THE GOLD FINDS IN THE NORTH ISLAND.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1644, 8 October 1887, Page 2

THE GOLD FINDS IN THE NORTH ISLAND.

A gentleman residing in Hamilton writing to a friend in this district, gives the following interesting particulars regarding the recent discoveries of gold in the North Island “ All the Waikato folks are in fl state of ferment over the discovery of payable dirt at Waitoa. This dirt is euoposed to be a deapoeit from a large inland lake that at one time existed there. The wash dirt is at a depth of about twenty or thirty feet below the surface, and is about twenty feet deep, It was first discovered on the farm of a gentleman named John Smith. This gentleman had parcels taken from different parts of the farm, and wherever taken from, on being assayed, it proved to be gold-bearing, and to contain gold varying in quantity from a halfounce to an ounce and threequarters to the ton. The gold is more valuable than the Thames gold—the Waitoa gold being worth £3 12s fid an ounce; that from the Thames only ranging from £2 5a to £2 1 Os an ounce, Smi'b’e farm extends over more than 500 acres, all of which has been now proved to contain this extraordinary deposit. Added to this it is not likely that the deposit is confined solely to Smith’s gronnd, and it Is conjectured that the deposit extend* all over the Waitoa basin, which is of considerable area. The efnff costs about ten shillings a ton to treat, and from sevenpence to a shilling to bring it to the surface, so this will give yon some idea of the value of the discovery. It has been calcu'ated that should the 800-aere farm of Smith’s be the only part where the deposit exists it will give employment to twelve or fifteen thousand men for forty or fifty years. This means a very big boom for the Auckland Provincial District, and will knock the unemployed question completely on the head. This, however, is not the only big discovery that has been made. A man oit prospecting at a place named tiikataia dropped on a reef, the Bank assay of which gav« the extraordinary result of 800 ounces gold, and 10.000 ounces of silver to the ton. Do. sn’t that make your mouth water ? To come nearer to Hamilton, two Hamilton men have discovered a reef in the Maungatautari Ranges, the Bank assay of which has given a large return of over 200 ounces gold to the ton. Two gentlemen from this town accompanied the prospectors back to the reef, and brought hack three bags of quartz, which has been forwarded to Auckland for treatment, and all Hamilton people ara waiting anxiously for the result. Maungatautari is twenty miles from Hamilton, Waitoa thirty miles, and Hikutaia forty mile*. If all cf these fields turn out as well as they promise we shall soon have a mining population of forty or fifty thousand at our very doors, and what a grand morket we shall then have for farm and dairy and garden and orchard produce. Depression will vanish, and prosperity reign all round. The ores of the Upper Thames and T« Aroh« fields are impregnated with gold of a very fine description, and it is only lately that the miners’ eyes have been opened to the fact that all the gold was being wasted. A parcel ot quartz from the tin mine wag treated in the ordinary way by one of the batteries, and only yielded about an ounce and an a half or two ounces to the ton. A ton or two of quartz of the same grade was subsequently shipped to England as ballast in one of the ships, and treated at Scarborough, and resulted in a splendid return of £SO per ton. Since then attention has been directed towards inaugurating a more scientific method of treating the qnanz, and when once this has been instituted yon will tee New Zealand jump ahead again. Ton mark my words if you don’t.” An incipient rush to Waitoa having set in, correspondents at Auckland deprecate it, and state that nothing will be gained by rushing pending the result of the tenting of the field. Land in the vicinity of the field has risen in value. A correspondent of the Chriafihurch Press telegraphing from Auckland on Thursday saysMr Smith, who is interested in the gold discovery at Waßna, arrived from Christchurch yesterday. He states that it is six months since he first discovered the gold at his place. He went direct to Christchnroh and told his friends, asbi g their advice as to how be should proceed, and also to see bow be stood with regard to the ownership of mineral lands. • Be took a report from Geo. Wilson Adams and others, and after explaining the extraordinary nature of the discovery, his friends simply gazed on him with surprise, and would not accept the description as correct, unless Professor Hutton certified to the correctness of the assays. Professor Hutton came and examined the gold formation of the country, particularly of Smith’s land, and took laraplea from the three different shafts, getting them assayed at Firth and Clarke's battery, Iho result being £ls per ton, 34a, and nothing respectively. At the same inse he took out three average samples for Dr Hector, whose assays gave £4O, 816, and £l2. The Canterbury people pare still too sceptical of these stirarising confirmatory reports. Another fifficu'ty raised was—could machinery mve th -1 gold f Messrs Hall, Maude, and Sarnea came up to make the test. The eault was that over 4oza of rich quality of jold from 5 tons of dirt, from five different hafts, was obtained. All being no* atigfled with the results, the gold-field vas pronounced right, and a general leraand sent in for shares in the com>«ny. All this was done quietly • no similar was distributed, and the entertrise waa strongly supported units merits. I company was siccessfully floated in Ibriaichurcb, and immediately shares rere alloted. For these there were boyars t £l, and within three days buyers at ver £2 ; the mine consequently standing t over £70,000 in the Cbristcboroh maret. In Mr Smith's opinion there Is anj

amount of capital now available in Christchurch to develop the auriferous deposit if owners will allow their land to be prospected, and if the results prove as satisfatorr as his trials were.