The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2277, 24 August 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1870.

The evidence given by Dr. Hector as to tbe large area of the goldfields in Otago, and the unlikelihood of finding gold in quantity, or distributed over an extensive tract of country in other parts of the Colony, point to the advantages this Province possesses in the means of employing a large population. But it is evident that in order to reap the benefit derivable from this mineral •wealth, different means must be adopted from those hitherto pursued. Some two years ago, so convinced were the Colonial Government of the advisability of prosecuting mining industry, that a premium was given for the best essay on the development of the goldfields, and a prize was awarded. Nothing practical, however, was suggested. The miners of the day were described, and their habits pourtrayed with more or less truthfulness. It was shewn that they had adopted a kind of nomade life; and habits which unfitted them for permanent settlement. That phase of mining is fast passing away. The miners were hard-working, sanguine men. No enterprise seemed too difficult for them to undertake in the pur-

Mit of gold, so long as it was obtainable m or'near; the surface. But they were nen without capital, without knowledge, and without that perseverance (vhich results from the intelligent adaptation of means to ends. To the absence of this necessary addition to their energy and courage, is to be attributed the rushes of which we so constantly heard. It is highly probable that, as a rule, the average wages realised by the mining population, even in the best days, was not greater than if they had devoted their attention to settled employment. The time wasted in going from place to place, and sinking holes that were abandoned on not finding what was considered payable gold, was not reimbursed in every case by lucky finds ; and in the excitement caused by the reports of the luck of mining parties at a distance, many a claim was forsaken that proved a mine of wealth to those who followed. We have proof of this in the success of the Chinese, who are now quietly working upon ground which Europeans forsook. They are taking the substance, while our countrymen followed a phantom—a shadow. There must be something in their system that is worth inquiring

into. It is not a satisfactory way ol disposing of the question to say, as it is often said, “ Oh ! a Chinaman can “ live where an Englishman would starve.” It is true that our different form of civilisation has induced different habits, and that in all probability our European habits of eating and drinking may be more expensive than those of the Chinese. But our civilisation is proved, if that be true, to be thus far defective it has not taught us to make the best of the advantages we possess. But it is not true that the habits of the Chinese are so frugal as is usually represented. Every storekeeper knows that they indulge in luxuries, and not at all of an inexpensive sort. If they indulge now and then in a roast puppy, they are not averse to roast fowls, and we do not know but the puppy would be the more expensive of the two. Certainly either of them would cost more than good beef or mutton : meats that any English, Scotch, or Irishman would be well content with. We do not believe it is the outgoings of the Chinese that are so much less, but that the incomings are larger, and that they are a cool, calculating lot of fellows, who estimate the value of time. They seem to be shrewd enough to find spots of ground where gold is to be obtained ; and patient enough to know that it is better to wash out what will keep them day by day, and a little to spare, than waste their strength and energy in vain search for a claim that will make their fortunes. It is the difference between the tortoise and the hare—there may have been hares who reached the goal; but in the long run the tortoises pass them in the race—they plod on and gather what the others rushed away from without seeing. We gather from Dr, Hector’s evidence that it is not very likely many patches of auriferous ground will be found that will prove so rich surface digging as Gabriel’s Gully—that in fact that style of digging has had its day. “Hitherto,” says he, “ the yield of gold from these “ alluvial diggings, after the first ex- “ citeraent which attends a new rush, " has always been in proportion to the “ number of men employed ; on this “ ground alone, I am inclined to the “ opinion that in no sense can they be “ considered as being worked out, the “ falling off in the yield having been “ produced simply by the continual migration of the diggers from one “ district to another,” As this is the caso, it would be worth while to make eurselves acquainted with an organisation such as is evident amongst the Chinese, and to sec how far it can be adapted to European habits of thought and action. Co-operation has been much talked about. Cannot it be adopted with advantage in gold digging 1