NEVIS VALLEY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 946, 4 June 1880, Page 3

NEVIS VALLEY.

(FROM OUR OWN - COIIUKSI'ONDUNT. ) ■ This once prosperous goldfield, it I may judge from present appearances, has seen the heat of its days ; hut whether this is to he ascribed to the fact that the few remaining parties of minors now left—a dozen all told- • besides some few Chinamen, have in their possession the only golden deposits, or whether it is that the mining population have lost the energy that led them to open this as well as the numberless other fields, it is hard to say. It is, however, the.case, that where a large and it was always .thought a rich and prosperous community was a few years hack engaged in rescuing the golden treasure from the stubborn soil, there are now only some SO, and they scattered in solitary parties over some 20 miles of country, from Drummond’s Gully at the head, to Scotchman’s Gully, opposite the Crossing. From personal observations made during a tour lately through this valley, with all due respect to the noble digger, I am inclined to think that to the latter cause is to be asci ibed the present state of affairs, and being myself no novice in the arts and mysteries of the gold digger’s life, I venture to say my opinion is worth just as much as any who may say to the contrary. I do not intend to imply that the place is lit for a rush, and that gold is to bo obtained in the ready and easy way it was got in the caily and palmy days, but I hold, with the advantages the place possesses in the shape of an unlimited supply of water coursing down every gully, and the large area of untried ground, that with the display of but a modicum of that energy by which the New Zealand digger gained for himself a world-wide name, the Nevis Valley would support profitably as large a population as ever it possessed. As the ground to he operated on is for the most part deep, and would require to be ground sluiced—though I fail to understand why many of the low lying flats should not contain sufficient gold to pay — a requisite knowledge to be possessed by all who venture must be race-cutting, and with that, hacked up with a determination to do, and the wherewithal to keep the flour bag full for a season, the reward is certain. Amongst the present population are some who with short intervals have boon there for the past fifteen or sixteen years, and from their surroundings I should guess they have no cause to complain of their fortune. There are others, however, who have done nothing, hut still hold on in the hope of receiving in the end for their perseverance a smile from the fickle god- ' dess. A drawback to the place is doubt--1 loss the severity of the winter, which lasts

on an average two months, ami during this time all work is stopped, and communication with the outside World is cut off on account of the frost and snow, but the magnificent summers in a measure make up for all inconvenience during the winter. Up to the present, with but one or two solitary exceptions, and that on hut a Very limited scale, the whole of the population have been occupied in either mining or supplying the minors with the requisites of life, save and excepting the übiquitous sheepist, who, it matters not what the altitude, is to he found. The exceptions I refer to are cultivators of tire soil, but I shall ho little surprised if many more do not turn their attention in this direction. The soil is simply perfection, and for root crops and stock raising cannot he equalled, in reference to the sheepists tlieir present prospects on account of the rabbit pest are anything but golden, or 1 might rather say full fleeced. .Shooting and hunting the little rodent has been systematically, tried with hut little or no perceptible effect of reducing their numbers, and now the phosphorous ami rhodium poisoned wheat is to be tried, and should that fail there appears nothing for it but that the sheepist in this part will be an institution of the past. This question is well worthy the attention of the legislature and the representatives ot the pastoral interest, if alive to their interests, should bring all the pressure possible to bear so as to obtain assistance from the Government. The most equitable plan would he payment hy recalls What with the lessened carry mg capabilities of th; runs, the diminished value both of the carcase and the lleeee through the sheep being halfstarved, and the direct cost of shooting and poisoning, the innholders’ position must he anything but an enviable one, as they" must he living on their losses. One of them in this locality has had to succumb already, and thrown up the lease ot his country, and unless the efforts to rid the country of the little pest are sucot-sM il, I can see nothing else for it hut that others will of a necessity have to follow suit. The hitherto almost futile attempts of the large ruuhohier to grapple with the pest demonstrates very clearly the evil of one man having a hold of so much country, as was the country hold hi smaller blocks the combined efforts of the many would he much more likely to he effective. There is a decided desire on the part of many of the old residents to obtain land in the valley j for agricultural purposes. The soil, even 1 to thi tops of hie hills, is mostly of a stipe- I rior desciiption, and would raise excellent 1 crops of nearly every character with the | excepti in of potatoes, which got nipped | with the frosts, which a e both early and : late in the season. Tor grazing and fatten- I ing farms the valley is eminently adapted, and were but a block thrown open 1 feel fully assured it would readily bo taken up, and before long would supply the sur- ! rounding markets with fat beef and mutton; the mutton now consumed in the valley I comes principally from Southland, and beautiful meat it really is ; hut as good could ho raised on the spot. The whole valley presents a field, with its mineral wealth and its adaptability for settlement, for the profitable employment of a far larger population than it at present maintains ; and L am perfectly at a loss to understan 1 why it should have remained neglected so long. It is perfectly true that the Nevis is far from the ordintry highways, and atj certain [seasons d.fii ailt of access ; but the advantages it possesses over many other localities far and away counterbalances the disadvantages of position and its rather rigorous winter. I noticed that it possesses the two adjuncts of civilization—a school and public library.