Speculation About Gold Reef At Whitianga

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5310, 24 January 1947, Page 5

Speculation About Gold Reef At Whitianga

WELLINGTON, Last Night. "He has a beautiful specimen ^ and I hope his story is true." This was what a Whitianga resident said when telephone inquiries were made regarding the claim by Mr. William James McLean that he has discovered a rich gold-'bearing cjuartz reef in the Whitianga-Mer-ciiry Bay district. The first report was .that Mr. McLean, who is a Maori bush contractor, uncovered the reef with his bulldozer. The resident believes, however, that Mr. 'McLean found the specimen while prospecting in a bush creek and then found the reef a little further upstream. There is at least one report that the reef is 4 feet wide and so rich that it recalls the great gold-rush days of the last century. Its^ whereabouts is the mostdiscudsed subject in the whole Coromandel Peninsula and far outside, but Mr. McLean is keeping it a close secret. One theory is that it is .on the Whauwha property within a few miles of the Mercury Bay coastline, where Mr. McLean has been working. Another was that it was near the old Kapai-Vermo-nt claim at Kuaopunua, about eight miles from the "Whitianga township. At one time this mine produced rich quartz. This is discounted by a resident who actually lives on part of the old claim. On the other hand, he commented that the specimen aj|peared a little too good to have come from the other reputed source. Rush for Rights Meanwhile Whitianga's 350 residents, a great many of whom have the gold fever of last century strong in their veins, are said to have coinpletely bought out the stock of miners' rights from the post office.

"There Is nothing in the nature of a gold rush, hut all our fingers are crossed," said one. We are just waiting to see." Mr. McLean, the only man who knows the full story, has takeri out his miner's " right at the Thames Courthouse. His discovery is believed to have been made more than a week ago. Mr. McLean is a married man of "good standing in the Whitianga district, where he has lived for many years. Inquiries made show that gold miners' claims are limited to five acres a man, though larger ones can be pegged by a company, It is alsounderstood' that the mineral rights