The Pohangina Reefs.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1506, 14 November 1885, Page 4

The Pohangina Reefs.

A visit to the quartz reef m the Pohangina Ranges was recently paid by Mr J. W. A. Marchant^ GKief Commissioner of Crown Lands, and the following report frbm that gentleman was laid; before the meeting of the Wellington Waste Land Board on Thursday^-r'? On vtKe^sth and 6th instant' I Visited 'the locality of the Pohangina reef , and founjd that the workings 'were filled m, so th^t no trace of^tho reef was to T^.be seei^. Owipg'to'l^Mv Anderson,' the prospector, could hot pick up any stone similar to that which he had got but for crush'p ing and testing, and which is said to have? contained both gold and silver. The formation appeared to be slate, and siniilar-to that^in.tlie (Jorge. Thtere wajs ' only one man upon the ground beside'B ftbe .survey party,: but bef ore I left two others arrived. I understand that aboujt 150 men have visited the 5 place'from time to time. Two old miners, with/ whom I r^iscuVse<i the matter, stlited foe reef hap. not been opened, for -tbteir inspection 1 , and that until they see it, they cannot giv« a positive opinion. They told me that they had been quite unable to find "gold either m the erully or the adjacent country. With the exception that a jeweller m Wanganuvhad found gold m a piece of stone which they had picked up m the stream, the. reef x from which the stone had , issued was" unknown to them; : The prospectors; stSte they ar(6 about to open out the wprkirigs ; nntij thi¥ is done and^the reef ■ exposed for inj speotion it would be inadvisable to* f offer a definite opinion as to^tlie auriferous character of the ground, of which" at the proof si are u not,i conclusive to dutsiJersl ' Thle^attached plan shows the locality.: The distance from Ashnrat i? about 21 miles, arid is quite passable, for horses when? the river is not? m flood, the route being m the 'valley' of ' the Pohangina." .1, |