The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-09
SOUTH AFRICA'S GOLD
 MINING ON INCREASE
Output Has Been Growing Since Boer War-Bad Leadership and De-
 cline in Shares.

From the New York Journal.
 One of the most striking foreign stock market anomalies of recent times is the persistent decline in the values of South African gold mining shares, contempor- aneously with an equally steady progress in the gold mining industry of the Transvaal. The supply of gold from South Africa is such an important factor in the money markets of the world that a brief study of this curious-and, from shareholders point of view, alarming situation is not without purpose
 Since the termination of the Boer war
 the industry has made slow but sure
 progress in the face of many difficulties. Chief among these has been the scarcity
 of unskllled labor, with resultant increase
 in working costs; while the grade of ore
 in the deep level mines is found to be ' inferior to that of the old outcrop propo- 1 sitlons At the same time these draw backs have been modified by the intro-
 duction of improved metallurgical appli-
 ances: in fact, the science of gold re-
 covery practiced in the Transvaal has
 now attained a height unsurpassed in any
 part of the world.
 The weakness of the share market is ! not traceable to any shortcomings in
 the mines; the seat of the trouble is in the market itself. Bad leadership-or rather petty auarreling and jealousy amongst the magnates, who should have been leading the market-couped with fear of political events, have sapped the stability of values: and until these in- ternal diseases are removed it is futile
 to look for any sustained upward move- ment.
 The situation Is one of more than super fiscal importance on account of the fact that the British and French public are large holders of Kaffir shares, and each successive decline means a further heavy loss to thousands of individuals on both sides of the English channel.
 Just before the Boer war the witwa- tersrand gold mining industry had reach ed a very interesting stage. The output of gold for the nine months from January to September of 1899 (war being declared in October of that year) was valued at SIS, coco which was equal to over $100O00,- coo per annum. In the two succeeding years, although the was was still in pro- gress. gold was recovered to the value of about s7 300, 900 in 1900 and s5 O0O,O0O in 1901 The year 1902, which included five months of hostilities. produced s36. .0O0. 600 of gold and from that time the returns have in- creased by leaps and bounds The total for 1903 was worth nearly S63000, 900, in 1904 the $50, GOO 900 mark was exceeded, and last year the pre-war record was equal led over s1C00 .oO0 of the precious metal being exported
 The results of the present year are in advance of all previous figures. The out put for the last five months valued at SAG, 310O00. exceeds that of the correspond ing period of 1905 by about s5,O00,O0O or ] nearly 12 per cent.
 To give an approximate idea of the se- riousness of the decline, comparisons may be given of a series of representa- I tive shares which. at the declaration of war in October. 1899. had total actual | market value of $500. 900. 900. All through | the war quotations kept remarkably steady. and as the dawn of peace ap- preached an upward movement developed 1 in anticipation of a boom at the cessa- 1 ton of hostilties This movement reached a climax when the peace negotiations were signed. At the beginning of June, 1902 this series of shares had attained a market value of no less than s9OO000. .000 But the boom did not materialize. Since that date there has been an almost un- interrupted decline. At the end of 1894 these shares were worth only $625 000, ,0O0 and at the present their total value is not more than $325 .O0O,0OO.
 The only saving feature of the situation
 
 been thoroughly shaken out and the tech nical position of the market Is therefore stronger than it has ever been, while at the same time the yield derivable at pres ent prices on current dividend bases are, to say the least. inviting
 Reverting to the industry, the average recovery of gold for all the mines work ing in the Transvaal In 1905 was $s.6 per ton of ore crushed. This compares with $9 S5 in 1899. a loss in recovery of S1 9 per ton since the war; and as the total ore crushed amounted to over H. 100000 in 1905. it will be seen that the loss of revenue under this head is about $l3.- 750,000 per annum. as compared with pre- war results.
 On the other hand. working costs have only been reduced by few cents per ton in the past year. However, the advance of metallurgical science and the invntion of labor-saving appliances are factors which are still making themselves felt. and the future of the gold mining indus try of South Africa Is not by any means so gloomy as the course of market quo tations would lead one to imagine
 Earnings of Composers.