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Patea Mail, Volume I, Issue 82, 26 January 1876, Page 2

Pkouaiily more excitement has been occasioned in that not generally lively town, New Plymouth, within the last week or taro, than lias been aroused since the Maori raid of years ago. Happily now it has not been caused by war’s alarms, but by the thirst for gold that the ancients deemed accursed, but that the moderns suffer from'whether it be so or not. The story is told m our other columns, extracted from our New Plymouth contemporaries, and we cannot add, at present, anything to the tale. There can be no doubt whatever that Mr Casey took a nice little parcel as specimens from New Plymouth to the Thames, that lie had them crushed there, and that sSlbs of quartz yielded him the very nice little return of 60oz of retorted gold. Considering that an ounce to the ton of stone is considered payable, over ad ounce to pound cannot he regarded but as extraordinary, and it is by no means wonderful that the New Plymouthians effervescent on the subject. At present, Mr Casey preserves ominous secrecy as to the maimer in which he became possessed of the specimens, and would apparently wish it to he inferred that they were obtained from a reef or reefs within this province. Naturally the wish is father to the thought, and residents in Taranaki are disposed at once to accept that belief, one however in ■which, wc regret to say, wo do not share. As to the good that would follow the, realisation of such a welcome fact, no one could over-estimate it, and property holders in this or any other township, within an accessible distance of a payable goldfield, alluvial or quartz, might almost consider their fortunes made. This port, being really a port, would probably derive more substantial benefit from such a discovery than any other part of the province, and it is with no slight sorrow that wo fail to persuade ourselves into the sanguine moods of the New Plymouth people. There is unfortunately nothing whatever to support the idea that the golden quartz ever came from this part of the colony. The mere fact that the owner had some specimens crushed at the Thames, simply because there was no place nearer where he could have the disintegrating operation performed, proves nothing, whilst all the probabilities arc that they were acquired by him in some other place. Is it at all likely that, if ho had discovered a reef, rich as one must bo .to have yielded those specimens, lie would have sat down quietly, and not have applied at once for a prospecting claim. Tie is said to be an old minor, and if such be the case, is it for an instant probable that he would risk losing his prospecting claim and being rushed, as he certainly would bo, ou returning to his El Dorado. It would be utterly impossible for him, bo lie as cunning as he might, to evade detection and it is clear that if he had a goldfield to disclose lie would do so at once. He would do this, if only to get the large reward now offered for such a discovery, irrespective of the enlarged claim and privileges pertaining to prospectors. A Wanganui contemporary states that a prospecting party from here will shortly set out, in order to find out the golden region. The old proverb tells ns that we must go from home to learn news of home, and this is an illustration of its truth. There may bo a secret expedition of the kind on foot, though, if there be, its members must have been most wary in not divulging their intentions, lor nobody knows anything about it. Most sincerely do wc wish the news, as believed in at New Plymouth, may be true, but at the same time we cannot believe it. We only hope that our incredulity may bo dissipated in time to corue. In order to set the matter at rest, as far as Mr Casey chooses to do so, wc have this day despatched a special reporter to interview him, if possible, and, in our next issue, will lay the results of his mission fully before our readers.