Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/473

 Mine-Superintendent H. R Hancock ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 447 South Australia, and five years after his arrival he took charge of the Moonta Mines. It seldom falls to a man's lot to assume such a great responsibility at the early age of 28, but Captain Hancock proved in every way equal to the task. He possessed the advantage of having served as the Company's assayer, and of having surveyed all the underground workings, thus becoming familiar with the internal arrangements and modes of raising the ore, besides acquiring an estimate of the value of the mines and the practicability of their expansion. The ores at this time were very rich, carrying, in some portions of the mine, as much as 60 per cent, of copper. Captain Hancock divined that this remarkable percentage could not be maintained for any length of time, and perceived that he would have to depend on ore of lesser value. At the same time he recognised that the mines could be developed more vigorously, which indeed was the only course to be pursued in order to obtain permanency of operations and the best possible results. The pursuit of such a scheme demanded the employment of double the number of miners then engaged in the various shifts, and the scarcity of labor created a serious difficulty. Upon his suggestion, the Board of Directors dispatched the late Mr. S. R. Wakefield to the Victorian goldfields to secure the necessary complement of men. That gentleman was successful in his mission, and a steamer was chartered to convey the miners to the Province. This step caused something like a crisis, for the news was bruited about the Moonta district that " a shipload of men was coming over." There was much excitement among the miners already there, and the news was immediately signalled to the men working underground. Tools were dropped, and the men marched en masse to the .Superintendent's office to get an explanation of this immigration. The situation was certainly critical ; but the wise, cool, collected counsel of Captain Hancock soon assuaged the ruffled feelings of the men. He pointed out that the employment of extra men meant more developmental work, that more ore would be raised, and that the policy was to extend the mine, and not retrench in any respect. The men were, one and all, satisfied, and went back to their work contentedly. The extra miners duly arrived, and the developmental work was pushed on. As Captain Hancock surmised, the ore became gradually less valuable as the workings were carried down, and, of course, more expensive to work. In order to send away ore enough to keep up the output of copper, it became necessary to raise an increased (luantity of veinstone. This matter required very careful watching on the part of Captain Hancock ; but his admirable foresight bore fruit in the splendid approximate uniformity of the annual output of copper which he maintained for the many years he was connected with the mines. He worked on sound principles, always striving to keep in sight three or four years' veinstone, thus avoiding a " hand-to-mouth " policy by leaving exploration work till supplies of ore had actually run out. Captain Hancock's working of the Moonta Mines had been so eminently successful that, I 2 years after he assumed command of them, he was appointed to the charge of the Wallaroo Mines. He was now Superintendent of both Moonta and Wallaroo, and immediately on assuming the reins at the latter place a vigorous policy of developmental work was adopted, something like ^20,000 to ^30,000 being spent in this direction. This also was a critical time, for a number of men had to be dismissed when the mine was being practically reopened. The miners' residences at Wallaroo, through lack of tenancy, had been allowed to become dilapidated, and it was accordingly necessary for the proprietors to expend the sum of ^^9,000 in building cottages for the men required