PROSPECTING FOR GOLD ON THE TARARUAS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3100, 10 January 1889, Page 2

PROSPECTING FOR GOLD ON THE TARARUAS.

The following interesting account of Mr G, H. Kemper's "ramble3iii the V Tararua Bangers, and appeared in thap PahiattiaStar:—'■;•'.;■ ' 'V:':."- ;• Intboduction.—lbeg the readersof; this not to'readandunderstand.it. a? : coming from au expert geologist, ';but: as comingfrom an ordinary old" gold i digger only. !lt; has been; Written " chiefly for the benefit of' old' 'diggers, as a, warning not'to allow 'themselves to bq duped out of their hard earned - -means: by rumours of-gola\' haying.!: been found-hero, there, and" everywhere in the Tararuas or! Wairarapa. My last trip was in company,with a Mr Jones, who paid the late Mr.:, Schadow £1 to go with him and me " up the Waingawa and show us the reef out of which Mr Donald Donald. ofManaia, had got 8 and 6 oss resped< '.' lively-to the ton from samples sent to : ! Dr Hector, At the time this was reported quite a rush had taken place • to this reef, of which Mr Schadow had " : been one of the.victims, and so, as he, ' said, knew all about it. The reef wVAjj however, abandoned, as ho gold coiild' be got by any of theni in it, On ar. riving at the reef, which we did late ' in the evening.after a very long day's, hard, walking over slippery boulders, and in and out of the.riyer from about 8 miles iir'a. narrow gorge, we found the tools and stores as Schadow described, and which had been leftby ha - party some four years previously. The reef we found to be an immense body of very hard flinty and dark looking quartz, not at all'/ like 'gold-bearing stone.except about' two inohes in nearly the centre. This I tried very carefully, as also the unlikely body of, : hard reef,-but found no Bign oi gold '! in either, To mako doubly sure that . I was right, I sent two samples to-Dr Hector,'which gave also no signs' of • « ol<l, '•' : '■'.,.. ''•• '■'. .'■-', "' I was some tiiie after this told; ' it was not this reef that gave the above , return, but ono higher up the 'rivers, but this I don't believe, as a ; HBDBibiflfcl man like Mr Donald Donald would - have given the place where such a find, was made a fuir trial, as such a return would pay well, independently and apart from the value : of such a discovery to the Masterton District, and hiuiself especially. ' ' : I was also -told by another party that they found gold higher up in one of the small branches, but as they had not followed utp v this. find I believe it to be' a fraud also, as I found none in the creeks. After satisfying myself about this place we shifted camp about two miles lower down the rivor, ; ' There we found; what.appeared to be a copper lode; of this wo hadyamhle tested, but.it proved of. no Rvalue. From this we shifted camp another two miles further down, just above Mitre Creek. Here Mr Jones found . > agood looking outcrop of antpraoite-. like ' looking' coal, which ,we- ; ; tried on a firo; it has the true smell of coal when on the fire, but does nob bum readily. Our teat was from, surface only. Mr Jones wba was at home in coal mining than mysellV felt sure that better coal would bip-' found by sinking beliw the surface outcrop* This was his experience in Wales.wbere he was born and brought up, Of this we sent a sample to Dr Hector,-who reported it to be graphite'' slato or altered coal. In : one of the creekscomingfromtheMitrewefound v hrge blocks pf 'pure white quartz,,;' 'with all the colors of,the rainbow ',■■ running in parallel bands through it, j" all semi-transparent and -.very hard. • We went up this oreok to find the lode from which this came, but had to give it best, the ascent becomjhg too steep. ,' By this road we got on a Bpuu- afterwards for the same purpose,.but had to give this up too for want of time; as we could'not camp -out-"" here on -.; bare rocks, we had : I to make back to our- camp at night, No doubt a lode of this stone exists,' '. 1 and will be valuable for useful as well as ornamental purposes by. and by, ■ r -> ';, --Bblow ' Mitre mense lode of red quai'tz brjp'brphyry'j :.!' it ins much of the ohawctertpf both', •!£ v is yerjihard and'heayfand wiH;s)r]kpJ>l arid ; r [ ■' also found hfire'mariy kinds of ;stone ';^; of transparent! and showingyeryb*rigb't,S': beautiful small r .! bardl ehougii!!.td;scratoh; glass^anjd;..) S

valuable for' bvnatdentnl'.'. puVpbses. " Here,,too,' 1 found a very sweet and beautiful-looking fraifc,: hanging in small-clusters, on alow dwarf tree resombling our garden box. : Of. ibis I intended to bring some down to "• Hasterton, but want of necessaries compelled'us to leave, but we intended to return with a : :good supply .'of provisions and sink into the coal, &c., and then to bring down on a packhorse onough of thn different kinds of stone, paint, and coal for the pur; ': pose of ascertainiug.lhbir commercial value, Through ' unforseen and unavoidaiwciiuses this we were prevented, to follow up—l say we, because Mr Jones was anxious to go with mo again. I find myself now in the condition of the London cabman's horse—not only getting groggy on the pins, but in the head as well; and as it is necessary for head and feet to bo in good order for prospecting, I have to give up the idea as far as lam concerned. This <is why I t now publish what I have Been, and * thoughts thereon, for tho benefit and as a guide to such as aro fit and wish to follow up what" I began; and to ■ such I will give a full description where and how to find those, but on a guarantee of good ft.itli that suoh parties aro suitable and in earnest to do so—not an idle curiosity, It is now nearly three years since mylast visit to the Tararua, I have thought much and often,and compared what I saw with what 1 heard in regard to gold having been found there. The result of this comparison is this: that the whole of these rumors and assertions as regards gold having been got in the quartz are, and have been, wilful frauds, carefully planned and circulated to cause a rush of lucky diggers with plenty of money to flock to the place and so enhance tho value kof land for tho benefit of landowners, and speculators, without giving the diggers even the slighest credit of having done any good whatever.

Gold may, however, have boon found on the present surface, and oven in a creek close to some great masses of sandstone and quartz, which are ; fast crumbling to pieces. These I have «A no doubt came from a much older ■ " country than any in the Tararua, and are certainly more likely looking; this secmß to rae the only possible way virgin gold could have got here and so found.

My chief reason for believing no gold whatevor to have been found in virgin or pure state in quarts reefs is the immense size and numbers of soft, greasy boulder clay veins or lodes, or we say pug. In these veins I have found salt, sulphur, arsenic, &0,, nil nearlv in tho raw or native state, and in the crystalised cubes peculiar to each, which can be seen between soft slate and a kind of sand. _ stone. On these soft lodes can be A seen a thick crust of salt in summer T")fhere exposed to thesun's rays. The sandstone's formation is entirely auriferous sandstone at the Thames or Terawhiti, Middle Island or Australia, This causes me to think that theTararua has nothing to do with the golden strata and lime with the Thames and Torawhiti, and that this connection must be looked for on tne western side of tko Tarama, if any of this remains, which I doubt; this connecting strata I bolieve to be now under the sea, having worn away or *_ sunk.

A WORD OF WARNING TO MASTBRTON,

I mubfc now draw this already too lone; lotter to a close, but before doing Bo I deem it. a duty to warn the inhabitants of Masterton that a great danger lays at the south end of the Afclack range. Thcro is a Long narrow between perpendicular walls oi brokon rock. Should a heavy slip occur on one side most likely it would fetch ono down on the opposite side, and should this mass of stuff be of sufficient height and strength to block up the Waingawa rivor, then an immense deep valley will get filled with this water. The pressure of this will bo so great that wherever it finds a vent (which it must) the rush will be so great and strong as to sweep all before it. Now, as tho bed of this river is near,y filled up below Fernridge, where are several old channels much below tho present bed and all bearing direct to Masterton, this danger can easily be seen, This river is now actually waiting for a great flood to assist her in cutting away tho land she has made; this

/ is the fate of all mountain tor] *. .; rents in New Zealand, such as the *«jjfaingawa. This danger to Masterbe guarded against and prevented by carefully watching the currents and raising the bank on the northern side before too late (this will not cost much to do), but I sincerely hope for the sake of the many and true men I found in and around Masterton that the engineer entrusted with this has had more experience or profited by tho blunder made in the Waipoua, namely, overlooking that part altogether where the danger lay, but spent a lot of money where not wanted, By careful study these rivers can at small cost be made valuable servants to man, instead of master and tyrant, wbiohittey become if their warnings are neglected, This is our duty, just as much as a plant, tree, or flower reqnires help and watching if we wish them to be a pleasure and benefit to us.

A Smart Detective. jPj :v A lady and gentleman were travelg|ug together on au English railway. - Suddenly the gentleman politely said, 1 " Madam, I will trouble you to look out of the window for a few minutes I am going to mako some changes in lny wearing apparel." " Certainly, Bir," she replied, rising and turning her baok upon him. In a short timo he said," Now, madami my change is completed, mid you may resume your seat." When the lady turned, she beheld her male companion transformed into a dashing lady, with a very heavy veil.over her face. "Now, sir, or madam, whichever you like," said the lady, "Imust trouble you to look out of tbowindow as I also have some -changes to mako in my apparel." " With pleasure, madam," and the gentleman in lady's attireimmediatolycomplied; "Now sir, you may resume your seat.'j To his great surprise, on turning round, the gentleman in female attire, found his lady companion transformed into a inan. He then laughed, and said, Atf It appears that we are both anxious pto avoid recognition. What have you done ? I have robbed a,bank." " AMI; said the whilomiady, as ho. dexterously fettered 'his astonished companion's wrist with a pair,of hand-cuffs, am Detective J— ~, of' 1 Scotland Yird, and in female apparel have shadowed you; now," drawiug ft revolver, "keep still.''-Argonaut.