THE HAURAKI GOLD-FIELD

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 647, 14 January 1869, Page 2

THE HAURAKI GOLD-FIELD

[JIIO3I QUE OWN COIUIESPOXDHNT.]

Shortland, Jan. 5. In my last I believe I stated that I anticipated an export for the last quarter year of 40,000 or 45,000 ounces. That expectation has not been realised. There is a mysterious quietness about the export. From all other gold-producing ports in the colonies, the monthly export forms a paragraph that is seldom or never; omitted. The Auckland press, so eager to cry up our gold-fields, ignores the real test. Probably T have complained of this before. My wish is to see the truth laid before the public. On previous occasions I have been unable to get this information until formally applied for at the Customs; even there I fuund a disinclination to give it, although not an absolute refusal. The export will be gazetted in Auckland, and afterwards perhaps the Auckland press will reprint it. However on this occasion the actual export proves nothing, no gold worth mentioning having been shipped in December. The ship Siam is to sail for London on the 11th inst., and it is understood the Banks are going to export by her the accumulations of the last two months. Without any private knowledge what that amount will be, on public grounds I expect it to be over 20,000 ounces; if less, I shall be disappointed. Consequently the January export will seem large, and the Auckland press will scarcely fail to note it. The October export was 11,608 ounces; November, ll,64CM)unces: Decern-

ber, 1 jounces; or for the quarter 23,256 ounces—or 16,744 ounces short of 40,000. Assuming that amount (16,744 ounces) to be already in the banks awaiting the " Siam," and the overplus to count for Janu* aiy, I estimate the yield for the current year at 20,000 ounces per month—-not literally every month, If the amount mentioned is realized, it will be anything but an extravagant rate of remuneration for the immense outlay in machinery and labor. The export may prove much more; if it does, so much the better. 1 If the Auckland press had been true 1 prophets, more than the amount 11 have estimated per month for the I current year would have been real- I ized more than a year ago. Having I been so very wide of the mark for-1 imerly, they appear inclined now to I l[ take a more sober view of it, al-1 (though I consider they aie yet a K little too sanguine. To compare the yield of the Hau- [; raki district with that of the Lake 1 district in Otago, or with that of: "Westland, during the first year of | their development, is ridiculous ; to I attempt to compare it with the yield I of " Bendigo and Mount Alexander I in their palmy days "is absurd. The j Tuapeka district yielded a much I better return per man during its first I year than the Hauraki has in its first, 1 or indeed in the year comprised in I its second and third halves ; although 1 the Hauraki may make a change to | the other side of the ledger in its I second year, as compared with Tua- I peka's second.

Many disinterested persons have been desirous of seeing regularly published the results of the crushings in all cases at all the batteries. Such returns, however, " would not suit" during the sharebuying mania; too many people were interested in concealing the results, when unprofitable. Latterly even sharebrokers virtuously suggest the publication of the results. It is doubtful if coirect returns will be so published, unless the gold is weighed and entered for export under the eye of the Customs officer. Too many people are interested in pulling claims. The result ot the past quarter at one machine has been published in both the Shortland and Auckland press. It is an instance of the way in which the truth may be so put as by inference to support falsehood. The machine in question has been continuously employed, generally crush ing for two claims at one time; but one division of the machine was continuously working for one claim for several weeks, perhaps the whole quarter. The quarter's result is 981 tons, yield 13,933 ounces, or over 14 ounces to the ton. Thi3 will be quoted as a " fair sample ; " whereas the whole truth would tell that the above result was owing to the second richest claim on the ground, the Golden Crown, whose stuff xx, was that kept one half the machine at work (and sometimes the whole), and whose gold probably formed three-fourths of the amount. While the Shotover claim (Hunt's) still is by far the highest on the list of actual yield, I believe the Golden Crown now conies second, but this only is an opinion—not a fact proved. Not long ago I read in the editorial columns of one of the local papers that "several claims richer than Hunt's were well known to exist here"; such barefaced falsehoods, for no other term is fitting, are what mislead people at a distance. Richer claims may be found ; or now held, may be developed and proved; but that is for the future, not eitherthe past or the present. While the large yield from the Golden Crown has altered the relative position of the Shotover in the returns, I still expect the latter has yielded from two fifths to half of the total export ; probably the Golden Crown's share is now nearly a fifth of the total. This is because it is only within the last six months that it has been yielding profitable returns ; before that it was unprofitable..