The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. THURSDAY, SEPT. 4, 1890.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2831, 4 September 1890, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. THURSDAY, SEPT. 4, 1890.

A UEMAitKAULK and suggestive return has just been laid before Parliament, showing the amount of the various minerals pxported from the colony from 1803 to 1889. The return is remarkable in showing how great are the mineral resourci-s of the colony and the relative value which they have respectively borne, in the past, to each other. It is suggestive as indicating the vast field still to be developed, and the great future before us when chat development shall be accomplished. The return only covers 36 years, of which the earlier naturally show very small figures, especially in gold which scarcely figured at all till 1861. Coal and other minerals are still in their infancy, while kauri gum, r purely Auckland product, was of small account till 18G3. Even then it had only risen to £27,000, not a twelfth part of the export of last year. Accustomed as we all are, in ordinary conversation and writing, to point with justifiable hope and pride to the great mineral resources of the Britain of the South, few have realised the magnitude of the operations of the past as exhibited in the table now before us. Here is the goodly list, totalling up to the respectable sum of a little more than fifty four million pounds sterling.

(Jold £45,G.-.2.1!)l Silver 12Jt,«3"i Coppes ore 17,8(12 Chrome orn 37,307 Antimony ore 2'i,ofi!) Manganese ore 50,287 Hematite ore 220 Mixed Minerals (18,7G2 Coal (exported) 33C,.">2 Coke (exported) 10,!K)7 Coal(usad in the colony) ... 2,1i1»1,C33 Kauri Gum r>,011i,124 Total £--4,005,809. In other tables we have the various parts of the country from which this product has been obtained. Thus, in round numbers, the gold has been yielded by Westlnnd to the amount of 20 millions, Otago 18-J-, Auckland 6, and the remainder in small portions from other provinces. Coal is a recent product for the export had only reached £4,500 in 18S4. In 1889 it was .£83,000, while nearly six times as much was also raised for home use, the total output of the various mines in that year, being 580,500 tons. This came out of the mines extending from Kawa Kawa, in the far North, to the extreme South in Southland. Taking the whole yield since the first opening of coal mines, we find that from Otago have come nearly 2 million tons, from Greyniouth 1| millions, from Westport and Reefton, over 2 million, from the Auckland mines li million, and the rest from small mines in Canterbury and other places. The wide distribution of coal is one of its most Striking features, showing the vast quantities to be developed as population grows, and the prospect for manufacturing and other industries, of which coal is the indispensable foundation. Iron, copper, antimony and magnesia, all await the time when a home demand, greater facilities, and cheaper transport, shall cause them to be profitably and extensively worked. The population employed in mining is already considerable when regarded in relation to the whole population of the colony. The coal mines employ 1717 miners, exclusive of those trading with and dependent upon them or engaged in transport in connection with the coal. Gold employs 13,787 miners, being an increase of 300 over the preceding year. Of this number 3,138 are Chinese, all engaged in alluvial mining or sluicing. The quartz miners number 2,723, all Europeans. Of this important body we find that no less than I,6SG are at work in the Auckland province, 530 in Nelson and Westland, and 443 in Otago. The alluvial miners are distributed in almost reverse order. Otago loads with 4,802, Westland has 3,G70, Nelson 2,0G0, and Auckland lione engaged in that in. dustry.

The yield of kauri gum will tako even Aiicklanders l>y surprise. Few would have believed tlnfc it could reach beyond £5,000,000 altogether in the past. The annual output is still happily steady, and as a most valuable resource we. can evidently rely upon it for many years. In 1889 it guvo us £330,000, no small sum when we consider that it is almost entirely the product of pure labour, and distributed, therefore, over many thousand persons. Nor can the growth of the coal-yield be regarded without grave concern as to the final result of the strikes, which have led already to so much difficulty, and to the threatened closing of some of the most productive of the West Coast mines. Coal is a necessity of our modern civilisation, and the undoubted tendency on the West Coast is to the growth of a, great monopoly which would control both price and output. Other mines are being steadily bought up by, and amalgamated with, the Union Steam Shipping Company. To avoid this going further Sir 'Jeorge Orey has proposed that the uiities, .should be resumed by the Government and worked by a Board properly constituted in each locality under Government authority and control. The proposal is :i large one, and we shall watch its passage through Parliament as one of the largest and most important measures with which members have, this session had to deal.