THE KUMARA GOLDFIELDS.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1610, 18 April 1879, Page 3

THE KUMARA GOLDFIELDS.

Mining on the Kumara (says the local " Times") is gradually and surely undergoing a change. The work that has already been done in the usual way of mining has enabled miners to go into the more extensive system of ground Bluicing, with very little doubts of its ultimate success, and those sluicing spfcs that are already in full swing, prove beyond a doubt that there is plenty of ground in the district which will pay for sluicing. It is a great pity that the idea of a main sludge channel was not carried out when it was first spoken of, for if it had there would have been hundreds of men more lucratively employed than they are at present, as there is any amount of payable ground for sluicing that cannot be made to pay any other way. There is not the slightest doubt but that a main sludge channel will yet be constructed on the Kumara. It may require a little more evidence of the payable nature of the district before the Government or capitalists will undertake the work, but there is little doubt that it will be done so rer or later. There are several new tunnels starting by private parties, and when it can be made tu pay for such extreme works for an ordinary claim, eurely a tunnel that would command a number of claims would pay for the necessary outlay of capital. Parties could then open up a claim on a very limited capital, and poorer ground could be worked where the outlay was small to get started. There is no reason to doubt that greater prosperity is in store for this district than it has ever yet seen, if these large and expensive works were made available for larger numbers of men and greater areas of ground ; in fact, if a little more co-operation among the miners them•elves was more prevalent, there would he less need of Government or the help of capitalists. There is very little doing in the way of prospecting, unless it be an occasional shaft going down amongst the old workings. There is nothing being done to prove whence the gold in this district cometh or whither it goeth, and that is a problem which may remain unsolved for years to come. On the other side of the river there are great expectations from some of the claims that are about to start sluicing, and there is very little reason to doubt that as a rule they will pay handsomely, once in full swing.