GOLD-MINING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4406, 26 April 1922, Page 3

GOLD-MINING.

HOPE SPRINGS eternal. (By “Marama,” ip the “Waikato i , Times.”) . We tiave recently been told of the death of .>ne of the early gold mining pioneers l , who, contrary tp the experience of the' majority, Was favoured by fortune. It brought back a breath of old times. Fifty years ago gold mining was of burning interest to large numbers, and it may almost be said that everyone was more or less afflicted. These movements are largely a matter of fashion, but it may be claimed for gold mining that there is more to be said in its favour than for many of the occupations which engross mankind.. The good that it effects is, however, strictly a by product. As “an industry it offers less .reward than most. Thirty years ago it used to be pointed put that the gold produced annually would afford each m,an engaged in the industry about thirty shillings a week. This left nothing for the men who labour,* 0r for the small army of people who found the capital, or for the clerical who dealt in gold mining shares on (he exchange. It can be said with confldence-'.that gold mining was the .last methocP in. which capital should be invested. This, however, is the .general experience. The industries yield occasional prizes of great value never show an average return which will compare with the plodding industries. “Hey for boat and -spurs - laxl. 9 * it"is" the by-products of gold mining that have done 30 much for the individual and so much for t'he world Gold mining is part of the romance of natofre. When- an unskilled man -ban by the experience <?f a little judgment and much enterprise obtain "the chance of realising a fortune, the contrast with the ordinary .’hopeless outlook is too strong to be resisted, and men move half way round the world, face incredible hardships, open up virgin country, settle lands that would have remained unknown indefinitely, and people regions that Would never have attracted population in any other way. This is the service gold mining has rendered to the world,, To the individual it has been a school of manhood, of enterprise*, of earnest of good fellowship. Much of tjie feeling that marked the early days of the war wap to be found in gold mining as carried on in old .times. .Not, of course, it is somewhat different. As Edwin Edwards says, “There’s syndicates and cyanide, and God knows what beside.” ■ Yet even now there is a distinctive character about the oldtime gold miner. For gold mining was a calling that demanded a man's best. When he was working with the hope of striking a nugget; there was no thought of a go-slow policy or any rigid insistence on an day, and some of the old vigour may be found among, the adherents to a calling that has been dwindling for many years, \ “Not know Tom W»n wf Virginia.” If the younger generation would like io taste some of the raptures connected with what was at once an industry and a gamble they will find the opportunity in the early works of Bret Harte. A Californian schoolmaster of Dutch descent, with a genius for, style which places him amongst the masters,, and with an eye for all that was bizarre and novel in the characters around him, he brought home to his readers the wild, reckless, lawless, generous lives c.f the motley crowd that had been'attracted by gold. The strong dash of sentiment that he infused was probably original. It might even be called mid-Victor.ian tb-day, but Bret Harte’s wonderful command of lain guage and consummate taste and judgment rendered it always acceptab'e. An artist who if a lesser luminary is still great has done something of the kind for Australia. In “Robbery Under Arms ” which contains so many striking scenes of early life in Australia, the gold mining episode is one of the most enthralling. The new lifd, the fresh chances, the movement, the company, the strange companions, above all the equality, the comradeship, the good feeling that was common are all painted in idyllic colours. Rolf Bolderwood .was an oldfashioned Tory, the bluest of the blues, and as often happens he had more of the spirit of Burns’ immortal hymn, “A Man's a Man for a’ That” than most democrats can find.

Luck Knocks Once al Every Mjan’S Door.

In Ballarat in the early days there ‘ were great co-operative parties who carried on gold minnig 'for long periods with varying success. It is a testimony to the character, of the men and .the good spirit that pervaded the industry that such a thing should have been possible. On the face of it cooperation would seem easier in some industry where bote the effort and the reward could be calcu’ated beforehand. It is not, however, common, and has not flourished away from gold mining. Men seem more inclined to measure their contribution to a common cause and more anxious to consider whether it is adequately paid than they did wit.i

the possibility of a prize before them. For Hope FMi- gneat sweetener of life, • and. a givjt incentive to labour. • There are those who would frown upon any manifestations of chance, but such people are generally found amongst those who have realised most 'of theft- desires. It is the readiness to risk that has made the world mv-'e since the Argonauts sailed in quest of the Golden Fleece, and long before them could we blit know the records.