THE GUM DIGGINGS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2134, 24 January 1880, Page 3

THE GUM DIGGINGS.

The Whangarci correspondent of the Auckland “ Herald ”, writes as fpllovvs concerning the. riish 19 the gum diggins:—We have lately had a large influx of new hlood imported into our znidst, consisting—chiefly of'fresh arrivals from th^, mother country., This has heen ( ‘.caused hy . the glowing accounts given in, some of the Auckland papers, respecting the large sums;that can he earned on the gum. fields. It is a pity that such accounts have appeared for they are in a great measure over-

stated. True, at the present price of kauri gpm, fmanymen are e arnihg much •jfarger Itfml than they previously did,' but it may be remembered that these are “ old hands,” and to use a gum digphrase “ they know the run of the field.” It is pitiable to see the “ green hands ” that are flocking amongst us. 'Any person who travels the road to thei gum fields will observe knots of three and four painfully toiling on loaded with? hitich : ais ■ they can stagger under, and many of these are unprovided with tents, &c. They arrive on the ground only to find that there is no place to shelter them. Some one of the party has?then eitherdo go and buy a lent, or else they erect a r-nde structure of raupo and poles, and thus try,their luck. lam speaking from my personal observation. These raw hands do not knbw'when they strike •guih, and if they happen to do so they do not know now to follow it up, and the; result is that they throw it up in disgust, and perhaps a week from their first starting they will be on their return journey, telling everybody they meet that the field is “no good” and borrowing a phrase they have beard .some of the old hands use, -they say, “the place is played out.” I do not deny,but some men, have earned good wages at digging gum. In one case that I am acquainted with a man’s earfaings in one week amounted to 10 guineas. But that was only one man, and it did not happen again to him. iTlul fact is, he had struck a patch of first-class gum, for which he obtained the;top price. Hence his success. A great many of these glowing accounts have been star ted by the diggers themselves. They go into Whangarei with a few pounds in their pockets, and they have not long anchored in the public house before they are able to dig as much gum in 'half-an hour,..as it. would take, ten ordinary "men 'to 'do in a fortnight. Another ,of , these boasters pointed to a 1 ’ driiy ‘ load r of guni, and exclaimed. “ You know when I sold my last, and when I went out. Well there is what I have done since. Beckon that up.” On making a computation, it did seem an extrordinary price to bo obtained for unskilled labour, but on further inquiry it was as,pertained, that,the .load,of gnm to.which the boaster was pointing, was the result of three men’s labour instead of onei Another thing must be remembered that those who arc successful have to work a great, many hours, and undergo-a great : many < hardships'. An “ old hand” has generally had his breakfast and started for his day’s work by sunrise, and he generally manages to anive at his tent or “whare” about Tialf-an-hour before sundown, and then very often finds that some Maori pig or, dog has been making free with ' his cooked provisions. If the digger has been fortunate enough to obtain bis gum early in the day, he scrapes it on the field, and then of course his day’s work is finished on- his arrival home. But if on the other hand the diggers have been late in finding gum, they have to bring it home dry, and then there is two or three hours’ scraping for them to do. Indeed a gnradigger’s life is a hard one, and his money is' hardly earned, and it is a pitty that so many should have been led away by report to come down here only to be disappointed. Of course, it is a good thing for farmers, for they will be . able to obtain labour at tbeir own price.