ANNUAL REPORT ON GOLDFIELDS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 959, 3 September 1880, Page 3

ANNUAL REPORT ON GOLDFIELDS.

The prospects of the Now Zealand goldlioiils are more hopeful at present than they have been for many years past. The quartz-mining districts, which were at a low ebb twelve months ago, are now greatly revived, and in all alluvial mining districts fresh discoveries have been, and still are, being made. There is such abundant evidence of the permanence of the goldfields that they may bo relied on for many years to furnish one of the principal staple exports of the country, as will be seen hy a statement to follow Gold to the value of nearly L 37,000,000 sterling has been exported since 1857, and the annual export for the last few years has been considerably over L 1,000,000. The return for the year 1879 is loss than for any of the years since the famous discovery at Tuapcka in ISC I, but the increase in the returns for the first quarter of 18S0 arid for the six mouths ended the 30th June last, would seem to indicate that, for a time at least, the tide has turned. Tire Custom House returns of gold entered for payment of duty furnish the nearest approximation to the actual produce of the Colony, and in adopting them there is the satisfaction of knowing that the quantity cannot ho overstated, for no account is taken ol the gold used up by the jewellers, nor of that which is smuggled out of the country.