The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5. 1885. THE POHANGINA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1574, 5 December 1885, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5. 1885. THE POHANGINA.

< We must confess to have from the very first been sanguine as to the ultimate success of Pohangina. The reports and tests have fluctuated from day to day, but m all cases the independent tests have been uniformly satisfactory. We pay no heed whatever to the report by the emissary from the Government Geological and Mineralogical Department, who recently paid a flying visit to Pohangina, ostensibly to spy out the land. He reports there is no reef, no gold, no silver, nothing but limestone. He spoke very learnedly of the ease with which gold could be obtained from sea-water and other less pure and attractive liquids. But he scouted the idea of there being any gold m Pohangina or within miles of it. If any gold had been found it was created by the chemicals used m the testing operations. This gentleman and Mr H. C. Field, of Wangamii. who wrete tlie letter to Dr Hkctou which he has so bitterly regretted ever since, should go to Hongkong-, Heligoland, Jericho, or some other out of the way locality, and start a school of mines together. How their erudition would immortalize their names, and astonish the natives! But, seriously, the way m which the Pohangina question has been dealt with by one and another presuming to be experts is very much to be deprecated. The more recent tests at Feilding have been more satisfactory than any previously made. The process has been of tbe simplest kind conctivable. The stone has been pounded finely m a mortar, and then washed. The results have been most satisfactory. In every case the yield of gold has been larger than tlie most sanguine was prepared for. No chemicals, we are informed, were employed. In one case, after the washing had been finished by one person and the gold taken out, another undertook to re-wash the stuff, when gold was still found. There can be no shadow of doubt but that gold runs through the stone, and that as further driving is carried out, the results will be still better. It is to the interest of all that the prospecting be of the most thorough character^ and that those who, like Mr MaC4H'|?HUb, haye abundant faith m the field, should not be dismayed through unfavourable reports by any tyro m geological science who scampers up to the locality, and after a couple of hours' stay, scampers back again and denounces the whole affair as a delusion and a ; myth. Personally speaking, our faith has never been shaken m Pohangina. The evidence from the first was too substantial to be doubted. The bona Jides of all concerned was beyond question, and it was m our opinion an apt illustration of the proverb that truth and facts are mighty and must prevail. We trust all concerned will strain every nerve to demonstrate the vitality of the faith that is m them. The development of Pohangina means vast things for this Coast. Miles of auriferous area surrounding our town and stretching away back to the ranges! Who can ad<jeuately realize what a future is thus opened up?