THE BIRTH OF KUMARA

Hokitika Guardian, 27 February 1926, Page 2

THE BIRTH OF KUMARA

SPECIAL REPORT OX THE KFA!AKA RUSH.

(From “West Const Times,” Oct. 6th.) 1876. h\- a special reporter.)

About eighteen miles from Hokitika, and within, a short distance of the Teremakaii River, stands the new township of Kumara, which, like in the fabled city of Aladdin, has sprung up as it were, in a single night. Kumara or porperly, Kolie-tnara the Maori name for t.ho flower of the Tatarimoa, or Lawyer bush hears a family resemblance to all new gold-fields townships. A straight street half-a-mile in length, forming part of the main road between Hokitika- and Greymouth, lined oil the west side, and partly on the east side with stores and hotels ot iron and wood, of all si/.es. some finished, others in various stages of completion and at right angles to that, another long street, Sod don Street, striking off to the east and leading to the claims. ’lbis street, although not the principal business one, is also half-a-mile long, and has its eastern half pretty well taken tip by business premises, built, building or projected.

The township, lying on a plateau amidst not very lofty hills is surrounded by a zone of dense forest, chiefly of birch, rata, rimu, and red and white pine, the latter of which attains gigantic proportions growing straight enough and tall enough to make the mast of a seventy-four. 3'his pine is used, almost exclusively, for the construction of the buildings in the township. and so great is the demand at present, that two sawmills, each of al>out 30 horse- power, and working day and night, are totally unable to keep up anything like an adequate supply of cut timber. Of course the requirements of the diggers on tho claims, for slabs for shafts anil hoards for erecting lints have to he supplied by themselves, and sawpils are at work in almost ovary direction. Besides steam, power and sawmills mentioned there are eight others, averaging tliiri_v lior.se power each, within a radius of about liftecn miles, and yet buildings arc at a standstill lor want of stuff, some of those who went to build have ordered for as much as a. lortnight ahead. This might Icadlo the idea that tradesmen, such as carpenters and so on are in request; hut such is not the ease. 'There is an abundance of skilled labour and very tew men are employed : such as are, are getting one pound per day, hut the mechanics ltete are mostly men who take jobs by contract.. There is a sufficiency too of blacksmiths, painters and wheelwrights, and labouring men are in no request. As on all new rushes, there is a painful superabundance of the new chum am! loafer element, the element that for want of knowledge and patience in the one case, and from laziness on the other, give every new diggings a had name. The Kumara rush is no place for these, no place either tor feather bed miners. Digging here moans hardship and right down hard work. There is no picking up nuggets on the surface, gold inust he wrought for, and striven for. and even when it is got at, means nothing more than wages. Still, for all that, hard working porservering men, who do not mind roughing it, anil who are not deterred by the difficulties ot the A\ cst Coast hush, and who, more than all, can stand by tor a month or two till they get at tho washclirt. need not tear but that they will make a living. Alore than that even they need not hope, for the average yield is hardly throe grains to the dish. Certainly on some ol the claims as much as eight, grains to Lho dish have been obtained, hut those are exceptional cases, and tour or live grains to the dish is considered a fair all round yield at the best claims. There is abundance of rooms for diggers of the right stamp inasmuch as tin.* auriferous country is, so far as is known, almost unlimited in extent. The main lead on tho Kumara. that is to say. the lead where the gold lias keen found appeared at tirst- to run in a soutli.-oasterlv direction, hut ns the miners seem to'have traced it diagonally, it is now thought more probable that it. runs nearly due north anil south. The claims are ol two kinds, namely, those on the terraces, where scaly gold is obtained, and those on the low lying flats between the spurs, where the gold is of a small hut more shotty character. "Whether in one or the other however, the sinking is much the same, first, through the alluvial deposit, then through a bed. more or less thick, of fluviatile drift, consisting of boulders and shingle, and then to a layer of good wasliilirt varying from four to twenlv-five feet, thick, followed by poor ground and more hut thinner washdirt, and so until what may he called the false bottom is arrived at. The term false bottom is used advisedly, inasmuch as no real bottom has, as yet, been found, and which, from tho lormalion of the country, which is probably a former course of the Teremakaii River, most likely lies at a great depth. The bottom as at present reactl- , oil, seems allowing for the inequalities of the ground, which is exceedingly rugged and broken, to form a plane equidistant for the mean surface- —that is to say, the depth is pretty much the same all over, taking into account the rise and sink of the country. Tims, for example, where parties on the flat have bottomed at from 8 to 14 feet, those on the terraces have had to sink Iroin 70 to 106 feet, according to their situation. The mere sinking to these depths in loose ground may not appear a great matter, and the miners on the flat may, at the first blush, seem to have the best of it, hut when it is remembered that the whole extent of known diggings lies on the inner slope of the two ranges, and on the Hat between, and further, that in order to get rid of the dirt it is neeesary to drive tunnels through the hills to the Teremakaii below, the difference ill labour becomes apparent. As on all new diggings the appliances are somewhat rough, oven primitive, lint tlie workmanlike manner in which those appliances have been constructed shows that those already oil the ground are men wito know wliatthey are about, and the numbers of well-pitched tents and houses and sawn stuff, which dot the sides of the terrace* and the Hat below, are a sufficient indication that they are content and have made up their minds to remain. 't he gold Itearing Kumara lead lias already been traced, and is, in fact, worked on, for a distance of nearly two miles from the township, the width varying from three to as many as eight claims u id,*, the fair average being somewhat over four claims at an average of five men's ground. Beyond that, however, parlies are prospecting. and arc reported to have got gold as far and even beyond the Christchurch anil Hokitika road, a distance of about four miles, "ibis is. however, merely hearsay, but if it he true, it seems to point to the fact of the lead running into the quartz ranges in the neighbourhood of the Tuipo river. So far as can he learnt few claims are taken up beyond about a mile and a half from the town, the furthest out of the paying being those known as O'Korko's on the slope of the terrace, and Barker's on the Hut. There are two or three others beyond these, hut they have not yet bottomed. It therefore, appears that there is plenty of available ground remaining to he tested, hut of what quality is not known, although judging from the country leading up to it there is no reason to doubt its auriferous nature. 'Still, anil it- cannot he too often or 100 forcibly expressed to those who have an idea of frying the Kumara. it must he reniemlierod that these are poor diggings. IVrinanont perhaps, but as permanent in their poverty. Wages, fair wages, may Ik* made by dint of hard work, hut nothing more. At least, judging from what is known up to now. it would he unreasonable to expect more. Let not. therefore, the intending digger at the Kumara come with the idea that he is going to make a pile. There are no pile claims in the district, nor likely to Ik* any. At some of the heat claims, and those are some of the first opened, as much as from £lO to £l2 per week has been made and is being made per man front deep sinking, but this does not by any means represent the average. which does not exceed £3 10s or £4 per week, and if a man does not make that by hard work, lie will do nothing, that- is to say, lie will be on the lead or off it.

The great want here is that of water. It seems strange than in a country like New Zealand where water is generally so plentiful, this should he a ground for complaint, but it is nevertheless, true. On the Kumara goldfields there is, beyond one small race which belongs to Houlihan and party, tho original prospectors of the ground, absolutely no water except the rainfall, which, is of course not to he depended upon. It is therefore, impossible to sluice, and barely possible for miners to obtain sufficient water wherewith to wash tip. A race is, however in course of formation from a point- in the Kapitea Creek, distant about 3 miles south east, which will bring down some water, but not- a tenth of wliat is required. The history of the AVaimea water-race, which is promised, hut of. which there is no immediate hope, may be summed up in a few words as one of the usual Government blunders. This race is calculated to supply forty heads of water and has been partly made, the only misfortune being that the G-oVernm-cnt 'having constructed the race have forgotten or neglected to make the necessary. dam. The Leviathan Race, from the same source, was purchased from its original owners bv the Government, and the whole watershed has been withdrawn from the gold-fields, so that the miners, who might at any rate under private enterprise, have got a small supply, have positively no water at all. The Kapiton- race is said to he able to supply fifteen, or even twenty heads of water, hut it is not likely to be in work under three or four months, so that miners no matter what quality of ground they maV have, are comparatively paralysed! Therefore, is it that, comparatively, so little gold is being obtained from so large an area taken up, for the Westland Alining Laws are liberal in the matter of granting ground under miners’ rights. The fee for * miners’ right is £1 per annum, tot which the miner gets l>o feet In 6011. on the surface, 75ft. at 75ft deep, and 100 ft. at 100 ft. deep. (To lie Continued).