The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1882. The New Eldorado.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume III, Issue 680, 5 July 1882, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1882. The New Eldorado.

TOWN EDITION.

[lssued at 4. 40 p. m. j

The news to hand from Woodstock continues to be of the most cheering description. That an extensive and highly important gold-field is being opened up there is no longer any doubt. The alluring metal is there, and plenty of it ; enough, in the opinion of those who ought to know, to afford employment to a large number of men for some years to come. Upwards of 1,200 diggers are now upon the ground, and their number is being added to every day. The new rush has of course given an enormous impetus to trade upon the coast. “ Dark is the hour before the dawn,” says the proverb. r l he Coast, in common with other parts of the colony, was suffering very severely from the general depression but a few months ago. Business was in a stagnant state. There was “nothing doing,” and, as a consequence, the population had dwindled away comparatively speaking, to nothing. The town of Hokitika, distant only about four miles from Woodstock, was in a terribly sleepy state, and the number of empty houses in and about it quite appalling. Now the tide has turned. The lane was a long one, but the turning has been reached. '1 hings are looking up; business has suddenly revived ; property has rattled up in value ; the empty houses are becoming rapidly re-tenanted, and very soon, it is said, the demand will far exceed the supply. Of course there is the usual proportion of unlucky or dissatisfied people at Woodstock, but the great majority of those who are there appear to be well contented. In a word, the bad times have passed away from the Coast, and are now almost as completely forgotten as if they had never existed. Happy West Coasters ! And yet the treasures of Upper Woodstock had been long suspected to exist before they were unearthed, and their

discovery, it is stated, was due, as is generally the case with goldfields, to a mere accident. The new rush is said to have originated thus : A couple of needy Italians put in an appearance one day at Lower Woodstock, where some mining operations, on a small scale, were being carried on. The foreigners were clearly “ hard up,” and, as evidently, wholly unacquainted with gold digging. They consulted some of the diggers they met as to where they thought it would be well for them to make a start at looking for gold. Wishing to take a rise out of the new chums,” the miners told them, with many winks and knowing looks, to go to Upper Woodstock and try their luck. The advice was taken, and very excellent advice the “ new chums ” found it. They joined some other “ duffers,” and bottomed with such golden results that the people came flocking about them—the rush set in. Even now the extent of payable ground cannot be estimated. An immense area of country, it is said, yet exists, of which little or nothing is known. The value of this land cannot he ascertained until it is prospected, and Government does not hold out adequate inducements to men to become pioneers. Rewards for new gold discoveries are confined to a radius of two miles from old gold workings. This is, in our opinion, a very great mistake. The prospector, for gold trying new ground, has to undergo many hardships and privations little recked of by the general public, who “ sit at home at ease.” What possible difference can it make whether gold is found two or twenty-two miles from old workings, so long as it is found, and in sufficient quantity to justify a rush?