OTAGO.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 635, 12 February 1870, Page 4

OTAGO.

* . The following interesting description of i a portion of the Otago Gold Fields is from the pen of the travelling correspondent of the Otago and. Southland Mining Journal : " But, first of all, let me say that the prevailing impression on my mind is one of wonder that auriferous resources' so gteatas ours evidently are, do not attract a larger population. As regards the geolo--1 gical features of the country ,[ from within a few miles of the coast it is everywhere schistose, interspersed in a greater or less degree with quartz-veins. Gold is found to exist on the beach' at Moeraki, and along as far as Oamaru, where from a small lagoon, open at high tide to the sea, I saw some sand taken full of small garnets, and when washed on a shovel, a residuum of black sand, containing a large number of exceedingly fine specks of gold, was produced. This, coupled with some other, indications, lead* me to believe that there may be a certain quantity of gold mixed up with the volcanic rocks which abound >>t thia part of the coast, though it is scarcely likely to be payable. The country at the baok foe some miles inland, and fornnng, the fine agricultural area known as the Oamaru district, consists of alluvial soil interspersed with beds of basalt and limestone, revealing an old sea bottom, and about fourteen miles inland ihe. schist rock crops out. From this point, near the Kakanui, to the present workings at Maerewhenua, is about 16 miles ; and hills of ( made gronnd,' consisting, to a large extent of quarts gravel and cement, rest on a substratum of schist rock. ; "1 cannot say much about the Maerewhenua gold field at present. A few have jgot a living there, and very sanguine expectations are entertained, from the prospects got, that when the large waterraces are in, very good results will be obtained from sluicing the hills. Certainly appearances . favor this view, but time alone can show. About 160 people are located within a radius of ten miles. There is plenty of water, but it runs .chiefly in rock -bound gorges, which renders it expensive work to get iv on to the .auriferous ground. From Maerewhenua ; to the Awakino — the boundary of the new gold field, some twenty miles— very little has been done as: yet. Some very heavy I gold has been got in patches at the Kiurow, •. : but nothing to pay more than small wages, although from what I Baw of the country at the back, I should judge very favorably of the prospects. Quartz reefs exist in abundance, but as yet I believe uo gold has been found in them. " I see no reason why the whole valley of ; the WaitiKa. should not prove to be : auriferous. It has all the features of a gold-bearing country, and in the alluvial drifts left by a receding chain of lakes alongits upper course, I feel certain there are places which' would reward the skill of the miner. The existence of gold, in the beaches Of the river has been proved, but no systematic mining has been carriedon. The saniejremarks apply to the large jtracfc;. of : Country ; between Omarama and the liindis Pass-^a plain bounded- with low 'made' hills. In the the narrower part of the valley, just at the foot of the pass, veins of quartz crop out on the hifl side, but, so far as I saw, without auriferous indications. Among the best indications, however, that I saw anywhere were those on the ;Lindis • . River, along, whose banks a large amount of drift, similar:to that on the banks of theMolyneux, was exposed ; and, although somewhat circumscribed in extent, owing to the close proximity of the hills, there .seemed to me to be ample to justify the, bringing of a race f rorii the upper part of the river; gorge along the side of the river at as high an elevation as the fall, which seemed considerable, would allow. I am certain no man need want work which would pay fair wages, while so large an extent of ground with more or less gold in it, exist in such close proximity to the needful element of water. But here I travelled -nearly eighty riiiles,. arid never saw one digger at work, though I saw numbers of men seeking -work, or profes-; Bing ;to seek ; it, : at the .different stations, . and; some of them told me they had earned nothing for months^ having neither tools, , ni^r m oney to buy them. Of course, even gold digging requires tools, and so the ground retiiains ririwOrked, while men go abput ; idle; Surely there is something; [ here. Is it one of the^necessary 'atocompanimerits of gold-digging that ablebodied men Bhould go about earning nothing, and, I am afraid, even worse .than, that, not caring .to earn, bo long asthey can get drink enough, and eke out a bare subsistence by loafirig about from staticm- tb station ? I should.be sorry tobe severe on hard-working men. who sometimes, like. everyone else, get hard-up, but it should be known, at all events, that men can get a living if they only like .to work, and I believe that is the case over a large area in. this province.