86 HOLLAND: MICA DEPOSITS OF INDIA. 



knows, can only be extracted by miraculous means. This source of 

 loss, and saving in transport, might be met by the employment of wire- 

 rope tramways ; but their use is hardly possible when there are so many 

 petty miners working a very limited area. Large trusts have their 

 evils, and in another direction complete isolation of interests has 

 its drawbacks also. A certain amount of combination is absolutely 

 necessary in some forms of mining, for which the smallest amount of 

 capital possible for economical working generally exceeds that which an 

 individual can afford to risk. With only one exception to my know- 

 ledge, the mica- mine owners in India are not able, or at least have 

 considered it undesirable, to pay for a properly qualified mine manager, 

 one reason being the smallness of the " venture." As a result, they 

 are paying in many cases at least twice as much as they need do in 

 mining expenses: there is an absence of system in attacking the 

 deposits underground, due to ignorance of the geological conditions 

 under which mica occurs, and a serious waste in surface management, 

 due to ill-acquaintance with the methods which sharp competition has 

 occasioned in more highly developed mining countries. Like all other 

 forms of mining, mica has its crop of sad failures ; but there is probably 

 no other mineral which lends itself more to reduction of risks in the 

 hands of the trained miner, and no other which more quickly brings 

 the usual reward of false economy. Nevertheless, the fault is not 

 entirely with the " adventurer," for the rules which have hitherto been 

 in force permitted a maximum mining lease of five years only, a period 

 barely sufficient for the development of the preliminary shafts and 

 cross-cuts, and consequently utterly insufficient to obtain returns 

 proportionate to the capital necessary for regular mining operations. 

 However, it is hoped that these limitations, and the more serious 

 insecurity of tenure, will shortly be removed as far as is consistent 

 with other important interests. 



The native system of mining naturally gives quicker returns, and 



has the advantage of requiring a small outlay of capital ; but the 



mine worked by the native method has a total life (measured by 



output, not years) little longer than what would be considered 



( 76 ) 



