The Westport Times. THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 547, 26 August 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times. THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1869.

Ax excitement which, in the estimation of a community acquainted with mining matters, must seem almost childish, has suddenly developed itself in different parts of the Colony. In several of the Provinces the inhabitants both of town and country have heen seized with the desire to discover in their own immediate neighborhood a substantial goldfield, and so great is the fecundity of that simple wish, that it has become the parent of thoughts passing enumeration, and unfortunately as evanescent as they are numerous. The number of day-dreams in which the citizens of Christchurch and Wellington, or the settlers ofTaranaki and Wanganui, have within the past few months indulged would of themselves form a serious addition to the record of " popular delusions;" and, in the newspaper narratives of the circumstances under which these " baseless visions " emanate and end, there has been furnished quite a fund of caricature. At this stage of the Colony's history as a gold-producing country it is, indeed, difficult to understand how there can be found, among the population, such a host of "new-chums.'' And in such a district as this, where a ninety-ounce nugget is not even a seven days' wonder, it is hard to fancy how people can cut such fantastic tricks as they have lately been doing in other places over the discovery of that simple germ of hope, the " color," or that frequent source of " mistaken identity," iron pyrites. If there are, in the character of the incidents, and in the fervor of the furor, some comic features, there are, however, suggested by the circumstances some serious lessons to the population of even such an established goldfield as that of the "West Const. It may be late in the day, and the long lethargy of the good people of Wellington and Canterbury may scarcely be comprehensible, but it is ever " better late than never," and the example which they are now giving of interest and industry in the work of prospecting the country is an example which is even worthy of imitation where some amount of practical prospecting has already been done. The exciting causes of this spirit of discovery and commercial adventure in Canterbury, Wellington, and other pastoral parts of the country are, no doubt, to be found in the present staguaut state of trade, and in the results which in Auckland, as in Otago and Westland, have attended the development of goldfields as a source of industry and pecuniary profit. Their trade, however, is not so exceptionally stagnant, nor are the goldfields of our immediate neighborhood so highly developed, that it is there alone, and not here, that enterprise in the direction of finding fresh fields should now exist. The results of entire dependance upon alluvial diggings have been partially but plainly illustrated in the diminished mining population of Otago. The same results are being as surely, if slowly, illustrated in the waning trade and the wandering disposition of the diggers of the district of Hokitika. Presher fields as they are, and richer as they may be, the districts of Westport and Charleston will, no doubt, in course of time illustrate the same thing and in the same way; and it is not then, but now, that this persistent repetition of events in the history of goldfields should be anticipated by the precaution being taken to " prospect" the district to its uttermost ends, with the specific object of discovering the existence of reefs, and, by such discovery, ensuring its permanent productiveness and population as a goldfield. There is no one interested in minino' who does not know, by hearsay or by practicil experience, the value and importance of quartz-reefs as a feature of the goldfields of Victoria. No one can fail to appreciate, simply by analogy, the present and prospective influence of reefs at Auckland. Even on this coast, there is au example of the feeling of assurance and permanence which the existence of reefs can give to a community. Among the different sources of the still promising prosperity of Greymouth, the coal-mines and the up-river alluvial diggings are at present, in the eati-

mate of the inhabitants, somewhat secondary to the certainty which they feel as to the establishment of quartzcrushing as a regular and highly profitable industry. "With the assertion often repeated that at the Lyel!, and in other parts of this district, quartzreefs exist, would it not be wise for this community also to interest itself in the subject, and, by combination, to assist in settling, for good or ill, the question whether such reefs are auriferous or not ? So far as it has gone, the enterprise of quartz-crushing at the Waimongoroa has certainly not been a success—the result, probably, of the want, not of payable material, but of practical men. The miscarriage of one enterprise need not, however, annihilate all enthusiasm, and we believe that there is otherwise in the district ample field for the operations of a Quartz-reef Prospecting Association. Will anybody practically initiate this proposal, thus crudely made, or do the next best thing—" write to the papers" on the subject. If he cannot commend our conception, he may, at least, command our columns.