The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, I900. GOLD DISCOVERY AT AWAKINO.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 191, 14 August 1900, Page 2

The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1900. GOLD DISCOVERY AT AWAKINO.

The Eawera. Star is calling attention to the gold discovery reported from Awakino, and considers the business people of the district greatly lacking in enterprise in not equipping an exploration party. After referring to the fact that for m&ny years past indications of gold have been found our coatempOrary says : —" We have before drawn attention to the country lying between the Awakino and Kawhia as practically the only block ®f country of equal extent lying contiguous to the older settlements which has not received the attention it deserves by those seeking for minerals, The old story concerning some large nugget being in the hands of some old settler or Maori, who can give but a vague account ot the place of its origin, which is constantly in evidence when the new district is supposed to contain" gold, has not been wanting in this instance. Manyyears ago an old Maori was found wearing as a neck ornament a nugget of gold which she said had been found by her husband; in the Marokopa river. The latter is a stream running into the sea between the Awakino and Kawhia, and its head waters run from a southerly direction through rough country before they turn westward to the sea. The upper waters of the Awakino, on the contrary, rise north-east of its mouth, and run in a southerly course to the ocean, so that the watershed t\f each is somewhere in the jame neighbourhood. Some yeirs pgo Mr. Park, Government geologist, published an account of the discovery granite in the King Country, in the (Vicinity, we believe, of Hangatiki, or (between there and Waitomo. - In recording the discovery, it was mentioned that the strata of granite runs into the country south of Kawhia, and attention was drawn to the probability i f useful minerals being found in that direction. Those of an observant disposition who have travelled along the coast bordering the area mentioned have noticed the difference in the character of the rocks met with as they crop up along the shore, From clifis springing from the beach green exudations may be seen, which, as they trickle over felspar, speak of the presence of copper. We are told that after crossing Moeatos, which is covered with maidan-hair fern, when the beach is reached the sea breaks on a strata of rock, dark brown in color, which contains fossils of fishes of a torrid clime and great 'nodules of mother- of pear), the hinge 3 of the shells of the pearl-tearing oyster. There are many other things of interest which speak of a geological formation entirely different from the country north and south of it, and, inferentially, of the presence of minerals. The country ess 1 ; of Moeatoa, about Whareorino, in the neighborhood of which the branches of the Marokopa and the Awakino probably overlap, is very rough, and, whilst it has interfered with prospecting, has led prospectors to expect a ree&Dg and not an alluvial field should gold be found in payable quantities. There appear to have been two distinct finds at the Awakino, one of the specimens which have proved highly auriferous, and the other of a distinct reef in situ, the value of which is not yet known, It is no uncommon thing for certain creeks in reefing districts to contain very rich quality specimens, and yet all efforts to trace them to the reef which shed them may prove the task of years, and may not be discovered at all. It is highly important that the reef strippings which are said to exist in the river should be traced until they are lost or the reef allocated, bhould the reef discovered prove pay ably auriferous, an impetus will be given to prospecting which will prove the district, but, whether or no, such prospecting is warranted by the discovery of the rich specimens to hand."