HIS SPEECHES.
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one of you asks how you will get a return in connection with that gold, I may state that what I term the ‘patent’ in the country—namely, the Company getting a share in the vendor scrip—has been practically accepted by the country. We have not had the slightest diffculty in settling with the various corporations who have obtained capital from the public.
“The great objection to the idea was its newness. It had never been tried before. It has now been tried and accepted, and for a very simple reason. The prospector has found that he is not eaten up by monthly licences while holding his claim; the capitalist, when he goes to purchase, knows that the Charter has a certain interest, and pays accordingly; and as to the public, who always find the capital for quartz mining, it is a matter of no importance to them whether Jones gets all the vendor scrip or whether Jones and the Government share it together. The public do not take such a personal interest in Jones that they require that he should have the whole of the scrip. They also know that if the Government receive half of it, it is held until the value of the mine is proved, whereas if the whole of it was handed over to Jones, he might part with it to a confiding public. When, therefore, you are considering this question commercially you will say, ‘Well, we are dealing with a proposition of a capital of £2,000,000; we are dealing with a country nearly as big as Europe, and we know it is mineralised. The present tests must be fairly satisfactory, or else the friends of those who have gone out and found reefs would not have subscribed three-quarters of a million sterling for their development. We must always remember in connection with mining that it is very
