THAMES SCHOOL OF MINES (REPORT ON THE), BY A. MONTGOMERY, M.A.

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1887 Session I, C-09

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1887. NEW ZEALAND.

THAMES SCHOOL OF MINES (REPORT ON THE), BY A. MONTGOMERY, M.A.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Mr. Montgomery to the Hon. the Minister of Mines. Sir,— Thames School of Mines, 19th April, 1887. I have the honour to report on the work of the Thames School of Mines since my last report, of the 17th May, 1886. On that date I was at Waiorongomai, teaching the use of the blowpipe and wet tests for recognizing various minerals, and also the methods of making quantitative lire-assays of gold- and silver-bearing quartz. The classes for instruction were held in the evening, while practice in assaying was carried on all day. There was a good attendance, averaging thirteen, nearly all miners. From Waiorongomai I went to To Aroha, where a similar course of instruction was given. The attendance here also was very satisfactory, averaging twenty-two per day. A knowledge of iireassaying is most useful to those engaged in mining both here and at Waiorongomai, as there is much silver-ore in these districts, the value of which cannot be found even approximately by any simpler process. Lead-ores are also found here whose value cannot be estimated, by any rough test, as they contain very variable quantities of gold and silver. Meanwhile the Committee of the School of Mines had secured a building at the Thames suitable for holding the classes therein, and on leaving Te Aroha I stayed some days at the Thames preparing specification of fittings required for the school. This finished, I went to Coromandel. The only suitable building available for holding the classes in proved to bo the Courthouse, which I could not get possession of for a few days on account of the Resident Magistrate having ccme down on his monthly visit. The same sort of teaching was given here as at Te Aroha, assaying, as usual, attracting most attention. The average attendance per diem was about twenty. After a month's stay in Coromandel I returned to the Thames, and found that the building was not yet ready for use, and various delays in getting it finished prevented me from having any classes for nearly three weeks. During this time I visited all the principal mines in the neighbourhood and prepared for the coming session, which commenced on the 16th August. From that date classes were held constantly till the 17th December. I then went to Onehunga to examine the srnelting-furnace put up there by Mr. Johnson, a report on which has been forwarded to you. Work was recommenced on the Ist February, and classes have been constantly held at the Thames ever since. The month of January was spent in collecting and arranging specimens of the various rocks in the district and in preparing lectures for the next term. According to the programme issued at the beginning of last year, another visiting-tour to Ohinemuri and other out-districts should have commenced on the Ist November, but the Managing Committee of the School of Mines decided not to send me out again. There were several reasons for this. The principal one was a belief—fully shared by myself—of the futility of short trips to the out-districts unless the work could be carried on in them between times. This would involve, as was pointed out in my last year's report, the establishment of small laboratories in these places, an expense which the committee had no funds at their disposal to meet. Each of these little laboratories would have to be furnished with a small furnace and its appurtenances, some chemicals and apparatus, and a balance. In my first trip everything was carried from place to place, and on my departure there was nothing left to carry on work with. The committee felt that unless they could provide these requisites it would be much better to keep me at the Thames. A second reason was that on the Ist November, and for some time afterwards, the committee not only had no funds to spend in fitting up laboratories in the out-districts, but were heavily in debt on account of the central school, and it was not till the 15th December that there were funds to pay these debts. A third reason, was the belief that, in order that the School of Mines might be of real and permanent

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benefit to the goldfield, it was necessary to centralize its operations so as to be able to give a good and complete course of teaching in one place, and the Thames had by far the greatest claim to be that place, both as being the most centrally situated, and as having subscribed most towards the foundation of the school. In order to promote the efficiency of such a central establishment, and render it of immediate service to the whole goldfield, it was proposed by Professor Brown that steps should be taken to get a plant erected in connection with the school capable of treating quantities of ore up to about a ton in weight by a number of different processes, so as to ascertain their respective cost and efficiency. The students of the school would have to work the plant, and would thus get an opportunity of becoming practically and intimately acquainted with all the principal gold- and silver-saving processes in use, and would acquire the knowledge of how to test one process against another fairly, and without that prejudice which so of ten prevents the introduction of new methods. There are so many different classes of ore in the district that there is no one process suitable for all of them, and almost any process will require to be modified to suit local requirements. The necessary modifications might be easily foreseen after experimental trial on a small scale in the School of Mines, whereas if a plant were put up, and then had to be modified or remodelled in accordance with experience, great expense would be incurred. Such a plant would also be a great advantage to the school in the attraction it would prove to ambitious young men anxious to become managers of reduction plants; for the students of the School of Mines, who had had the working of the ores on the small scale, would almost certainly be selected to take charge of the works put up to work on the larger scale afterwards. More especially would this be the case when these very men should have worked out some special variety of a process, and adapted it to the local requirements of some particular mine. Professor Brown explained his views in a lecture delivered at the Thames, on the 6th of January last, to a large and representative audience, who listened with great attention and marked approval, and the opinion was freely expressed that the establishment of such a public experimental testing-plant would be of the greatest service to the gold-mining industry not only on the Thames Goldfield, but also on all the goldfields of the colony, as parcels of ore from all parts could be treated. Once established, such a plant could be made fairly self-supporting, as no mining company would grudge paying a reasonable fee in return for the knowledge that would be gained by the test. The estimated cost of a plant fit to test ores on a sufficiently large scale according to this scheme has been put down at £1,250. In comparing the attendances at the Thames and in the out-districts the very different character of the work done must be borne in mind. In the out-districts, where my visits were only for a fortnight or so, nothing difficult or requiring much application was attempted—only simple tests for minerals, and assays —things that could be understood by anybody. No great demand was therefore made upon the intellectual energies of the pupils. At the Thames, however, my aim has been to do much more permanent and solid work, taxing the brains of the pupils very considerably. There have therefore been formed classes for the study of chemistry, mineralogy, &c, and they have been attended mostly by youths fresh from school and more used to such work. I am glad to say, however, that several of the mine-managers have also regularly attended these classes. Without work, and hard work, very little good can be done. The number of students at the various classes at the Thames was as follows :— 1886. 1887. Lectures on chemistry and metallurgy ... ... 13 ... 3 Practical chemistry ... ... ... ... 15 ... 4 Assaying ... ... ... ... ... 21 ... 12 Drawing ... ... ... ... ... 11 ... 6 Mineralogy ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 Mining ... ... ... ... 10 Chemistry class for pupils of public schools ... ... ... ... 120 Total ... ... ... ... 60 ... 158 The lectures on chemistry included a detailed account of the metallurgy of gold, silver, and lead, together with general chemistry. In the practical chemistry class the students are taught the wet methods of analysing minerals and substances, and the more advanced are also taught to make quantitative analyses. Blowpipe-tests for minerals and the general subject of mineralogy are taught in the mineralogy class. This class was only started this year, as last year we had no collection of typical minerals with which to give the necessary practical turn to it. As soon as the collection sent by the Government was received a mineralogy class was formed. Several cases of specimens in the Mechanics' Institute were very kindly handed over to the School of Mines, to amplify the collection and form the nucleus of a mineralogical museum. The work of the assayingclass includes assaying gold-, silver-, and lead-ores by the fire, and assays of gold and silver bullion, and, when possible, melting and refining of gold. The class in drawing is due to the generosity of Mr. E. N. Smith, who kindly offered his services to the committee gratis. His class is progressing very satisfactorily. The Mining Act of 188G requiring that in future mine-managers should pass an examination before getting a certificate, it; was thought desirable to have a class to prepare for it. This very important class has not been so well attended as it ought to bo, but will probably increase as time goes on. A Saturday class in elementary chemistry for pupils attending the public schools has lately been started, and is well attended, the "average attendance so far being about 105. It is hoped that this class will prove a good feeder to the regular classes of the school.

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Income and Expenditure of the School. —The expense of maintaining the school has been defrayed by subscriptions raised on the goldfields and in Auckland and by subsidy from the Government. The number of subscribers and amounts raised in the different districts in 1886 are as follows :— District. Subscribers. Amount. £ s. d. Thames and Tapu .. ... ... ... 266 ... 287 19 6 Te Aroha and Waiorongomai .. ... ... 86 ... 44 12 6 Waihi and Karangahake ... ... ... 55 ... 30 10 0 Coromandel ... ... ... ... 66 ... 33 0 0 Auckland ... ... ... ... ... 40 ... 116 2 0 Total ... ... ... 513 ... £512 4 0 Money received for class-fees and for assays during 1886 amounted to £1112s. 6d., making the total amount locally raised £523 16s. 6d. The Government subsidy amounted to £330 Is. 2d., so that the total revenue of the school from all sources during the year has been £853 17s. Bd. Of this amount about £700 was spent in purchase of section of land, building of assay-laboratory, furniture and fittings of school, reroofing school-building, and other permanent requisites in connection with the school, the remaining £150 (in round numbers) being used up in purchase of coke, chemicals, gas, and sundries, advertising, printing, and incidental expenses. My travelling-expenses (paid by the Government) when going round from district to district amounted to nearly £70; but, as only one visit was paid to each district instead of the two that were to have been given them, the cost of travelling twice a year round the whole field may be put down at about £140. If each place had its own little laboratory fitted up, the travelling-expenses for two trips in the year, occupying six months altogether, should not amount to more than £100. There has been some friction between the Central Committee of the school and the subscribers in the out-districts on account of the latter not having been more frequently visited, and the money raised having been absorbed in fitting up the central school instead of being expended locally. This is notably the case with Coromandel, which is in less direct communication with the Thames than are Ohinemuri and Te Aroha. In the latter districts most of the subscribers seem to be pretty well content to have all the money spent on the central school, as it benefits the whole goldfield, and nearly all are anxious to have the proposed experimental plant at the Thames rather than small local schools of mines. With Coromandel the case is different, and it seems necessary to have some arrangement whereby the money raised in each out-district should be spent locally if desired by the subscribers. In conclusion, I would beg once more to recommend to your favourable consideration the question of helping the School of Mines in its effort to establish an experimental plant by a subsidy or direct grant more liberal than that already promised. lam convinced that such a plant would do more good to the goldfield than anything else that could be done. Another matter which I should like to bring before your notice is that at present this School of Mines can give a good and fairly complete course of instruction in assaying, determinative mineralogy, mineralogy, chemistry, and practic.il chemistry, and, if required, in geology and in mathematics also, but has no authority to give a certificate of competency in any of these branches to its students. There is now no immediate object for the students to work for, and I should therefore strongly recommend that authority bo given to me or to the School of Mines to grant such certificates to those students who should pass an examination in each subject taught, the scope and standard of the examination being fixed by the Mines Department, and accepted as exempting candidates from examination in corresponding subjects for the mine-managers' examination. Some such inducement to steady application is urgently needed. I have, &e., The Hon. the Minister of Mines, Wellington. A. Montgomery, M.A.

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