THE WAITOA GOLDFIELD. FOREBODINGS OF FAILURE. NECESSITY OF EXTREME CAUTION.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 224, 15 October 1887, Page 1

THE WAITOA GOLDFIE LD.

FOREBODINGS OF FAILURE. NECESSITY OF EXTREME CAUTION.

Messrs. J. A. Pond (Government Analyst) and Whi taker (Bank of New Zealand) are busily engaged upon the analyses of Waioa stuff which they are making for the VVaitoaProspectors'Associationof Auckland and as they do not expect to finish before the end of the week they are not yet in a position to form • any opinion as to the probable result. Mr Pond is convinced from what he saw himself during his recent visit, and from the further fact that at various times during the past three years he has made analysis of stuff from, different parts of the Waikato, that alluvial gold is to be met with over the entire country from Waitoa to> Alexandra. The question to be solved is whether ifc exists in payable quantities, and the latest ascertained facts and experiments do not tend to raise one's hopes. Mr John Brown, a practical miner,, is strongly inclined to think it does not.. The whole of these plains are of a sedimentary formation* and the deposits are so deep that excavations made at various times at Ngaruawahia, Hamilton, and Huntly, for bridge construction and similar x^urposes, only reached a shingly bottom at depths ranging- from S6 to 110 feet. Consequently if this country is auriferous to any appreciable degree, some rich discoveries are sure to be made sooner or later. Since the beginning of 1885, Mr Pond has tested samples of stuff sent to him from time to time from Tamahore, Ngaruawahia, Alexandra, and in each of them he found distinct traces of gold, the Alexandra sample being about the richest. At the same time the stuff— especially that from Wai(o* — is so thickly impregnated with mica that the glittering appearance presented by thesa worthless specks is doubtless responsible for some of the many reported dis coverics that have been made public during the past few weeks. So far there is nothing to justify a rush to Waitoa, but a great deal to discourage sanguine expectations, and to induce extreme caution. To invest money on the bare chance of the field turning; out well is very risky ; indeed, to embark everything on the hazard of success would be sheer madness. Our own impression — and it is based upon careful enquiry— besides being fortified by the judgment of experienced miners — is that the field will prove a failure. It is needless to add thats we should be only too glad to come to the opposite conclusion should the facts warrant it.