me certificates often too carelessly
given and too easily obtained. Finally, quite a large proportion of the
allottees of shares have merely applied for them with the intention of
selling out on the first opportunity at a premium, hence they have no
special interest in the actual working of the mine.

Now let us look at the prospects of the Association thus formed. The
legal Manager or Secretary, often a young and inexperienced man, knows
little more than how to keep an ordinary set of books, and not always
that. He is quite ignorant of the actual requirements of the mine, or
what is a fair price to pay for labour, appliances, or material. He
cannot check the expenditure of the Mining Manager, who may be a rogue
or a fool or both, for we have had samples of all sorts to our sorrow.
The Directors are in like case. Even where the information is honestly
supplied, they cannot judge whether the work is being properly carried
out or is costing a fair price, and the Mining Manager is left to his
own devices, with no one to check him nor any with whom he can consult
in specially difficult cases. Thus matters drift to the almost certain
conclusion of voluntary or compulsory winding up; and so many a
good property is ruined, and promising mines, which have never had a
reasonable trial, are condemned as worthless. But let us ask, would any
other business, even such as are less subject to unforeseen vicissitudes
than mining, succeed under similar circumstances?

It is now very generally agreed that to the profitable development of
mining new countries, at all events, must look mainly for prosperity,
while other industries are growing. Therefore, we cannot too seriously
consider how we may soonest make our mines successful.

What is the remedy for the unsatisfactory state of affairs we have
experienced? The answer is a more practical system of working from the
inception. Although it may evoke some difference of opinion I consider
it both justifiable and desirable that the State should take some
oversight of mining matters, at all events in the case of public
Companies. It would be a salutary rule that the promoters of any mining
undertaking should, before they are allowed to place it on the market,
obtain and pay for the services of a competent Government Mining
Inspector, who need not necessarily be a Government officer, but might,
like licensed surveyors, be granted a certificate of competency either
by a School of Mines or by