THE PUHIPUHI SILVER DISCOVERY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 424, 30 November 1889, Page 5

THE PUHIPUHI SILVER DISCOVERY.

Great surpi ise has been expressed afc the budiJcn stop put to the exploration of the Puhipuhi block foi precious meta!& jusb aba time when thoie was promise of the summer utheiing in the no\e' and stimulating sensation of a silver boom. Mr Wibheford, in an interview with M r Humphreys, suggesbed the advisability o permitting experienced miners to explore (he Puhipuhi block, and applied for licenses with that object in \ie\v. Mr Humphreys said that no pet son would be allowed to enter tha foicst excepting the four men who had permission. If the^o men's labour? proved there were sufficiently tich lodes discovered, the Government would pioclaim the held, bub nob othei-wi--e. Mr Wibheford poinbed out thab ib would take a conoideiable time for four men to explore 30,000 acies of rough counbij', and as there was a disposition manifested by people to ptoapect bho disbiicb, he thought ib wa-s really in t he intetests of the colony that miners should beencouiaged to wo and develop the supposed mmcml wealth of Puhipuhi and ascertain b!ie natuie and extent of the deposits, particularly as the attention of the whole colony had been so aroused. Mr Humphreys said the preservation of the bimbei was the gteat consideration, and it was not yet proved that anything payable had been round. The Go\enmenb lequired larger and more satisfactory tests belore opening the field. Mr Withefoid said he was satisfied that a big minetal district would be opened North of Auckland, and that nhile the general public were disposed to send prospectors and pay the license feos, it was a way of gobbing the ground explored without being a drain on the Government funds. This decision has nob been leceived with satisfaction. Dv ring fi new eat her pro&pectinsr could be carried on so much mote tapidly than when torrents of water are lushing down the creeks of a trackless forest. Mr 11. Hobb?, M. 11.1a., was surprised to learn that aey persons enterprising enough to go and inspect the new disco\ery aie to be prosecuted. He left per Wellington last night, detet mined to sco for himself what ib i-3 like. A sample of the argenbiferoua oie fiom No. 3 reef, Puhipuhi, prospectors claim, has been inspected ab Mr Wibhefoid's office by mm ing experts, who express themselves fa\ourably as to its promising character. Ib is a concentrating ore. and it was fiom the concentrates of the ton sent to Te Aroha that the assay result was obtained, which is now given as 1740/ of siher and 13d \\ bof gold.