A SUCCESSFUL DIGGER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 3048, 7 November 1888, Page 2

A SUCCESSFUL DIGGER.

Mr Honittn, who 'recehtiy; I;e&rMd jo privato matters,, Mr Homali reports New Zealand, .!' Our party, wliioli consisted of three others besides myself, went to work by a luoky chance :i on ( a .favorable, Bpot,i;and started a drive into one of' tho terraces beside the,week,:, about four miles from the top ofthe Saddle,;and some two miles up the Mahikapawa [Mahakipawa] creek. Wd ; "evidently had ; a Mascotte with us, - for on o'utfirst f orilih'g staitbd work aii > iime : b'olOck|' Snd py ■ : eleyon,)Ycre ifidt. verylprig' ■J)'efora' i that.woiwere on .the, tiglit 'track in . good earnest, for the .'stuff improved ifl •every foot we got in 1 . < Of ooiu'Bfl -'we ™ ■ had a'tougli time of it!,' tuid' had'- to v '' remove a lot of'stuff,' : aiid opeh a face, ■ but the'first week's, wo'rk'i ,tliough;|e at the start wore far 'from loxpeptiiig so good a resultj. gave ,* us iuot'quite leu ounces of good goldi , The second week's" graft" was evon harder than tho first, but tho' result was better than before, eleven ounces showing to our credit on the' Saturday night. The third woek we wero still progressing,' the gold being ; iri larger nuggets, and,wo, totalled'' flirty-four ounces.''. Last . .week ; .has! been, our champion so far, as sixty-eight ounces liavo us for our work, ■ :

1 "Of pourso ypu must • aivay with .the idea that thero aro 1 many mon who aro doing bo'well as ■ we liavo been fortunate enough to do. . There aro now, I : calculate,: sonlb seven hundred men on the field, not counting those at Wailiakalio. and of * these one can almost reckon on the two hands the parties who aro doing . really well. Thero aro a lot of men, and really good miners lit! that, who aro not earning their salt; and' Wlio, ; at the present time, aro not likely to do so. Of courso'there aro the usual frequentors of a newly opened goldfield. that ia near at band' to tho larger cities, I mean) the clerk and the shopman brigade, who know absolutely nothing, about milling, and who are physically incapahlo "of ' doing any good at it, .moro especially j at a place liko whero wo are, wlioro 1 boulders as big as liousos liavo ,to'.' ; be 1 blasted, shifted, and got rid of before t you can do any good, There aro also ' a lot of good, strong, activo young ■ ! fellows, who aro "real good plucked j 'uns,". - and deserve gold .-for their ' hard work, but then they don't know 1 how to set abput getting it. One ' party I know in particular, boys from thoWaimpa, .who work day anil 1 night like demons;' and'deservo Jo get gold, but whether tlioy will [ not is a horse of a different colonr." * You ask abont tlie AVaikakaho. I fancy they will liavo to sink deep thero before getting' anything; ' are leaving oveiy day,' and'in a week or two there will.be a very few left. Still I think the prospects fair, though much work will have to !b,e. doqe. taken' as a whole > : thei field!• has turned out well for somo, and terribly badly for the great majority. 'Tis not a poor man's field at all, and tliough'it has been kind to our party l,woiild,be, the last-to advise! anyone, however good audpracliial a jiiiAer 1 he might be, to go there.. You have not a reasonable,grobability of sue?-', cess,but you have a strong probability of failure; In reply to . a question about Iho; giant nugget of the field, which was reported tb'wiiijjli twentysix ounce's): Mi- Homan, said' it. was Btill not far away, being on i-yiow; at the' : hostelry , on, the. Grovo c road, ''. Draper presided, but: that ', estimable .bpiiiface was in the habit of; j»ske. ■<*> L "f .Colonial j should bo" offered •.after :the giant golden curio is ■ i feast' hia .'eyes on the - that brought its lueky finder; the comfortableiiim of ninety goldey /. sovereigns, T . :