GOLD IN CANTERBURY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1126, 26 July 1883, Page 3

GOLD IN CANTERBURY.

The Christchurch Telegraph says We have good authority for stating that the locality of one of the reported ' goldfields which has been talked about for the last few weeks, is some fifteen miles north of the mouth of the Rakaia river, and along the western shore of Lake Ellesmere, between high and low water marks. There will be some little difficulty in procuring the gold no doubt, as it is very fine, and it cannot be picked up in nuggets, but judging from its appearance, it should fetch a high price per ounce, as it will probably assay over 23 carats. We have no doubt that steps will speedily be taken to test the field. On Monday two Italians, named Nicholas Bass and Dominick Serra, brought two pickle-bottles filled with highly auriferous sand, which they discovered on the Ninety-mile Bead). Before making their ‘find ’ publicly known, they went to the Land Office, and under the Mining Act secured a lease of ten acres of ground under prospecting license. They left Christchurch early on Monday afternoon to peg oat the ground allotted to them. There are two other men connected with the party, named respectively James Tool, and Francisco Caffara. The wash dirt has been examined by several practical miners, and they are of opinion that it will produce at least SOdvvts. to *h« load. The diit has been found, it is stated, but a few inches from the surface, and in great quantity. It may be mentioned that one ol the discoverers,Dominic Serra, besides being an old digger was one of those engaged in the attempt to regain the gold from the ship General Grant lost some years ago at the Auckland Islands, in fact he wag the man who volunteered to search for the wreck, but was not permitted to do so.