> , THUESDAY, AUGUST 10,1899.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 32, 10 August 1899, Page 2

> , THUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1899.

THUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1899. It is said that' many years ago Sir Julius Yogel proposed to try and turn the fiver Clutha out of its bed into a new course. He declared that if this could be done there -would be eftough golds got from the bed thus laid bare, to pay off the then national debt. Ever since, this has been a standing joke against that somewhat imaginative -statesman. It has always been quoted, as' the sto'ek example of the absurd and' quixoxic'ideas Yogel' sometimes developed. years, people have

retailed the story as the choicest specimen of the wild notions the Hebrew politician occasionally got into his head — and yet, to-day there seems little doubt that what he said is probably very near the truth. A year ago, none would have believed it. Now, very few people doubt it. The reason of this strange and wonderful change of opinion is the marvellous results during the last few months of the gold dredging operations in Ofcago. It reads like a fairy tale. One wonders whether it is not some story of the Arabian Nights again — some Aladdin's lamp or enchanted ring that has to be rubbed, to bring its owner untold wealth. For years there were a few men pottering about here and there with dredges on the rivers, sometimes making a little money, sometimes losing a good deal. But none were conspicuously successful. 'Gold was often got, but not in large quantities, and on the whole the dredging industry was not regarded as a particularly lucrative or profitable one. But lo ! as in the twinkling of an eye, all is changed. Now, in the southern capital, nothing is heard of but dredging returns and dredging companies. Fortunes are being made in a week or two, and the air is filled with the wonderf ul stories of new found wealth. How has it , happened ? It is very simple. .It seems perfectly clear that for untold years the -rivers have been carrying gold down from its home in the mountains, and spreading it over their "pactolian sands." 'The early dredgers were quite right in their theory, but they failed to get the gold until one man, ahead a little of his fellows in sagacity — Mr McGeorge, manager at present of the Electric, it was, we believe, — struck the idea that the dredges did not go deep enough. A dredge that would go several feet deeper was accordingly constructed and tried. By one dredge alone, some £2500 worth of gold was recovered in about five days. The news leaked out, and soon other dredges were at work, and they began to get wonderful results. Some of them got from £1000 to £1200 or £1500 a week. Now, seeing that the general cost of working a dredge 1 for one week varies between £30 and £50, it will be seen whaf such a return means, and from that time till now dredging has held on its triumpnal career. i This last montfe one company has | got about £7500 worth of gold. 1 In ten days the dredge paid back the whole of the subscribed capital. No wonder such returns as these have resulted in the formation of a whole host of new companies. As yet, few of the companies at work have failed to do well. Many, of course, haVe made little fortunes. 'The Electric, for instance, alone recovered £05,000 worth of gold in ••the

course of a comparatively short time. The Magnetic paid back all its capital in ,two of three months, and still gets a profit of some £200 or £250 a week for its owners. It is said that there are wow some 80 dredges at work, and new companies galore are being floated. No doubt the thing will be grossly overdone, and many j ' wild-cats ' will be put upon the market, but, so far, it is astonishing how successful, as a' general rule, nearly all the companies have been. Moreover, there are enormous quantities of old riverbeds and flats still to prospect and dredge, and judging from the results so far the gold mp,st be very widely spread. If that be so, it may be truthfully said that gold dredging is still in its- infancy, and as to the future, who will * dare to prophecy ? Who can say what untold wealth lies still buried in the deep lying resting place beneath the rivers' sand,s ? Even at the present rate, by the end of the year something like half a million will have been returned from this comparatively new ' industry — an industry tha^ can be worked wtth little risk, expense, or delay, because the huge capital and enormous works often, required for quartz working ancf v juicing are itere unnecessary.' I "