a ‘ ms a The Omineca Miner PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT HAZELTON, THE CENTER OF THE GREAT OMINECA District or Barrish COLUMBIA, A. R. Macdonald, Publisher and Proprietor. . SUBSCRIPTION RATES; Canada and British Possessions, Two Dollara a year; Foreign, Three Dellurs a year. ADVERTISING RATES: Display, 92.50 per inch per month; Reading Notices, 20 cents per line for each insertion. Legal notices inverted at B. C, Gazette rates, Vou, IIL. SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1914, No, 46, While making steady progress in mining dévelopment, Omineca division is just about holding its awn in the prospecting branch of the mining industry. In this respect it is more favored than’ the other mining districts of the province, there being a general com- plaint of a falling off in prospecting activity. Whatever may be the cause of this condition, it is of serious consequence tothe future of mining and to the prosperity of the province, and consideration of the situation by the provincial government may well be de- munded by the people of the mining districts, The Miner has previously suggested an extension of the aetivi- ties of the field slaff of the mines department, and the government has already taken action which will tend to improve the service given hy the provincial mineralogist and his assistants, but we hbe- lieve the administration must further extend its system of exam- ination und reporting before the department reaches the point where it will be of the greatest benefit to the mining industry. The exploration of the mineral districts of the province and the development of our mining claims must be encouraged in every way possible and much can be done by the government without great expense to the provincial treasury. A suggestion made by the Chaleopyrite is worthy of serious consideration. Our Skeena Crossing contemporary advocates the establishment of a govern- ment assay office, at which prospectors may have their samples tested free of charge, each free miner’s-certificate carrying. a num- ber of assay coupons.