IN QUEST OF GOLD.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4306, 19 August 1921, Page 2

IN QUEST OF GOLD.

Sir, —With reference to a paragraph which appealed in Wednesday’s “Gazette” abbu.t the discovery of gpl.l in the ranges north of Te Aroha, I have a distinct remembrance ’of a prospecting tour made by- the late James Liddell and myself .through the bush-Mclad country located between Karangahake and Te Aroha. Starting at Karangahake, we took the Maungakino branch of the Waitawheta River, and followed it in-a general southerly direction right up to the base of the main range upon which the Waiorongomai mines are situated. After travelling up-stream for several miles we came to a right hand branch which trended away to the westward and seemed to take its rise in tne ranges behind the Tui Creek mines. Here, at the junction of the two streams, we picked up several quartz boulders, which evidently had detached themselves from a lode formation in the vicinity because they were neither .water nor weather worn, anl therefore it was a reasonable assumption that they had not travelled down hill for .any great distance; When crushed up and panned of the bulk of ■this loose quartz yielded good prospects of free geld, and indications of the presence of silver were no,t wanting. Our trip through that country was made during tlie summer of 1882, when the mosquitos were so troublesome that we bad little or no sleep for several nights in succession, and hence tlie reason why we did no': ■stay long enough to give the place a fair trial. Nevertheless, the indications were most favourable, and it would be no surprise for me to learn that gold-bearing lodes have been discovered in that district. While on this subject I would like to point out that the absence of prospectors on the Hauraki goldfields to-day may be chiefly attributed ,to .the fact that the auriferous country fairly bristles with unworked prospecting claims, which are not surveyed, or tied to any fixed point, and which can be rung in anywhere within a radius of several miles. To my own personal knowledge some of ’these claims have been held under protection for fully, six years without any work having been done upon them, am) their very existence has a most deterring effect upon those who are willing to undertake legtimate prospecting. It is take legitimate prospecting. I[t is quite evident that [the owners are nursing such claims in the fond hope that a party of “fossickers” will sooner or later unearth payable ore anywhere in the neighbourhood, and then they will speedily come .to light as ♦ithe legal owners of the property upon which the discovery has been made. J. McCOMBIE.