THE KUMARA GOLDFIELD.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5172, 19 October 1877, Page 7

THE KUMARA GOLDFIELD.

Mr. S. B. Halford, writing to the.. Qrey, liioev Argas on the prospects of the Kumara goldfield, says:—“As the future welfare of Kumara and other portions of the Coast must in a great measure depend on the stability" and systematic working of this great lead or basin of gold, I may as well state that the lead commences in Prospectors’ Gully, and. taking a south-easterly direction, has, under the present system of mining, to a great extent proved payable for nearly three miles in length. Its average width, as at present occupied, can be safely estimatedatthree hundredy ards, itsdepth has yet to be determined ; for with the exception of the immediate neighborhood of the Prospector's G-ully no bottom has yet been found, but gold over the greater portion of this extensive area has been found to commence at the surface, and to continue on down as far as the deepest shafts have been sunk, some of which were put down over a hundred feet, when it was thought advisable by the shareholders to discontinue sinking, and commence operations on the shallower and more easily worked drifts. These drifts are at present being worked by the appliances you everywhere see arouud you; but perfect aud efficient as these appliances are for mining the thin and richer layers, they are very inadequate for the thorough and systematic working of the whole; and as it is on the thorough and systematic working of the whole that the future of Kumara must depend, I for one would advocate the construction of a ‘main tunnel tail race,’ to commence at the Teremakau River immediately opposite the Prospector’s dam, and to pass up through the middle of the .lead 50 or 100 feet below the level of the present workings. This would give the present occupants of the ground on e ther side of the race an opportunity of amalgamating their claims, and forming companies with areas sufficiently large to justify them in making the necessary preparations for hydranlicing these extensive drifts bodily into the Teremakau, and thus be the means of bringing into circulation the enormous wealth that must otherwise lie dormant for years. But before attempting a work of such magnitude, it is necessary the public should know what percentage of gold these drifts contain. I will take as an instance the poorest of these excavations on our right. This excavation is 17 yards long by 12 in width, and being 36ft. deep gives 2-148 cubic yards excavated. The amount of gold obtained was 40 ozs;, which gives ab»ut 8 grains, or, estimating the price of gold at £4 per ounce, gives a yield of Is. 4d. for every cubic yard of earth mined. This yield under the present system of mining you" will see is valueless, but when I tell you that with a good system of hydraulic mining a party of eight men, by working eight hours a day, wash away 1000 cubic yards of these drifts, and that 1000 times Is. 4d. in round numbers means £66 sterling, you will agree with me in the advisability of immediate steps being taken to systematically work the poor drifts of this goldfield.”