NEW ZEALAND GOLDFIELDS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4790, 3 August 1894, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND GOLDFIELDS.

A Field for the Unemployed.

In view of tho statoment by the We«<crnstar ) Rivci'ton,tlmtlyingclosc to their doors,tho working men in that district have ground (lint which will nearly always give them " tucker," and sometimes wages, it is indeed a strange ,J -';tg that many of the nnomployed do.not go on fossicking expeditions over the old goldlields of Otago and the West Coast, Every now and again thcro is a bit of a "rush" to this or that point, but so far none of tho fields have been to any extent permanent. There was the Mount Criffcl rush; then a discovery which caused diggers to take new heart of grace in tho Cardroua Valley; then came a bit of a " patch" on the Crown Terrace, near Arrowtown, followed by one or two minor discoveries in other parts of Otago. The latest discovery is that reported at Alexandra, Otago, where a conplo of men have dropped upon a very good thing. Thoy had been fossicking about for a week or so, and then came upon a patch which yielded them 20ozs. The news soon spread, and every available yard of ground was speedily pegged out. Tho line of terraces in which the gold was found extends for nearly threo miles from the junction of the Manulierikia Rivor with thoMelyncnxto thc Manorburn Creek, For years past—in fact, since the Dmistan rush —thirty years ago—these terraces havo been worked here and there, and many good patches have been obtained at different times, The chief peculiarity of the present discovery lies in tho fact that tho gold in the prospectors' claim wasfound on the reef which underlies the granite wash. Iu the past, gold in this locality has always been foundin tho granite wash, and not underneath it. The present find will, no doubt, ennse all the intervening spots to be thoroughly prospected, and lead to ' many other deposits being brought '. to light, This latest find of gold, ' though not extensive enough to ' warrant men in going from distant '. parts of the Colony to the field, ' serves to point to the fact with which ' we started, that within the gold- ] fields area in New Zealand there is plenty of ground whero a living, and ] occasionally something better, can be ! made. Would it not be a good thing ; for many of our unemployed—tho ■ single men at anyrate—to turn their ' faces from the cities in the direction ' of the diggings ? 1