A MINT FOR NEW ZEALAND.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 251, 21 November 1872, Page 5

A MINT FOR NEW ZEALAND.

The Mint Committee of the House of Representatives, m the report brought up by them, direct attention to the valuable mfoimation given and the documents supplied liy the Deputy Masters of the Itayal Branch Mints of Sydney and Melbourne : lind that the cost cf the necessary buildings and plant required for carrying on succe-sfully all the operations in connection with miuting would be about forty thousand pounds (L4i>,oUo), and that t c annual expenditure reauired to be recouped to the Imperial Treasury for management and working expenses would be about ten thousand poinds (LIOO.OQO). The amounts paid respectively by Sydney and Melbourne are fifteen thousand and twenty thousand pouuds per annum. Col. Ward, R.E., iv one of his reports, states that the immediate and sensible effect of the establishment of the mint in Melbourne will be to further limit the fluctuations in the price of gold and to sustain it throughout the year a shilling an ounce above the average price of late years. That the quantity of gold exported from New Zealand for the year 1871 was 730,029 ounces, vafueil at L2,757,02U. The advantages to be gained by the country in the establishment of a branch of the Koyal Mino in New Zealand, are the increased price in the value of gold to the extent of at least L 60 ,000 a year,, aud the profits arising from charges for refining, coining, melting, and assaying. The committee strongly recommend that further enquiry should be made by the Government during the recess to ascertain \i hether the Imperial Government would consent to the establishment of a branch mint ; and also that if such consent should be obtained, proposals of a practical character should be submitted to Parliament at its next session.

It will not be inappropriate to republish -the remarks of the Victorian Mining Journal relating to the advantages connected with tbe. opening of the branch mint in. Melbourne. . That journal says : — "An increase 'in the price of J4OW is- the first and greatest advantage which will result from the opening of this institution Hitherto banks have been enabled to make such terms as they thought proper, by mutual arrangement between themselves, relative to tbe price to be paid for gold. Now, miners and mining companies will be in a position to hand over their gold — should they prefer doing so— to the officer in charge of either of the subtreasuries thiougbout the Cvlony, and will be enabled, ten da s afterwards, to receive its full value in sovereigns, less the mint charge of 4^d per ounce. Circumstances will of course compel many individuals and companies still to transact their business through the banks in their different localities, and thus the bank price for gold will necessarily be less than the mint price, although bankers will, for the future, require to be satisfied with much smaller profits than they have hitherto been receiving. The mint net price for gold will., be L 3 17s 6'i per standard ounce, the standard ounce pf gold being 22 carats fine. The richness of aliuvial and quartz gold varies considerably in different d.striuts Ballarat alluvial gold being ab much, in some instances, as 23 carats S^ gr ; the greater portion, however, averages 23 caratß 2if'gr, which, at L 3 17s Cd per ounce, would beequal to a shade over L 4 3a per ounce ; so that, after making allowance for dirt, or, speaking more correctly, "slag," the net value cf alluvial gold dust in the Ballarat district will be £4 2s pel ounce, instead of L 4 0s 6d, as at present paid by the different local banks."