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122

It will be seen that the total grants from the lst April, 1899, up to the 31st May, 1900, amount to 919 in number, and cover an area of 67,342 acres, and that far the larger number and portion of these totals were granted in April and May, nor at present is there any sign of exhaustion of applicants. This extraordinary and quite unprecedented expansion of enterprise has necessarily borne very heavily on the clerical staff of the Wardens' Courts, and I think it right to bring under the notice of the Minister the admirable and efficient manner in which they have met the strain. A certain number of these prospecting areas have been and are being converted into special claims, an almost necessary process where companies are formed. It is difficult to say how many companies are actually floated. The Greymouth newspapers publish a list of forty-four as quoted on 'change, but there are no means of obtaining any official record of flotations, the registration being made in the different towns of the colony where the companies are formed. It is worthy of the consideration of the Minister whether it should not be made compulsory on the directors and secretary of every mining company to send, immediately on registration, to the Warden of the district where the claim is situate a note of the registration and two copies of the prospectus for deposit in the Warden's Court, and that the directors should send to the Warden, within fourteen days of the beginning of the actual working of a claim, a report in writing of the day on which they begin operations. An official record-book should then be kept of these particulars in the Warden's Court. Though I have received much valuable information as to the prospects of some of the claims, I do not think it within my province, nor is it desirable, that I should deal with individual prospects. What I think I can say is that there are good grounds for reasonable belief that there are a sufficient number of claims of such a character as to justify the confidence that the industry will be established in my district on a solid payable basis. More than that it is impossible with prudence to say at this time. When the dredges now approaching completion get to work we shall all be wiser, and the necessity for prophesy and for speculative opinion will be gone. Meantime this rage for taking up prospecting areas is hardly justified by the state of the market. The West Coast shares, with a few notable exceptions, are quite unmarketable on the Dunedin Exchange, and the brokers have protested against the inundation of companies and their share paper. It is to be earnestly hoped that prospectors and promoters will for the present be compelled to some measure of patience and prudence, at least until proof is given by the dredges approaching completion of the soundness of the enterprise. The great development of dredging in Otago took place, it must be remembered, out of actual profits. The large output of gold from the dredges on the Molyneux and elsewhere furnished the capital for new ventures. There was a Solid, sound basis. Here the capital was found only to quite a small extent in the district, and as long as the Hartley and Eiley phenomenal returns kept up, and the Dunedin Exchange was excited, it was easy to get West Coast shares subscribed in Dunedin. But ever since the black Saturday, the 31st March last, when Hartley and Eiley returns made their sudden drop, it has, I am assured, been more and more difficult to do any business in any but the choicest of West Coast shares. There must be a limit to capital available for investment, and though Christchurch and Wellington, and to some extent Auckland, have contributed, and in some cases money has come from overseas, it is certain that the business will not be in a healthy state till substantial returns of gold come from the dredges themselves. Whatever happens really good payable claims will result in marketable shares, but the public should be strongly urged to caution in the disposal of their money. If a substantial success is proved more capital will be needed. It may be that it may be imported from Australia. With this view it is to be hoped that some means may be found to bring about a direct weekly mail-service between Melbourne and the Bluff. Melbourne holds the Stock Exchange, and is the monetary centre of Australasia, and if we wish to attract Australian capital we must give every inducement and every facility to the capitalists to visit New Zealand. This point has been grievously neglected in the past. There is no reliable weekly service with Melbourne, and the long, tedious, and stormy passage by Hobart offers anything but an inducement to Melbourne men to visit us. While we have been coquetting with Canada and Adelaide we have neglected our nearest and wealthiest neighbour. The time is come to draw more closely our union with the coming commonwealth, and to exploit all the resources of mutual trade. The first step to this is a fixed reliable mail-service between Melbourne and the Bluff direct. The next, as far as the West Coast is concerned, is a resolute and steadfast effort to improve our harbours; the cessation of all petty and unworthy jealousies between Westport and Greymouth, which are damaging alike to both ports; and the establishment of a steam-service between the Coast and Wellington, with specially constructed ships, having twin screws and being of sufficient speed and power to save the tides between Nelson, W'estport, and Greymouth, and in which the interests of the travelling public are no longer treated with cynical indifference. The West Coast, if the dredging proves a success, and with its large and valuable coalfields, has a great future before it. It will contribute largely to the wealth and resources of the colony ; but its leading men must learn that union, self-help, and independence are the first conditions of success. District op Greymouth Court. Barry town. The Barrytown Flat No. 1 Gold-mining Company (Limited). —Since my last report this company's property has been taken over hy Mr. Andrew McKay, who is still on the lead formerly worked by the company, and which continues to produce payable results. The claim is worked in three shifts, and has the advantage of the electric light. Mr. McKay has increased the spread of tables from 300 ft. to 800 ft. It is intended to bring in more water through another water-race from Fagan's Creek and its tributaries, to enable the claim to be worked with two elevators, instead of