mine promises to be a dividend payer for some time to come, and tbe prospects are all that could be desired. The largest yield of gold for a fortnight's crushing was 4,1600zs 16dwts from 436 loads of general dirt and 1900lbs of specimens ; and the highest dividend for one month 9s per abate. Operations are carried on under the management of Mr H. W. Moore, in whose integrity the public have every confidence, and it would certainly be difficult to find, a gentleman more suitable to fill the position, tbe duties of which be has faithfully discharged ■incehis appointment, and under whom the mine has been worked most successfully ; while the works ire under the supervision of Mr Jas. Coutts, whose knowledge of the goldfield since its opening makes-him a most valuable servant, and one whose services could not well be dispensed with. But the Darwin, in which great hopes were centred, has proved rather disappointing up to the present; though I firmly believe that when the new level being sunk is fairly opened up, something good will yet be met with, and tbe plucky shareholders handsomely rewarded for their enterprise and perseverance. (To ht continued.)