The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1887.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2378, 6 October 1887, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1887.

[Mpi.il and exact justice to all men, Ot whatsoever state ot persuasion, religious or political.

Tub question of prospecting; and working the Waitoa goldfields is one that will not wait the tortuous delays of red tape and official tlila-toriiu-ss. The sensational paragraphs, and the still more sensational headlines of our Auckland contemporaries are whetting the knife that, in the hands of the individual miner, will cut the. gordian knot. We have evidence of this already in the fact that old miners, pick and shovel men, and others are already finding their way to the Waitoa, and that some days ago a prospecting claim of fifty acres had been taken up by a Mr Collins and another man on Government land between the Waihou andTe Aroha. Ou Tuesday several men left on horseback for the Waitoa, bent ou prospecting the land there, and a number of men with swags and tools passed through Hamilton on Tuesday by rail for the same destination. Now, we have no wish to write anything that would cause a rush to the Waitoa on a large scale, at the present moment when, as yet, the question has not been definitely settled whether the practical manipulation of the wash dirt (that is, when undertaken, not by Innidrcdweh hts as by Mr Eraser in Auckland, but by hundreds of tons upon the spot), will save the gold, and at a cost that will leave a fair margin for all concerned. (Jn the other hand wc would not, if wc could, discourage the only plan by which tiro real value of the field will be speedily tested, and that too before syndicates with capital at their command have picked the eyes out of it, and additional bars and difficulties have been placed in the way of its being purchased -by the Government and declared a people’s goldfield. Our object in writing, as will be seen, is to direct the inevitable course of events into safe and legitimate channels. That the difficulty of saving the gold is much exaggerated there is little doubt. That it can he seen in the stuff is proved by the fact that it Ims been pronounced to have all the sharp edges of gold that has not travelled far. That it is not difficult to treat and will readily amalgamate with quicksilver is also evident from the fact that the gold, which is worth .£-1 an ounce is what the minors call “free” gold, that is unmi xcd with substances that resist ordinary amalgamation without ‘die costly use of roasting furnaces and chemicals with the aid of which, oven, the known wealth of the stone in many parts of the Thames peninsula still remains practically locked up. What then is the lion in the path ? The Government ?—that it has not accepted the offer made hy Mr »Smith to soil to the public the proved auriferous area before it passed into the hands of a Canterbury syndicate ? Or their successors, whoever they may be, who may or may not see their way to acting with more enterprise, or who even in doing so may weary out with delay the expectant army of miners who, not only in New Zealand but doubtless throughout Australia are by tins time looking v-itfi anxious longings upon the now field'j Wc do not think that oven this obstacle is insurmountable. Nay, wo say unhesitatingly that it may he swept away with a breath, and the same practical tost of the value of the field be proceeded with as though the Government were prepared to resume those lauds imd open thorn at once. The whole matter rests in the hands of the private owners of property in the Waitoa district. If we are to have a rush as appearances would indicate, though even on a small scale, it wore well to direct it into proper and legitimate channels. Wc do not believe that with the incitements of the Auckland Press, telegraphed as they will bo .to uJJ parts of the colonies, a rush can be avoided, and to prevent disappointment wpijlcl point out what we believe to ho (lie proper course for the Waitoa land owners to adopt, They have the game in their own hands, and can afford to “go alone.” Let them, or let any more enterprising one among them proclaim their own goldfields. Having proved the

existence of gold, ns sever,’ll have already done, let them throw their estates open to prospecting ou certain terms, say, that each prospector take nut from them a permit to prospect, paying JBI for the same, and granting to .such as find gold or are satisfied with the prospects of the field a right to take up claims of say one sixteenth of an acre for one man’s ground, in large parties, for which a rent of one pound per annum, or such a sum as may be agreed upon for each man’s ground shall be payable to the owner of the laud for the use of it. This would pay all parties, if only one tenth the gold wore found that the tests hitherto made have indicated. The difficulty of providing the necessary machinery for treating the wash dirt would he met hy capitalists just as easily as in the case of the field being purchased and opened by (lovernment. What then should hinder the land owners of Waitoa in talcing the bull by the horns and each one of them proclaiming his land a goldfield. The terms they may with aU fairness ask from the miners who will prospect and flock t) them are far bettor than those which Mr J. B, Smith has obtained from the capitalist. The miner’s permit to which we have referred, which no working miner would object to for the privilege, and which would of course be paid in advance by all prospectors, and by others joining them when the claims are taken up, would give the proprietor £IG an .acre at once, or £2 per acre more than Mr Smith has obtained for his freehold, and a far lower rent than that we have snggistcd would give the owner a laige annual income as royalty while the claims were working. His unleased land would be required for business and farming purposes, and the land itself, when worked out for gold, would still remain his own. The opportunity, a really golden one, is before him, and we suggest it as the readiest, the simplest and the most equitable solution of a question which otherwise presents many phases of difficulty. As the field is opened up the, Government may see its way to buy up and proclaim further areas for the public use, for to all appearances the same country would seem to exist more or less throughout the Thames Valley. As to the alleged difficulty of want of water in summer and too much in winter, these are matters which the history of California, Australia and even New Zealand itself has shown to have been met and grappled with successfully by the miners. Water can be burned from higher up the valley in any quantity, even if it be fetched from the magnificent waterfall to be seen pouring down the ranges by those travelling along the railway from Morrinsville to Waharoa. Old Californian and Australian diggers will laugh at difficulties such as these, if the gold is only to be obtained in anything like the quantity which the Canterbury syndicate have proved, to their own satisfaction, exists on the area of 300 acres prospected on Mr J. B. Smith’s property.