The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1869.

Dunstan Times, Issue 364, 16 April 1869, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1869.

Beneath the Rule of Men entirely just the pen is mightier than theswonn

Tub season is fast approaching and the season has nigh come when we shall proceed to reap the golden harvest which the modern Pactolns an mially yields to the enterprising and skillful gold-seeker. After long months of comparative idleness that semiamphibious body who own beach claims or are the proprietors of dredging machines are now making ready or have actually begun the work of rec aiming precious metal from the watery depths of the Mo'yneux. Should the present season only prove favorable, operations connected with river workings will bo prosecuted upon a more extended scale than ever. We have the advantages of experience gained during past years to guide us, our appliances are upon the most approved principle, and the technical knowledge now possessed by the miners, enable them to reduce what was hitherto considered a wild and impracticable scheme to a positive certainly. Our mechanical appliances are now so complete that, whether the precious metal lays lathoms deep beneath a rushing and angry tide, or buried in the very hearts of the great mountains, or however otherwise hidden, it can be successfully wrested from its hiding-place, and made to do duty as one of the greatest civilizing agents of modern times; and we thus acquire gold which only a few short years ago there appeared as little chance of finding as the philosopher’s stone of the fable.

Taking the whole year through, the advantages offered by the Dunstan district to such of the mining community as possess those valuable

essentials to success perseverance and enterprise—are not to be equalled on any other goldfield in New Zealand. Here the miner can find work to do at all seasons of the year. During the months of summer there is an abundance of lucrative employment in the high ranges, and when winter sets in, and mother earth at these great elevations becomes enchained in icy manacles, another field of employment opens up in the low ground. The floods of summer have subsided, and the river beaches and banks supply a never-failing source from which gold may bo obtained. The winter season on the Dunstan is, without doubt, the most prosperous for all parties. It is then that the yield of gold is largest, as the escort returns i'ivariably show. But that is no reason why we should rest upon our oars, and be content to float gently along with the tide. Having all this field of comparatively undeveloped wealth before us, we should exert ourselves to the best of our power and ability to prosecute researches further. This we have neg'eeted. We have certainly increased the number of our dredging machines, but we have not done so to the extent required. The success which has in all cases attended the operations of dredging for gold during the last few years proves, figuratively speaking, that a whole fleet of machines would not be too many to find profitable employ, ment. The bed of the Molyneux between Clyde and Alexandra possesses untold wealth. It is pretty evenly distributed throughout, and experience justifies us in saying that, wherever it has been systematically sought, the seeker has been amply rewarded. A little more co-operation between the business people and the miners would

give a vast impetus to tins in /us try. Dredging lias proved itself to be the most certainly remunerative branch of gold-mining known of late years. The returns have never disappointed any who have embarked in it, and now that it is so thoroughly understood it surely deserves the employment of a largely increased amount of capital and labor. It will be in the recollection of many of our readers that the first dredging machine (the present Alabama) on the Molynoux owes its origin to Clyde. It, came drifting down from the Upper Glutha where it was intended to do duty as a punt, by the great flood in 1803. It was speedily purchased by a few enterprising spirits, who formed themselves into a joint-stock company. They then fitted it out with all the necessary apparatus, and started the little bark on its mission of raising the hidden treasures which lay buried up in the sands of the river. Like all new enterprises, either for want of a thorough knowledge of the modus operandi or through bad management, the company came to grief, and the machine fell beneath the knock-down blow of the auctioneer’s hammer. The experience gained was, however, hap p:ly not lost. It proved of great value to the party purchasing, which, together witli the valuable assistance of Mr benjamin Knight, who had been largely engaged in dredging river beds in the old country, ensured success, and which has ever since continued. The same happy result has attended the operations of all succeeding adventurers. Havb g boon the originators of a never-failing and profitable industry, let us not bo neglectful of the creature to which we have given life, and which only requires a little more fostering care bestowed upon it to develop itself into a very giant of good fortune.