GOLD RESOURCES OF NEW ZEALAND.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 746, 6 December 1870, Page 2

GOLD RESOURCES OF NEW ZEALAND.

The following is compiled from the evidence of Dr. Hector before the Select Committee of both Houses of the Assembly on Colonial Industries : The auriferous area commences with Otago, crosses the island obliquely, and stretches threugh the County of Westland into the Province of Nelson : it embraces the whole western slope of the island. There is a probability of another auriferous area in the south-west, between Te Ano Lake and Foveaux Strait. The whole of the area thus indicated amounts to between 15,000 and 20,000 square miles. In the North Island, the gold-bearing district is limited to the Colville Peniusula. Indications of gold have been found in other parts, from "Wellington to the North Cape. The chief characteristics of the alluvial diggings in New Zealand, as contrasted with other countries, is that the oldest alluvial drifts from which ail the modern drifts are redistributed, rise to a higher level than the present water-level of the country. In order to make the southern goldflelds remunerative, a proper water-supply must be provided. The black-sand gold diggings, which extend along the whole of the "Westland coast, and in patches along the west coast of Nelson, are practically inexhaustible. «■*-