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New Zealand Tablet, 16 July 1908, Page 24

The Premier is not in favor of establishing a gold and silver mint in New Zealand for the reason that the Deputy-Master of the Mint at Perth estimates that if there, were a yearly coinage in New Zealand of £2,000,000, according to his experience there would be a revenue of about £10,000 or - £11,000 a year, while the working expenses could not, with the ■greatest care, be reduced below £15,000. . The total value of the gold exported from New Zealand 'for the year 1903 was £2,037,831 (of which £603,167, was exported from the Waihi mine alone). It would not he reasonable to expect, on a liberal estimate, that more than two-thirds of the gold produced would b-e treated in the Dominion if a mint were established; so that the loss, based on the estimate of the Deputy-Master of the Mint at Perth, would most likely exceed £20,000 a year. This being so, before proceeding to establish a 1 branch of the Royal Mint in this Dominion, the annual output of gold should be considerably increased^ otherwise the' country would have to" face a loss. Sir -Joseph Ward undertakes that the matter will not b|e -lost sight of.

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