GUEST FOR GOLD

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 138, 11 May 1940, Page 9

GUEST FOR GOLD

EARLY OTAGO DAYS. ADDRESS TO LUNCH CLUB. Many interesting sidelights on tlie early history of Central Otago were given by Air J. H. ingley in an address on gold mining in that area delivered at the Citizens’ Lunch Club, yesterday. There were a number of lady visitors, present, it being Ladies’ Day. Lantern slides depicting gold mining in the early days were also shown by the speaker. When gold was first found in Central Otago, at Dunstan, in 1860, stated Air ingley, it. could literally be picked up by the handfuls. When Gabriel Reid first discovered gold in Otago it was by scraping some soil away with his bare hands, placing the soil in a small tin and panning it. This soil proved to be very rich, and it was not long before large numbers of prospectors found their way to Central Otago. In 1860, Dunedin had a population of 5850, and the Tuapeka district, where the gold was also being found, a population of 11,000; in 1861, the miners in Central Otago numbered approximately 10,826. This number, hen'ever coulci not be taken, as strictly correct owing to the large number ot prospectors away out ill the hills at the time this census was taken. Two or three years later, however, tins population dropped considerably. Some years later two prospectors, Messrs Hartley and Riley, discovered some rich gold fields on the banks o the Alolvneux River in Central Otago. These two, although using primitive methods for obtaining the gold, reaped a colossal return for tlieir efforts. W hen they had obtained as much gold as they could carry, they left the Alolyneux River for the coast. Later they returned, with a band of followers, to the scene of their former mining operations on the banks of the river and again they had a colossal return for their labours. Air Ingley stated that even to this day gold is being obtained from this portion of the Alolyneux River, although not in such laige quantities. Although there was probably still a large amount of gold in Otago, the modern miner of to-day. with his electrically worked mammoth dredges, never found the amount of gold found by the early miner with liis primitive hand-worked appliances, the speaker proceeded. Even to this day the remains of the first liand-worked dredges were still to he seen in Central Otago. Besides the many derelict scoops and bucket dredges of later days, there were the tell-tale miles of tailings or heaps of fine gravel scooped out of rivers and thrown on the river banks to remind the present-day sightseer ot the labours to which man had gone in his efforts to find this valuable substance. Among the slides shown by the speaker were several old faded photographs of miners and their small stone and mud dwellings. There were also a number of photographs shoving tie early gold coaches and their mounted guards. , , , . Air Ingley was accorded a vote ot thanks on the motion of the chairman (Afr A. J. McKenzie). Visitors present were: Alesdames T. Watson (Feilding). J H Stevens (Palmerston North) and A. F. AfcKenzie and Aliss AlcKenzie (Bunnythorpe), Miss Z._ Woods (Palmerston North). Airs Leslie Bird (Christchurch), Airs R. A. Brace (Palmerston North), and Alessrs L. Petrie (Wellington) and T. Watson (Feilding).