DISCOVERY OF GOLD AT HIKUTAIA. (Star Special Reporter. )

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 218, 3 September 1887, Page 1

DISCOVERY OF GOLD AT HIKUTAIA. (Star Special Reporter. )

Hikutaia is a rural village settlement between Grahamstown and Te Aroha. It seems destined ere long to become an important centre of traffic. There is a landing- place for steamers, the railroad terminus has been fixed here, and there is a good hotel, owned and conducted by Air Corbet t. There is also a public school. Several new settlers are likely soon to take up their residence in the district. Major Peel is now having a house erected on land recently purchased from Mr Alley. The valley of Hikutaia consists of some two or three thousand acres of rich alluvial soil, encircled by what are now proved to be argentiferous and auriferous ranges. Its central position and facilities of communication with the outside world will ensure Hikutaia being one of the most important of our goldfield centres. It only requii ed the discovery of payable gold to establish a prosperous township heie, and that appear.*, to have been accomplished by Mr McBrinn, an old Coromandel prospector. The worst feature in connection with a visit tothenew " find is the disgraceful state of the main road. This is a great and increasing highway, not only for miners and settlei s, but' for the stream of toiuists from the South and Australia vi-iting Te Aroha baths, and it may not be out of place to suggest that Government should make this a colonial work as much as the Rotorua roads, upon which such enormous sum* have annually been expended. There is a triple reason why this main road should be specially attended to. It is bordered by agricultural lands of the greater value ; it connects w ith our mott accessible Hot Springs district; and it is the only goldfield load, and one which should be carried through as a main trunk road, fit for dri\ imr a buggy along, from Te Aroha to Coromandel, thereby enabling English and other tourists to ride fiom the hot baths through one of the richest gold fields in the world, and, eic taking then departure, visit the Kapanga and other* mine? worked by English capital. The import ince of these goldheld roads being constiucted and maintained i-> so great that it would be excusable if every local and governing body in the province contributed either men or money towards opening up the field. The exigencies of the colony demand that its greatest industry should receive every possible support, and roads must be made — whether by public money, constabulary, or other labour, it matters, not. A very small proportion of the money expended on the Rotorua road would not only complete the main road from Puriri past Hikutain, but would form a road through the valley, and cut a sledge track from the flat to thesummit of the range past the prospectors' claim. Material and machinery will have to be transported, and delay in forming approaches means delay in developing the field, and a loss to the country. The ride from Hikutaia towards the Prospectors' claim on so fine a day as Saturday wa» delightful, and galloping over the grassy lands of Mr Alloy was easy and pleasant enough ; but on following the creek up the ravine leading towards that portion of the lange where the Prospectors' claim is situated, the rough and tumble character of the country made it less agreeable, and thoy were fortunate who lode surefooted nags accustomed to creeks and bush roads. Your representative rode an aged gig horse, which, in its day and generation, had, no doubt, been a first-class steed, still useful on a level read, but, as the owner afterward?, explained, had not travelled a creek before, and it was so incapable of carrying anyone over the boulders in the creeks, that, after accomplishing the journey the one way, it was knocked up, and on starting to return fell heavily over the first obstruction, and the rider had to wade through the creeks, pulling the horse after. If the Hon. Mr Larnach were to visit the new find, and this animal were secured for him to ride, he would be impiesced tvS well as the horse with the difficulties of the road to the claim. There is excuse for a horse falling, but there can be no excuse for a Government allowing such a roadway as now exists to remain a day longer than necessary as the only route to a gold discovery of importance. Referring now to the closing part of the trip while en route to the claim, we may say that the last hour's toiling along was characteristic of the event, and as Mcßrinn, the great prospector, went smartly from rock to I rock, or scrambled up the slippery sandstone slopes like a deer, others of the party paused for breath, and contemplated some of | the ascents anddescentsbeforemaki:-;(» them. A friend of Mr Mcßrinn's had, during the week, fallen down one of the precipitous places into a cold and deep pool ; but beyond a slight cut with the tomahawk in his hand, did not suffer injury, and being a swimmer was in no danger of drowning. Mr Me Lai'en, the Mining Inspector ot the Auckland goldfields, was of our party, and received a partial immersion, talcing it very coolly, used no doubt to roughing it in the service of his country. The climb up to the Prospectors' was stiff throughout, and all i this is mentioned to evoke sympathy with j the pioneers who have in lonely solitude to carry their tucker and equipments over such a route. These are men whom the country should delight to honour, as much as the highly -paid kid -gloved officer of State, who lives on the fat of the | land, in ease and luxury, and at the close of , a life spent in taking care of himself, receives from his beloved Sovereign lecognition of the services he has rendered to the country !

The Rich Discovery ■ made by Mcßrinn is at an altitude of 800 feet above the plain ; the reef is 8 feet wide, and has the Fame characteristics as the Waitekauri reefs. Mr Morgan, formerly manager in the Waitekauri, seeing this find on Saturday, at once said the" lode xmb identical in nature to the Waitekauri stone,

and the rich black vein 18 inches to 2 feet wide on the hanging-wall side resembled the patch obtained in the mine referred to, and which is mentioned in the Government Handbook as giving a return of £4,000 in dividends in a very short- time. The stone which has been assayed at the Thames School of Mines, and at the banks at Grahamstown, was not any richer looking than what we took from the face. There is no doubt whatever as to the richness of the ore which is being taken from the wide black vein in the reef, which is of a loose mullocky character. A dish of stuff washed gave an astonishing show of gold and silver, the expression of glad surprise on the part of beholders being varied according to their creeds and customs, but the vordict was unanimous, and to the effect that it was the most important disco\ cry of the day. Sceptical persons have hinted their opinion that if the lode is so lich the prospectors would have taken a ton down. In reply it may bo mentioned that there is already a ton " broken down," but after the brief reference mado to the rough and rugged route would our sceptical friends take the contract to convey tin* " ton "' from the mine for a distance of three miles only at £10 per ton ?

This discovery is ol so important a nature that had it been made at Kimberley, it would have been published with big cable headings in every paper in the colonies. Special steamers would have been laid on, special parties organised, and the digger's millennium would have been regarded as a ceitainty for Western Australia. But New Zealand i« a different country, and has been governed by people with fade. It is also a place vv here living is comparatively cheap, tho climate is luxurious and possibly enervating. It is a land flowing with milk and honey, and its mineral resources arc \\w, hue not yet rightly esteemed. The landed proprietary have had power in the Hou^e to get millions spent in a way which may be profitable to themselves, but in many cases unprofitable and unrcproductive to the country ; but here, in the simple disco\oryofa prospector, lies the solution of the financial difficulties of the colony — by exposing- to the public gaze a deposit of tho world's most fashionablo product. Not that thii find is in itself the panacea, for, though remarkably rich, it is not, in the u ritet's opinion, to be pronounced permanent until it is proved to be so, and there is a chance of the reef making richer or poorer as driven on. It is not with a view to magnify the lichness of this particular discovery that these remarks are made, but itis with a desire that proper colonial recognition should be made of the great and noble hCf\ Ice a man renders to his country by >peii Hng weeks in the solitude of the forest, and in tho cold, smiting chili of tho ever-ilowin-i creeks,searching for the " treasures Vt iiL-h lie hid below," the revealing of which had done so much to ele\ate struggling towns to the position of the Avorld's leading cities. And who is it leads to these great discoveries ? Is it the philosopher, or the state-man, or the geologist ? No ;it is the hardy miners. It is the like of Chas. King, the first discoverer of gold in New Zealand, and Mcßrinn, tho last discoverer of the precious metal in an obscure place at Jlikufaia. It is these men to whom the country owes so much of its solid progress. Yet what reward or assistance do they get? King got nothing, and made his own road at Kapanga. Mcßiinn will probably have to do likewise at Hikutaia. But a change must come, and miners will occupy a different position as regards appreciation by the powers that bo. " Reflecting on the class which receives the highest honour of the land, we see it is often those who have been a curse rather than a blessing to the countiy. When a man in charge of tho exhibition of our country's resource s exhibits birds' egg? instead of nuggets, and petrified beetle-) instead of specimens of auriferous, quartz ; when, in placo of showing valuable proofs of the productiveness of the soil and the great mineral wealth of our ranges, the chief feature is the noncommercial, unattractive classification of tos^ils, etc., the man is knighted by Her Majesty, and paid liberally for his services by the country, we cannot but feel mortified and ,ashamed to reflect that the working miners who invariably discover tho gold go on their way unrequited. No wonder if, in the face of such injustice, we hear hints of abolishing the Department of Mines, and a further wrong inflicted on the special class referred to. But it is to be hoped this will not be done. Our miners are likely yet to prove our saviours, and must be supported. More national sympathy and support should be extended to those resolute workers in the goldtields. The public should be invited to contribute a little toward carrying out some systematic scheme for developing the mincial wealth of the land. Gold and silver are the only products which a man can exchange at tho nearest bank for coin of the realm or bank notes, and the search for these precious metals should become a more popular pursuit. Perhaps our public men may yet see some way to aid in organising and supporting parties of vigorous men to search the unprotected ranges of Cape Colville, and become in a limited sense Stanleys and Livingstones. What a reward they would get. by finding a claim like " Hunts" pioneer claim of the Thames, of which there aro many more in tho untraversed gullies of tho Coromandel golden peninsula! What a pleasure to vigorous manhood there would be in scaling Cape Colvill's highest peaks, and finding the golden reefs from which the specimens have been detached, which have been found in nearly every creek running down from the mo in range to the sea ! How does tho glory resulting from a game won by kicked shins and broken noses cornpat c with the solid satisfaction and honour flowing from a discovery which helps to enrich a community and imparts the blessings of wealth to the people ? And so McBi inn is acting as a bonefaotor to Auckland by working in" the cold wintry shadows of a mountain range, to find thai mineral wealth we all sigh for, but really do so little practically to obtain. Auckland people should endeavour to contribute a little help to a more complete exploration of

the peninsula. Mcßrinn traced the loose gold which camo from his reef, following the trail, speck by speck, for three miles up the ranges to an altitude of 800 feet ; the samo as did George McLeod, who traced the Tokatea gold from Kennedy Bay to the top of the Tokatea Hill, 1,300 feet above the sea level. These are tho men deserving our kindest romembrancc. This is representing them to be great benefactors, and such is exactly the impression intended to be conveyed.