THE KUMARA RUSH.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 693, 8 September 1876, Page 3

THE KUMARA RUSH.

A correspondent of the West Coast Times of the 4th writes :

This rush is how assuming proportions entitling it to favourable comment. 'lt promises to be the largest rush seen on the Coast for seven or eight years, and though gold is not yet plentiful in the hands of the diggers, it is visible in the ground in large quantities. By Christmas time the Banks will have thousands of ounces of gold in their coffers, the produce of Kumara, and there will be more money spending at that time in Hokitika than there has been for many years. I have been very pleased with the special reports you have given from time to time on this place, and you have done more to foster and increase the rush steadily by relating the bare facts respecting the place than by the unwise course too often adopted of " puffing " the rush before the ground has been prospected. Had you encouraged a large influx of population at the start, the probabilities are the rush would have got a bad name by this time, as many would, no doubt, have returned before the gold was traced beyond the break. For five or six weeks the prospects of this place were in the balance. Shopkeepers were becoming anxious lest they had gone to expenses unwarranted. It would have been folly to have encouraged hundreds of men at that particular time to have left their homes for this new M Dorado. There were a couple of hundred or more then doubtful which course to follow; whether to return to the claims they had elsewhere, or shepherd for a week or two longer. A change, and a marked change too, has come "o'er the spirit of their dreams'' since then. There need be no hesitation now in saying that this is a large goldfield, and that hundreds, if not thousands, of men will be remuneratively employed on it for years to come. It is well at the same time to state that men must not expect to drop on golden holes here, without a considerable amount of labour. There are no pile claims to be dropped on here. It is a good poor man's diggings and nothing more. But a poor man in the fullest meaning of the term, that is a man without any means at all, will have a very poor show. He might do a little by cradling, but to work a claim here requires cash, muscle and perseverance. Cash to last him for a month or two at least, during which time he would be earning nothing ; muscle to endure hard work amongst the monstrous boulders to be contended against, perseverance to assistjhim in completinghis shaft, tunnel and races. These are not the palmy days of Bendigo and Ballarat, when a month's work gave two of leisure. There will be no " Champagne Charleys" making five-pound-note sandwiches for the barmaids of Kumara. But there will be what is perhaps better, a couple of thousand men making an average of £3 to £6 per man per week. And there is no saying yet how many more. During the last ten days the

population has increased considerably, and though it is impossible to say to a hundred or two how many there are on the field, I am of opinion that there cannot be less than two thousand people here. Having followed the diggings in this colony and other colonies for the past seventeen years, I say, without exaggeration, that I have never seen more general indications of any grounds becoming n large rush, than is shown at Kumara. One of the best signs is to see the miners pegging off the adjoining claims, and disputing the extent of ground applied for, if considered in excess of the regulations. For half a mile beyond the break, every claim has got good payable wash, and ample of it to satisfy all parties. Some will make as high as £7 to £9 per man per week, while others expect to average only £5 and £6. About a mile further on the gold appears again, and indeed in all directions round, fair prospects have been obtained. There are very few croakers here now. Every one on the rush has some prospect of making wages. The reports of pennyweights to the dish, which I hear have been circulated in town, are untrue. These stories generally find their origin in some public-house bar by some one who has recently deserted the order of Good Templary. Reports by publicans as to gold discoveries or payable claims should always be accepted cum grano sails, as the information is frequently imparted to them by spiritual influences, which have a tendency to magnify grains to pennyweights, and pennywe'ghts to ounces; I will give you a more detailed account of the diggings next week. So far I have written generally, and may say that you cannot err in urging upon the Government to give the place more attention, as it is well worthy of it. A court house should be opened here. Likewise the telegraph office. The banks are certain to be here before Christmas. The Kapitea race will be a first-class spec, and the Government should complete the Waimea race reservoir and bring the water in here. There will be sale for fifty Government heads of water here, if the rush progresses as it has been doing this last month.