ROMANCE OF GOLD

Hokitika Guardian, 25 August 1933, Page 8

ROMANCE OF GOLD

OTAGQ’S EARLY WORKINGS

JINRECQVEREH , WEALTH

Much gold still remains hidden . in the Otago, fields, and rich finds await those wlio seek them by modern means. This .is the view held, by Mr Thomas Taylor, a retired bank manager of Christchurch, who saw operations on the Otago fields in the early days, and retains remarkable recollections of happenings of those times. Mr'Taylor arrived at the Bluff from England in June, 1863. For a time he was in a printing office and with a solicitor, before joining the old Bank of Otago, and while he was at Invercargill .the population was greatly thinned by the rush to the goldfields. While he was still a youth of 19, Mr Taylor' was removed to Riverton, where, ho learned gold buying from one/ of ,the best men at this art, the Bate Mr John Bell. In. the course of Mr Taylor’s two years there, a man walked into the bspik rath 107 ounces of gold secured, from the bottom of a newlj dug shaft in the bush, and in the haul were some nuggets of several ounces. Like many other men in that time who struck gold, he forgot to mark the elacq properly, gnd he was unable to .onJijs return to. what lie believed ; vis tbe locality. This claim lias never been found yet, to Mr Taylor’s knowledge. VERY RICH WORKINGS.

“Not a hundredth' part of the gold in New Zealand' has been worked yet,’’ Mr Taylor said, as;, he .went on to tell of his removal to Queenstown, while later his ability as £i gold buyer secured his a position Vat Cardrona, where a great, quantity of gold was being worked. Some parts of that district were wonderfully rich, particularly the Gin and Raspberry mine, which yielded the men working .it over £IOO a week. The mine got its name .as /a result of the men Working it refusing to sfiout anything but gin and raspberry. Tbe miners in those days were strong apd hearty,’hut, because of the lack of proper appliances such as are known now, they only scraped the surface, and it is. considered that great wealth remained to 'be unearthed by modern methods. Tlie Nugget Creek, for instance,. 1 had .never .been worked properly, and the samp remark applied, to the. Molynejux: . flat, near Cromwell, where claims were selling, for £40,000 each., for 1,00 ? acres. Great quantities of, gold could ,be secured from the Kawarau, but considerable expenditure ‘would \ie pejeessary, ; Af; Matatapu, ’also, there were great ;prospects,' s said Mr Taylor, and at the back of Mnsytown there were numerous .small about an, incli,thick and

■sometimes ajaput ,Ift or 18in between them., and, yu these, gold, was noticed. w,as\dpne, to. mine this area until a' Cliristchuijcli. syndicate undertook it, recently,.;,, and.i reef qf, to 2ft thick "wns.isti;uck ,the. Government assay -showing ; a, yield .of 17o& to the, ton. GEOLOGICAL EXPERTS VIEWS Later, Mr' Taylor Was moved to Switzers, the Waihaia River,, w,hi.ctt, joins the Mataura River above Gore, was rich in'gold, and a claim of three q ufirters. ”bf / 'an acre at Campbell s. Creek yielded about £40,000. • Mr Taylor gleaned much information from Professor McKay, a, apologist who often visited the district. Tlie professor pointed to many indications to support the view -thafr New Zealand was covered by the sea;, onv,three different occasions. On the second occasion. ..it’’ is: considered, an immense river flowing'from .the direction of •Australia left abundant gold deposits. The course of this was marked by the Remarkable Gap,., The .professor said he wofilff stake his reputation , op the fact that under‘ that old riverbed there were ” many layers, bach succeeding layer 10 times as nich in gold as the one before it. It was a matter of money to secure plant to work the gold.