OUR GOLDFIELD AND HYDRAULIC SLUICING.

Kumara Times, Issue 520, 28 May 1878, Page 2

OUR GOLDFIELD AND HYDRAULIC SLUICING.

[to the editor.] Sir—As an old and experienced miner, I maybe pardoned should I make any mistake with regard to the future of this goldfield, but, I cannot refrain from expressing my opinion as to its prospects, even though I should be wrong. In my opinion it is only in a normal state : the grand results which may be expected from the energetic and persevering class of men who constitute our miners are not yet, even in the slightest degree, developed. When we see mountains reduced to plains, and the auriferous deposits contained m them collected in quantities to pay for those, gigantic efforts, then the sun of prosperity may be expected to Bhine on this our gradually diminishing but homely settlement. Cosmopolitan in every sense of the word, Water ! Water ' Water ! must bo the cry ; not that I am a Good Templar though, but it is so necessary an adjunct to the prosperity of Kumara and its surroundings that it is almost impossible to imagine the intrinsic worth of a few heads of water in ground such as this. Surely Britons think themselves as energetic and as good men as our American cousins ; at the same time they are not too old to learn for their own benefit. So, after this rather dry prologue, I would direct attention to the C.iliforman system of working poor ground by the means of hydraulics ; or even take an example from our next-door neighbours, the Greenstone folk, who have done wonders in comparison to other places in Westland. We must try and inaugurate a radical change in our present system of workings, for without it the population will diminish, the receipts in every line will grow smaller and beautifully less, until good men and true are

either driven to take the onlv course left open, namely, the Insolvent Court or County Gaol. I merely write this in hope that some of our miners may take the matter into consideration, and resolve to make a success of what may be termed a dead certainty—which is, hydraulic sluicing on a large scale. The sooner the idea gets publicity and the consideration of sensible men, of whom there are so many among our miners here, the better, as it must conduce to their own benefit and the welfare of the community at large.—Yours, &c, An old Sluicer. Kumara, May 27th, 1878.