THE LATEST "DUFFER" RUSH.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1447, 21 March 1873, Page 4

THE LATEST "DUFFER" RUSH.

It has already been mentioned that a vessel had returned to Grahamatown with Mr Warden Fraser and about 70 miners, who have solemnly pronounced Whansjaaata and Hikntaia "a duffer." The Thames Advertiser aaya :— " Our readers will perceive from the narrative given by our own reporter in another column, thatevents for the last few days have been rapidly tending in this way, aud apparently the repeated disappointments they had suffered, the 'sells' which had been attempted, and the fact that no man had got a payable prospect from any part of the ground, decided the bulk of the men. At Whangamata, on Wednesday morning, they struck their tents, humped their swags, and straggled over the mountains in the rain and mud to Hikutaia. In their hard and dreary journey the men were cheered by the inspiring strains of the bag pipes, played at the head of the irregular column by Mr Robertson. Arrived there, they found the men in a similar mood, and between sixty and seventy men determined to come off in the Lalla Rookh to Grahamstown. Mr Warden Fraser pr«<bably reflecting that there was no use in keeping a Warden's establishment in a solitude, came off in the vessel, and we understand that he goes.to Auckland to represent the position of affairs. The men who have been on the new ground deserve credit for thf order they have observed, and for the good humor and good temper with which they have borne their disappointment. There are not now thirty men at Whangamata, and to all appearance the place will soon be abandoned to those who have been employed in gum-digging As might have been expected, the storekeepers at Hikutaia looked rather disappointed at seeing the exodus, and we fear that those who have gone to great expense, will find they have made bad speculations. Mr Mackay is at present at a native settlement a few miles from Whangamata. Those who have returned state that they heard nothing about gold having been fonud in Eyre's reef, or in one near the Tairua. So ends the Whangamata and Hikutaia business for the present, so far as any extensive prospecting is concerned. There will be a fine opportunity for speculation and recrimination 011 the subject of ' who is to blame lor the expectations that were raised ?" But we do not desire to go into that now. There is nu reason however for despair, and for concluding positively that there is no gold on the block. It is very extensive and rugged, and prospecting is an exceedingly slow process, and there may be rich deposits for all that has been done on it at present. But all immediate expectations must be abandoned."