Valuable Discoveries.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 199, 31 July 1883, Page 3

Valuable Discoveries.

CANTERBURY DIAMONDS ! AND i GOLD. GOLD FEYER. AT ASHBURTON. (tNITED rRHSS ASSOCIATION . j „_; _ .. Christchurch, July;29. Nothing is yet known as to the, diamonds, but speculators offer £5 for Kohinoor, and £20 for Pioneer shares. Ai the Ninety Mile *JB: aob'i Smith ; and party were not able to finish washing tp, as the water' was let out of the lagoon. What they had washed . satisfied them, but an "opinion is pretty freely expressed that"the carriage l;o' water 'will make the work too expeihsive* On Friday, after stripping to a depth of about four inches, they came across a layer of wash dirt, about twelve inches thick, which provedto be very rich . as yet, ho Wever, there is noth» j ing to jastiy a rush. . At Glen Tunnel a piece of quartz has been found show% ing specs of gold all over it. At Ash— burton the gold fever has set in. Un Satucday, i several • well known Alford ; li'pr^t setters, old digger*, .came; *•; Ashburton bringing with hthem several: lumps of quartz obtained from rocks in their own district. „ Qpe of these was wedge 'shaped and made a "fulli&h kind of handful." The upper suiface of this was covered with " layers .of gold." The specimen was so rich as to delight the eyes pf every man witjbt^.old, mining eXpeiience, and the ; ,sigh^pf it raised; ja, high fever among the knots of peo^ • who had the chance of looking at it» The gold was evidently right,; andptheie can be na v 'doubt ; tba^ where >ucK 'a rich sample can be obtained, three, is vrplenjiyremaming/ The exact localiiy from which the specimen came, of coarse, is at present kept dark, but the .finder is. confident that; in a month or ie'ss, the matter will be heard of ia^ a more.'definite form. Several parties in the district have been quietly "at work ior a long time, and indications are not wanting that very soon something 1 definite regarding the ranges that overlook Ashburton county will be known. As yet, however, it is not wiße t'o T be ° too sanguine, but there can . be, no/doubt about* the richness of the specimens that, during the last month; have drifted into Ashburton, and get the credit of being Alford Forest quartz. "