OUR GOLDFIELDS.

Evening Star, Issue 3492, 2 May 1874, Page 2

OUR GOLDFIELDS.

MOUNT IDA. We make the following extracts from the report of Mr Warden Stratford for the year ended March 31st last: The seasons have, on the whole, been favorable for sluicing, which is the special phase of mining industry in this district. Water has been tolerably abundant. The winter of 1873 was perhaps rather longer than usual, but the frosts were by no means constant nor severe, and fulls of snow late iu the season served to secure supplies of water to the reservoirs well into the summer. But although nature has been thus gracious, the past year has not been a prosperous one for this district, but rather to the contrary as far as mining is concerned, the reason being that the numerous public works m operation in various parts of the Province have attracted men away who would otherwise have remained here ready to take advantage of full supplies of water as they became available. I refer particularly to the class of miners who work_ for wages, but even claimbolders have been induced to seize the advantages of steady wages at high rates on public works. By this the mining population (particularly in the neighborhood of Naseby) has become considerably reduced. However, the decrease of papulation can only be looked upon as temporary, for as the public works verge towards completion, men will again resort to the old familiar occupation of gold-mining. NASEBY SLUDGE CHANNEL. The great public works in the vicinity are the Naseby sludge channel and the water race from the Manuherikia river, which, when finished, will restore Naseby to the prosperous position it once before enjoyed, when the water race companies discharged their water into Hogbum gully. Since the commencement of the public works here doubts have been expressed at times as to the results, but if the sludge channel is brought up to a depth sufficient to work payable auriferous, ground down Hogburn gully (and it could > be), I have no hesitation in expressing a decided opinion that as soon as the Government water-race has performed its first duty of scouring the valley of the tailings that for years have choked up many rich basins and gullies of gold, despised in the early days on aocount of the richer terraces, men will at once set into work with a will into ground well preserved under a great depth of sludge—will cut E tail-races into the terraces bordering the igburn, and work claims alongside the sludge channel to advantage, for a distance of two or three miles'on its course. The ground has been proved, and if the channel is deepened (for all depends on this), as it ought to be, the Government will have reason to be satisfied with the investment. It is not at Naseby alone that the benefit of the race will be enjoyed, but at different places along its course diggings will spring up, where gold is known to be in pay-’ able quantities for sluicing, but to which water has not been brought because the expense would have been beyond private enterprise, but now that water runs by the ground, will become enhanced in value. STRANGE DISCOVERY. I would here remark upon a somewhat singular fact worthy of attention to geologists, but especially by the miners, for practical purposes. It is that ori' all the neighboring ranges, viz., Eock and Pillar, Lamerlaw, Rough Ridge (on h°tb sides), Ruggedy Ridge, Blackstone Hill, and Mount Ida, rich, finds of gold have been discovered all at the same level, the same height above the sea, and as the diggings have extended they have done so at the same level, losing value above and below. Strange to say, the same rule applies in regard to heavy dead timber. This discovery should encourage belief m a run of gold on all the bluffs and gullies under the course of the race that are at the same level and correspond in appearance with Nasebv and Hamilton. THE WANT OF LAND, The want [of a large block of arable land is much felt by the inhabitants, who, with growing families, begin to pine for homesteads with gardens, orchards, grass, out-paddocks, and such comforts, so indispensable for domesticated people. It is this want that makes Naseby so purely a miuing township, and its inhabitants unsettled. A change for the better could be brought about by the opening of land for the purpose, but it would considerably depreciate the value of the pastoral tenant’s lease. I consider it fair to mention this in justice to a class that has done so much in its day towards settlement and the opening up of the country. Water! Water! is the cry everywhere, and capital to divert it around these rugged, rocky ranges. At Mount Burster, on the summit of Mount Ida ranges, where the snow lodges fourteen to thirty feet deep for six months each year, and owing to the frosts the miners can only work four months in the year—so rich is the yield ot gold that six weeks* washing up is sufficient to repay for eight months’ complete idleness, and give the olaimholders besides a handsome return. One man alone at that place has been about seven years bringing in a race from Mount Domett, at a cost of nearly L 2.500 and he cheerfully looks forward before another yearhas passed to have completed his race, and extracted from his claim the amount of his expenditure ™d probably three times as much besides; and Mount Burster is not a singular spot of fabulous wealth. . gular mr. A , GLOWIN U PICTURE. !i :® wheaua Soldfield, immediately on i^i her . Blde .° f the Mount Ida range, and S alSlifi V 'Tf lfcy K imleß ilom Mount Burster, “ the factions possible for a large popui* beautdul healthy climate, where thrive m an f S ’i a “ d - flo 'T ers ofall descriptions - b lux T ia ? tly; where skkueas in is scarcely known; where, from an elevated plateau, can be seen the broad Waitaki winding its course through an extensive

plain for forty miles to the ocean, and the ocean itself at that great distance lending enchantment to the view. Truly, scenery is only an acquisition, a luxury in New Zealand, and will not keep together a population, and even health-thriving plants and fruit, though desiderata, are not sufficient to create a city; but, fortunately, there are other essentials in abundance in that really beautiful place to form out of the present nucleus of a township a large inland town —as it will eventually be, against all obstacles. THE MAKBEWHENOA. Firstly, there is a great extent of rich arable land, exclusive of 40,000 acres freehold (the property of Messrs Borton and M‘Master) said to be worth L 5 an acre. Secondly, there is a run of gold pretty evenly sprinkled over an area within a radius of four to five miles from the township as a centre. In the richest finds, as much as seventy ounces have been sluiced by three men iu six weeks. In the poorest claims miners are sharing from L 5 to L 6 a week each. Yet the population is very small, and no likelihood of an increase for at least a year. This can easily he explained. The same reason, I have no doubt, can be given by all the Wardens in New Zealand. It is that the day for poor men’s diggings has nearly gone by and we are on the eve of a new era—one that Victoria has experienced—viz., gigantic operations and comparatively safe investments for capitalists. An account of the result of such investments •ii i! "®- aerew henua field, and plain figures, will best help to confirm my statement In regard to that place, and my knowledge equally applies to many other mining districts with which I am)acquainted. To prove the richness of these diggings, I will mention that the few miners perhaps thirty all told—actually minmg, though there are others cutting races, have sold about 1,000 ounces of gold during the last twelve months, with an indifferent supply of water, continual cessation of mining operations, owing to the incompleteness of the waterraces, and m the interrupted supply from the feeders. . . . At the present time there is a check upon mining operations at this place, owing to an impending action against How and party by Messrs Borton and M’Master, the freeholders through whose land the river runs, and which has been polluted, it is stated, by How s mining operations, to the detriment of sheep washing at certain seasons. I do not anticipate any serious inconvenience to the miners should it become necessary to leave the nver undisturbed, as |it would only be for a «~? r t P l? od T°^ e , a year * And it would be practicable, I think, if agreed upon, to carry a ra«eof clear water to the dip from different streams independent of the Maerewhenua. x do not desire to comment on the principle involved. I, therefore, confine myself and P ros Pecta of this goldfield .which I repeat will be in a few years one of the most picturesque and stirring inland goldfield towns of Otago. In abouta year the nearest railway station will be only ten miles from this township, which will bring Dunedin within seven or eight hours’ communication of Maerewhenua.

OUT DISTRICTS. At St. Bataan’s there is at present a wrmll population, perhaps 200 persons, but a sludge M Q .I 8 . abo “t to be constructed from tie Manuhenkia River, three miles up, to a large extent of auriferous ground unused at present, so . choked is the outlet with tailings. The ground in question has - been well prospected, and is known to be fairly payable for sluicing. There wiil be water m abundance and employment for. another 150 persons added to' the present ft n 1 * m l £ ake to construct £,? nd cosfc , Li.OaO a mile, but I the washings of the sludge willklmost. nrnnon^ UlCe & ay tke •n o '?’ M the constructions proceed, as.there will be an (accumulation of auriferous dirt of ten years’ "standing. St. i j iS ns i- pu l el y a mining township, but like ' old Bendigo Gully on the north side of the Th U o n irt\ range j’- lts - are inexhaustible. The Kyeburn diggings have been steadily retrogradmg during the past year, owing to a rather scanty supply of water, the poverty of the ground, and the expense in keeping the races in repair. There is nererthelss a large extent of aunferous ground that will beconsidered payable enough when L2 a week becomes recognised as a fair week’s return. Thd bed of the lyebum river is thought to contain such ground as I hj fa v Cnbed ’ 80 covere(i and surfeited with tailings as not to make it worth while to remove them; but fortunately the Kyeburn is subject to heavy floods, and as soon as sluicing the bead -?/ the river the scouring of the watercourse will open out a new and by no means poor diggings. The modus opl-and*h almost entirely ground sluicing, but the earn* p j[“ of . g^ d P rov « that there are quartz reefs in wl ei l hborh °°/- -?y cbura has recently hem. better known for its coal than its gold, for Naseby has for some time been almost entirely supphedfromtho Kyenum pits. The country is streaked with splendid seams of coallaying e fA ffitll « t,le horizon, breadth from 6ft to 15ft. They all run in the same direction, about lOdeg 21miu E. As firewood is so scarce at Naseby, the recent discoveries «bif° d w oala r& ebum wiU prove most valuab!e. None of the quartz reefs in the district °^ d at pr t? ent > hut it is generally SW v o t n attboS -?i at Rough Rid ge, us well m fh? , Vade y» will yet prove remunerative though not pay great dividends. The miners at Hamilton, Hyde, and Macraes are, for the vatSl °l d sett i ers » who have their cultb with* ft? 8 ’ gardens ’ and substantial houses, *3 aU T r e appearance of permanent settle{f 1 have doubt these men have hi hand many years work, perhaps sufficient for Snd £ lme ’ hj? Ido * ot hear of any new kind being opened, nor signs of encouragement W^ eW COm *f ß; ! is d townships, with their huge gaps of old-worked ground and conglomerated piles of debris and tailings, are most unattractive-looking spots.