THE SOUTHERN GOLDFIELDS.

Kumara Times, Issue 2890, 9 January 1886, Page 2

THE SOUTHERN GOLDFIELDS.

A correspondent who has just returned from a visit to the Southern Goldfields supplies us (Dunedin Herald, December 29th) with the following information : At the Waiau, where some fifty miners are located, several are doing well, the average earnings being from ■£2 to .£l4 per week, and the best claims those of Young, Wilson, and Devonshire—the latter of whom oh. tained £7B lecently for a week’s work. The sinking varies from four to twenty feet, with about eighteen inches of washdirt. Our informant obtained 2|ozs. of amalgam for four days’ work with the cradle, and the value of the amalgam may be estimated from the fact that a parcel of 23ozs>. turned out 12ozs. Idwt. of retorted gold. Want of water is the great drawback, and (here can be no doubt that were that deficiency ever supplied a large and

prosperous field would be opened up. At Merivale the prospectors’ claim is a very good one, as also is If itzgerald s, the returns giving about £lO per man per week. These are the only parties who have water foi sluicing, but seveial others manage to knock out wages—say £2 to £4 per week—with the cradle. There are about sixty men on the field. A rush set in on Wednesday last to Colac Bay, where there is every prospect of a splendid field being opened up. The rush was caused by payable gold being found in the Government ballast reserve, and from thence traced to the Maori reserve, which adjoins it. The sinking in the Maori reserve is from four feet to six feet, of which about three feet is wash, yielding in some instances as much as a pennyweight to the' dish. A good deal of water is met with, but this is not an unmixed evil, as it is the only supply available for washing. The great complaint, however, is that the Maoris will come to no terms beyond conceding the privilege of working four weeks on payment of £l, and after that charging in proportion to what they consider the value of the claim, so that if a man happens to strike good gold he is completely at their mercy. It is also reported that payable gold has been discovered some 21 miles From the Waiau, in the direciion of Jackson’s Bay, and that some paities who are working on the quiet are doing uncommonly well.