OPENING UP OF THE THAMES GOLDFIELDS.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 33, 12 August 1867, Page 198

OPENING UP OF THE THAMES GOLDFIELDS.

, JNEW ZEALAND HEKALD, JULY 30.] Thanks to the promptitude and energy of the Deputy-Superintendent (Dr Pollen), and Mr- Commissioner Mackay, an arrangement has already been concluded with the native owners of a considerable quantity of auriferous land in the Thames, by which in all some 7000 acres wiU be at once thrown open to prospectors.

In the course of the afternoon the district aUuded to will, we understand, be officially proclaimed a gold-field, and Mr Commissioner Mackay leaves this morning for Kaueranga, provided with the means of supplying miners’ licenses to all those who may go down to the distriet. These will be issued for the Ist of August next, and any person found upon the gold-field without one will render himself liable to prosecution for trespass on native lands, a rather serious matter as the law stands.

The arrangement entered into with the natives is that these license fees of £1 per annum shaU be handed over to them as a consideration for throwing open their lands for mining purposes; thus it will be seen that if the diggings turn out but a poor speculation, the Government will havemade a wiser bargain than it did in the case of Coromandel. The licenses issued from Thursday next, for the year ending 31st J uly, 18G8, will apply only to the block now opened as a gold-field, unless, iu the event of fresh lands being thrown open, tho holder of it has it countersigned by tho Commissioner to apply to such new block, and in that case it will not give a right to mine npon the land for which it was first taken out, unless again countersigned to apply to such land. The reason for this is obvious, and will readily be understood. If a miner works upon A’s land fir three months, and on B’s for nine months out of the twelve, the Government will have to determine by the license issued what proportion of the fee shall be paid to A and what to B. This will give some trouble both to the miner and the Government, but it is a course that can hardly be avoided, when it is necessary to study and preserve the individual right of a number of native owners. The land will be thrown open generally to the miner, but native cultivations and dwellings, burying grounds, and tapued places, will be reserved. In their respect for the rights and the feelings of the natives, and for the agreement entered into upon their own behalf by the authorities, the miners will, we confidently hope, show other native proprietors of auriferous lands that, in throwing them' open to mining operations, they may do so with perfect safety to themselves.

The block now opened, belonging to Taipari, Horetene and another chief, is situated on the east side of the Firth of Thames, as nearly as possible opposite to the Miranda Redoubt, and having a frontage to the Firth, extending from the niuuth of the Kaueranga river northward to the Kurangi creek, which latter creek forms its northern boundary line; from the head of this creek the eastern bouudary line strikes southwards, crossing the head of the Karaka creek, and then—trending in a south-westerly direction, strikes the head of the Hape creek, running along the northern bank of the creek till it joins the Kaueranga river, and then along the Kaueranga river till it reaches the Firth of Thames. "We may state that on two creeks, within the block about to be proclaimed, gold has been discovered in paying quantities, namely, on the Waiotai and Hape creeks. Although but 7000 acres have as yet been secured, Mr Commissiouer Mackay, we believe, has very nearly obtained the consent of native proprietors owning nearly 100,OJO acres, to allow their lauds to be w orked on similar terms. It will depend much upon the conduct of the diggers themselves who may proceed to the block already opened whether this large territory belonging to the Ngatimaru, and which extends southward ou the right bank proper of the Thames to the Hikutaia river, vilL be opened. As the diggers conduct themselves towards the natives living on the proclaimed block, and as they respect and observe the agreement entered into, so—the Ngatimaru will argue —will they behave in the case of being allowed to work the lands south of Kaueranga. We trust that the miners will scrupulously observe the boundary lines of the prescribed area, and that the better disposed among them will render every assistance to Mr Mackay. and those under him, not only in observing order generaUy, but in preventing in every possible way any attempt to trespass on the lands of those natives who have not yet been arranged with. Nothing can be more calculated to keep back the full opening of the Thames distriet as a gold-field than a breach by the miners of tho agreement entered into by Mr., Mackay on their behalf. If no such interruption with his arrangements be offered, there is little reason to doubt that in a very short time the right of mining over this block of nearly 100,000 acres will he secured, and eventually the working of the lands as far as the Arolia mountain, at the back of the XauraDga harbour. And now one word as to the d “ rush * which is preparing to take place from Auckland. Mr Mackay proceeds this morning to the Thames as Commissioner,

and it ia extremely desirable there before the arrival of the intending miners. Several vessels have been laid on for Wednesday, and will, doubtless, be well filled. Mr Mackay will probably arrive before them. We have heard, however, that other vessels have been laid on to sail this morning. We trust that they will be withdrawn until the following day, or if not withdrawn that the will be prevented by the authorities from clearing out for the Firth. of - the Thames. It is most undesirable that the miners'should arrive upon the ground until the Commissioner has 'first obtained a footing, and is there to receive them. When Dr Pollen and Mr Mackay left the Thames they’ were quite unaware of the excited feeling in the matter which possessed the people of Auckland, and had certainly not prepared the natives for so immediate a rush as it is intended shall be made. The proclamation, too, it must be remembered, is not yet issued, and until this is done the natives will certainly ofTor resistance to any attempt to prospect the district, if not indeed to land there. We need not surely point out how very disastrous to all our hopes it would be if anything like a rupture was to take place with the natives at this juncture. We have said little of the result of the experiment made by the party who went down with the Deputy-Superintendent on Tuesday last. They had hut little time to prospect. From one shovelfull of soil, taken promiscuously, some three pennyweights of gold was obtained, two pieces being rich water-worn specimens, one of quartz and gold, the other of concrete and gold. Some of the gold so washed wa3 clear lval luvial, and all more or less water-worn. We understand that by damming the creeks upon the block about to be opened, some forty sluice heads of water cau be obtained.