GOLD IN SCOTLAND.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 10 June 1901, Page 4

GOLD IN SCOTLAND.

The hope of finding a Bonanza claim in Scotland, which were raised by the news that some workmen had struck it moderately rich in Leith, wi 1 be dashed to the ground. The men were engaged in excavating the foundations of an addition to the hospital, and when ten feet below the surface they came upon a seam of auriferous quartz, fragments of which, when assayed, are said to have yielded gold at the rate of 30 ounces to the ton. One piece picked up was found to be almost entirely composed of gold, and other pieces as large as a man’s fist were exceedingly rich in the precious metal. The Crown authorities, however, intimated to the directors of the hospital their intention to claim all the gold found in the ground belonging to the institution. They did not make much out of it, for they could claim all the gold recovered, but they could not compel the owners of the ground to continue mining, and the hospital people decided to go on with the work of covering the site with cement foundations. So the new wing will possess the rare distinction amongst British hospitals of being built on a gold mine. Scotland does not figure in the list of the gold-producing countries, but gold has been found in Scotland ever since the days before history, for gold ornaments have been found in tombs of the Stone Age. The abbey of Dunfemline was granted a tithe of all the gold raised in Fife. This was in the year 1153, and nearly three hundred years later the Scottish Parliament granted the King all the gold mines in the country. They do not amount to much nowadays. Tne most important diggings arc those on the Kildonan River, in Sutherlandshire, but as the Duke requires a fee for permitting the streams to be worked, and the Government Royalty is a tenth of all the gold raised, there is not much profit in the business. The Welsh gold mines, situated in the valley of the Mawddacn, bo. ween Dolgclly and Barnmouth, are better known, especially when some years ago they were exploited by Mr Pritchard Morgan. Off and on they have been worked for a long time, and between 1844 and 1866 two of them yielded nearly 12,0000 zof gold. The holes however, are very patchy. In Ireland the most gold has been found in Wicklow, and occasionally it has been discovered in England, but in such small quantities that, with the moans of working at the disposal of the miners, it has sometimes cost more to raise than it was worth.