1867 - von Hochstetter, Ferdinand. New Zealand - CHAPTER V: Gold

       
E N Z B       
       Home   |  Browse  |  Search  |  Variant Spellings  |  Links  |  EPUB Downloads
Feedback  |  Conditions of Use      
  1867 - von Hochstetter, Ferdinand. New Zealand - CHAPTER V: Gold
 
Previous section | Next section      

CHAPTER V: Gold

[Image of page 93]

CHAPTER V.

Gold.

The gold-riches of Australia. -- Incentive to prospecting parties in New Zealand. -- First discovery of gold near Coromandel Harbour in the Province of Auckland, in 1852. -- Scanty result. -- The Nelson goldfields. -- The Motueka diggings in 1856. -- The Aorere goldfield in 1857. -- Satisfactory results. -- The Western ranges of the Province of Nelson. -- The auriferous formations. -- Aorere diggings. -- Parapara diggings. -- Takaka diggings. -- Discoveries of gold in the Southwestern part of the Province of Nelson. -- Discovery of the Eldorado in the Province of Otago on the Tuapeka, 1861. -- Gold fever. -- Diggers flocking in from Australia. -- Great extent of the gold-deposits. -- Gold in the Province of Marlborough 1864. -- The Westcoast of the Province of Canterbury. -- Hokitika, the metropolis of the Westland goldfields. Appendix. Produce of goldfields.

The Australian Colony Victoria sent to the International Exhibition in London, in 1802, a gilded obelisk of 10 feet square at the basis and 45 feet high. This obelisk, if it were a solid mass of gold, would have a weight of 800 tons; it represents the volume of gold produced by the colony from October 1, 1851 to October 1, 1861, valued at 104 million pounds. The population of Victoria, numbering in 1851 only 70,000 inhabitants, has increased since to 550,000, and Melbourne which but a few decades ago consisted of some wretched shanties on the sea coast, is now a large, splendid city, a capital with 100,000 inhabitants. Such a rise is without precedent in the history of colonies, and the Eldorado of the South Sea, of which the Spaniards of the fifteenth century were dreaming, has here become full reality in the nineteenth century.

The discovery of the golden riches in Australia reacted very

[Image of page 94]

sensibly on adjacent New Zealand, which had scarcely overcome the difficulties attending the commencement of its colonization; the latter losing a great number of its labouring population, who all went flocking towards the new gold-land. But, still, there were hopes also for New Zealand. People began to prospect for gold here, and already in October 1852, a "Reward Committee" was formed, which promised a reward of £500 to the discoverer of a valuable goldfield in the northern district of New Zealand. Within less than a week, the reward was claimed by Mr. Charles Ring, a settler, recently returned from California, who asserted that he had discovered gold upon Cape Colville peninsula, 40 miles East of Auckland, in the vicinity of Coromandel Harbour. The specimens produced by Mr. Ring were pieces of auriferous quartz, and some minute particles of gold dust, which he had found on the Kapanga, a creek flowing into the harbour. The commissioners sent out to investigate the matter also confirmed the existence of gold, leaving it however doubtful whether there was a goldfield extensive and rich enough to pay for the working.

This was the first discovery of gold upon New Zealand. There was a general rejoicing in Auckland over the lucky event; the people indulged in the most sanguine hopes, and at once arrangements were made for working the goldfield. As the land upon which the gold was found belonged to the natives, an agreement with the latter on the part of the Government had first to be brought about. The Maoris agreed for a certain payment to cede the acquisition of gold upon their own land to Europeans, and already in November 1852 a treaty was made with the Coromandel chiefs for the term of three years, in which the Government pledged itself to pay the natives for each square mile of land upon which gold was being dug one pound sterling annually, and for each gold digger two shillings per month. In consequence of this the Government was, of course, obliged to lay a tax upon the gold diggers. Granting an exemption for the first two months, it afterwards exacted from each digger 30s. per month for a digging license.

[Image of page 95]

About 3000 diggers set to work. On the Kapanga River towards North the "Coolahan Diggings" promised favourable results, and likewise the "Waiau Diggings", a short distance from the former, on the Matawai Creek, a tributary of the Waiau River which flows southwards into the Coromandel Harbour. The ore produced was sold in Auckland by public auction. But when the taxes were to be paid there were only about 50 diggers who took licenses. These also, however, were not able to subsist under the heavy taxes demanded; and as moreover nothing at all was heard of any encouraging results on a grand scale, and more and more difficulties arose on the part of the natives, the whole enterprise died out after about 6 months. The simple verdict was, that the gold mines were too poor, and the promised reward was withheld from the discoverer. The whole produce upon the first New Zealand goldfield up to the time when the enterprise was given up was computed at £1200 in gold value, and the largest nugget found was a spheroidal piece of quartz of the size of an egg which contained gold equivalent to about £10.

Despite various trials and movements in later years, and although the natives brought from time to time small quantities of gold to Auckland for sale, no serious trial was ever afterwards made upon the Coromandel goldfield; and the natives at last denied the Europeans even the right to make experiments.

Such was the state of affairs when in June, 1859, I visited the goldfield in company of Mr. Ch. Heaphy, the late gold commissioner. -- What the traveller observes on entering Coromandel Harbour and examining its shores does in no way correspond with what a geologist expects of a gold region. The Coromandel Peninsula consists mainly of a mountain ridge, running nearly North and South, the mountains having a bold serrated outline and varying in height from 1000 to 1600 feet. The most noteworthy point is Castle Hill (1610 feet high) a rocky peak resembling the ruin of a castle. The valleys between the spurs given off laterally by this main or dividing range are of the character of ravines or gorges, occupied by mere mountain streams; the flats or alluvial tracts at

[Image of page 96]

View of Castle Hill and Coromandel Harbour.

their mouths and on the coast are inconsiderable. The coast consists of nothing but trachytic breccia and tuff, in the most varying colours and in the most different state of decomposition, from the hardest rock to a soft clayish mass, and in various places broken through by doleritic and basaltic dykes. Silicious secretions in the shape of chalcedony, carnelion, agate, jasper, and the like, are a very frequent occurrence in these tuffs and conglomerates, likewise large blocks of wood silicified and changed to wood-opal. By local geologists those trachytic rocks were erroneously taken for granite and porphyry, and by a gross mistake the most sanguine hopes were based upon the notion that these silicious secretions might be auriferous quartz veins.

The Coromandel gold originates from quartz reefs of crystalline structure, belonging to a palaeozoic clayslate formation, 1 of which under the cover of trachytic tuff and conglomerate the mountain range of Cape Colville peninsula consists. The mountains are so densely wooded that it is only here and there in the gorges

[Image of page 97]

of the streams that sections of these slates may be examined. In these sections the clayslates are frequently found to resemble Lydian stone; they are arranged more or less vertically, their irregular upturned edges affording the most convenient and abundant "pockets" for the detention and storage of the alluvial gold washed from the higher grounds. The most gold was found in the narrow valleys, where, after digging to a depth of four to five feet through boulders and shingle, the "bed-rock" is struck. Where the valleys extended into broader alluvial plains, there was always but little and very light gold found.

At a small branch of the Kapanga in the vicinity of the "Coolahans Diggings", not far from Mr. Ring's mill, at a place pointed out to me by Mr. Heaphy as especially rich, I went to work myself to make an experiment in washing. We dug, partly from the bed of the small creek, partly from the banks, several shovel-fulls of quartz gravel intermixed with earth and clay, which, after removing the larger pieces, we washed in round tin dishes. The result of the very first trial was a considerable number of extremely fine scales of a light yellowish green gold, 2 which glistened among the black magnetic iron sand that had remained after the washing process, and some small pieces of ochrey quartz, in which fine scales were seen imbedded. Each successive trial yielded the same result, nor was there a single dish full of "dirt" that did not show the "colour", so that I had to acknowledge to myself that, if those deposits of detritus should extend over a larger area, and could be worked on a large scale with the necessary machinery, the result must doubtless be a very remunerative one. But in regard to the former point I had no opportunity to convince myself, and as to the latter the natives would not have consented at that time. The pieces of quartz, among which there were many violet coloured or amethystine, all being angular fragments, could not have been brought from any considerable distance, although in the creek itself we found nowhere a quartz vein in situ. On

[Image of page 98]

the slope of the hills I saw large blocks of quartz lying, which from all appearances originated from "reefs" or veins, that -- according to the statement of Mr. Heaphy, -- protrude on the top of the dividing ridge in various places like walls, eight to ten feet high and ten to twenty feet thick. I much regretted the inclemency of the weather at the time, which frustrated our intention to examine these quartz reefs more closely. It is worth mentioning that gold was also found on the creeks flowing from the east side of the Cape Colville range on Mercury Bay into the sea: on the Arataonga, Waitekuri, Cook's river and others. The traces of gold, therefore, seem to extend over a larger district, and the Coromandel gold-fields -- such was my opinion in 1859 -- bid fair to grow into importance in future years, when the country as yet covered with dense woods, shall have become more accessible, when the auriferous quartz reefs themselves shall have been discovered, and the difficulties, which the natives have hitherto opposed to every undertaking on a more extensive scale have ceased. 3

Besides those mentioned, there had been at the time of my travels no other discovery of gold made upon North Island; although it is not improbable that the hitherto wholly unexplored mountain range on the S.E. side of the island, forming the continuation of the Alpine chains of South Island, still harbours many hidden

[Image of page 99]

treasures. 4 But, at any rate, nature has lavished her favours more bountifully upon South Island.

Let us direct our attention first to Golden Bay (formerly Massacre Bay). Already in 1842, on the occasion of an exploring expedition undertaken by Captain Wakefield from Nelson to Massacre Bay, Mr. M'Donald is said to have found small scales, which were supposed to be gold. But no further notice was taken of them. Indeed, who would at that time have thought of, or believed in gold-fields, before the discoveries in California and Australia had rendered the thing familiar. At length in 1856, the stirring news of the discovery of gold 18 miles from Nelson, in Bigg's Gully, Motueka district, aroused in the minds of the colonists a general excitement. About 300 diggers rushed to the place; but they soon left their diggings again, the produce being too inconsiderable; and it was not until 1859, that these first "Nelson Diggings" were taken up again by a few diggers, and with pretty good success.

The principal event of the year 1857 was the discovery of gold in the Aorere District on Massacre Bay. In the beginning of the year Mr. W. Hough, a Nelson storekeeper, having some land at the Aorere, went over there in company with Mr. W. Lightband, a young man who had some experience as a gold digger in Australia. They commenced prospecting in some of the gullies. Mr. Hough shortly returned to Nelson, leaving Lightband to prosecute his labours, with the assistance of some Maoris. They continued steadily at work until they had obtained about three ounces of gold, which was forwarded to Nelson. This was the beginning of the development of the rich mineral resources of the province; and the greatest amount of credit is due to William Lightband, whose steady perseverance at the diggings induced others to go over and try for themselves. The first reports received from Lightband were to the effect that his average earnings were about ten shillings per day. Although this could not be called a splendid profit,

[Image of page 100]

it allured a good many others to follow his example. Fresh gullies and creeks were discovered, yielding better returns; and when the encouraging fact became known that three men, working on the Slate river, a tributary of the Aorere, had obtained one hundred ounces of gold in seven weeks, the diggings might be said to promise hopefully. 5 The number of diggers increased from day to day, and it was estimated that on the 1st of May 1857 there were no less than one thousand men at work upon the Aorere diggings. On the mouth of the river arose the fast thriving little town of Collingwood. As the winter approached, the expense of transporting provisions from the port of Collingwood (owing to the want of roads) became greater; and as the floods in the rivers at this period destroyed the dams and other works of the diggers, many of these became disheartened and left the place, and although many remained throughout the winter, earning good wages, and others returned in the spring, the diggings have never regained their former population.

When I visited the gold-field, in August 1859, there were in all only about 250 diggers at work. Although the work is frequently interrupted by the overflowing of the rivers, and although much time is lost in the difficult transportation of provisions, 6 the average gain of a digger at that time was nevertheless computed at 12 shillings per day. But such pay, although sure and permanent, seems after all too small to allure a larger number of men to engage in the laborious work of gold digging. What caused the headlong rush of thousands of persons to other gold-fields was less the certainty of a reward for their labour to all than the enormous, lottery-like gains of some lucky individuals. Such prominent cases of good luck, however, never occurred upon the Nelson goldfields; they consequently continued to be only scantily worked, and yielded a comparatively small, although permanent produce, which they will continue to yield for a long series of years to come. The largest piece of gold (which was found in the Rocky

[Image of page 101]

river) weighed not quite ten ounces; a second eight ounces, 7 and by August 1859 the total amount of the produce was estimated at about £150,000.

The mode of occurrence of gold in the Province of Nelson is quite different from that in Australia, in the Colony of Victoria. The Australian gold is originally derived from quartz reefs passing through fossiliferous strata of Silurian 8 age, which are but very little metamorphosed; and the gold is obtained partly as alluvial gold from deposits of gold drift 9 ("wash-dirt" of the miner), partly from the quartz veins themselves, by crushing the quartz, and by subsequent washing and amalgating processes. As the gold alluvias are already nearly all washed over, an extensive system of quartz mining has been begun within the last few years, and the vital question still awaiting its final and decisive settlement is, whether the quartz veins, -- which close to the surface were sometimes found to be unusually rich (the auriferous quality of them has, however, hitherto been tested only to a depth of 300 to 400 feet) -- will continue at a still greater depth to be so rich in gold as to pay for the mining. 10

[Image of page 102]

Upon the Nelson gold-fields the gold has been originally derived from quartz veins, which occur in non-fossiliferous crystalline (or

Section through the Western mountain ranges of Nelson.

metamorphic) schists. A section from East to West through the mountain ranges between Blind Bay and the West coast of the Province Nelson, presents to us the succession of the crystalline schists. The western shores of Blind Bay from Separation Point to the mouth of the Motueka River consist of granite, which towards West is flanked by gneiss. This granite and gneiss-zone can be traced towards the South along the Motueka valley to the junction of the Wangapeka river. It is intersected farther South by the Buller river at its entrance into the gorge of "Devil's Grip", and continues on the eastern escarpement of the range as far as Lake Rotorua (L. Howik).

Proceeding from the granite and gneiss towards the West, we find upon the top of the Pikikerunga range a broad zone of hornblende schist, which alternates frequently and regularly with quartzite and crystalline limestone in vertical strata, with a strike almost due North and South. These ranges continue to the Westward as far as beyond the Takaka valley, where they are intersected, on Stony Creek and on the Waikaro, by dioritic porphyry and serpentine. A characteristic feature of the limestone of this zone is numerous funnel-shaped pits and caves, reminding us of

[Image of page 103]

the caves of the Karst Mountains in Austria. The interesting phenomenon of the Waikaromumu Springs in the Takaka valley, which send forth a powerful gush of water, is explained by the supposition that the water after a long subterraneous course breaks suddenly forth. This zone also can be traced in a southerly direction as far as Lake Rotorua. It is followed by the mica-schist and clayslate zone. Garnet-bearing mica-schist, alternating with quartzite, constitutes the highest, sharply serrated crests of the Western ranges in the Anatoki mountains with peaks reaching a height of 6000 feet above the level of the sea, while farther to the West the mica-slate passes imperceptibly into clay-slate (phyllite). The

View of the Haupiri range and of the Aorere gold-field.
Slate-River Hill. Lead Hill. Mt. Olympus.

Aorere valley, and the mountains 4000 to 5000 feet high on its east side, such as the Slate River Peak, Lead Hill, Mt. Olympus, and the whole of the Haupiri range belong to the clay-slate zone. The strata are very much inclined throughout the whole mica-slate and clay-slate zone, and variously bent. On Mt. Olympus the strata diverge from below towards the serrated edge of the mountain top like the folds of a fan.

In the as yet but little explored Wakamarama coast range the succession of the crystalline slates seems to repeat itself in an inverted order, but with less thickness, while on the West coast

[Image of page 104]

granite again appears. The mica-schist and clay-slate zone, -- which, in a breadth of 15 to 20 miles, includes principally the Anatoki and Haupiri ranges, probably continuing in a southern direction through the whole chain of the New Zealand Alps, -- contains in its quartz veins and beds the matrix of the gold. The gradual denudation of the mountains, continued through countless ages, has produced masses of detritus, which were deposited on the declivities of the mountains in the shape of conglomerates, and in the river valleys in the shape of alluvial gravel and sand. In this process of deposition, carried on under the influence of running waters, nature herself has effected a washing operation, during which the heavier particles of gold contained in the mountain detritus collected themselves at the bottom of the deposits and close to their source, so that they can now be obtained by digging and washing. The conglomerates accumulated on the slopes of the mountains are the proper field for the "dry diggings", while from the gravel and sand of the beds of rivers and smaller streams the gold is obtained by "wet diggings". The latter were those first worked. Nearly all the rivers and creeks running from the Anatoki and Haupiri Ranges, either East to the Takaka valley or West to the Aorere valley, or like the Parapara, towards North into Golden Bay, have been found to be more or less auriferous. The Aorere Diggings are situated partly in the main valley itself, partly in the numerous side valleys intersecting deeply the slate rock, 111 at a distance of 5 to 12 miles from Collingwood. The gold is washed from the alluvium of the rivers by sluice boxes and cradles. It is a scaly gold, with rounded particles, which prove that it has been exposed to the action of running water, and brought thither from a greater or less distance. Yet, nearly every

[Image of page 105]

valley and every creek contains gold of somewhat different appearance. 12 While most of the gold is very pure, that of the Slate River, for example, has always a brown ferruginous coat. On the Apoos River the gold is accompanied by crystals of iron pyrites, which remaind behind ia the process of washing; in other places magnetic iron or titaniferous iron is found in company with gold. The fact that the heaviest gold is found in the upper parts of the streams points clearly to the mountains as the original source of the metal. But it would be improper to speak of an Aorere gold-field if the gold were confined to the deep and narrow gorges of the streams, cut down into the clayslate rocks. The whole region of the eastern side of the Aorere valley, rising from the river beds towards the steep sides of the mountains at an inclination of about eight degrees, and occupying from the Clarke river to the South, to the Parapara on the North, a superficial extent of about 40 English miles, is a gold-field. Throughout this whole district, on the foot of the range, we find a conglomerate deposited on the top of the slate rocks, attaining in some places a thickness of twenty feet. Pieces of driftwood changed into brown coal, as well as the partial covering of the conglomerate with tertiary limestones and sandstones at Washbourne's Flat indicate a probably tertiary age of this conglomerate formation. Where a ferruginous cement binds the boulders and the gravel together, this conglomerate is compact; in other places only fine sand lies between the larger stones. Quartz and clayslate boulders are the most commonly met with. This conglome-

Section through the Quartz Ranges
a. clayslate b. auriferous conglomerate c. alluvial sand

rate formation is not only cut through by the deep gullies of the larger streams, but in some places washed by the more superficial action of water, and is thus divided into parallel and rounded ridges, of which that portion of the district called the Quartz Ranges is a characteristic example.

[Image of page 106]

This conglomerate formation must be regarded as the real goldfield, prepared in a gigantic manner by the hand of nature from the detritus of the mountains for the more detailed and minute operations of man.

While the less extensive but generally richer river diggings afford better prospect of gain to the individual digger, the dry diggings in the conglomerate will afford remunerative returns to associations of individuals who will work with a combination of labour and capital. The intelligent and energetic gold digger Mr. Washbourn, was the first person who has proved the value of the dry diggings in the Quartz Ranges, and he has demonstrated the fact that gold exists in remunerative quantities in the conglomerate. I am indebted to Mr. Washbourn for the following interesting details. He writes to me: -- "In the drifts into the conglomerate of the quartz ranges, the average thickness of dirt washed is about two feet from the base rock, and the gold produced from one cubic yard of such earth would be, as nearly as I can calculate, worth from twenty-five to thirty shillings. This includes large boulders; so that a cubic yard of earth, as it goes through the sluice, is of course worth more, as the boulders form a large proportion of the whole. When the whole of the earth from the surface to the rock is washed, the value per cubic yard is much less; not more, perhaps, than from three shillings to six shillings per yard, but it would generally pay very well at that." These are the words of one of the most expert Nelson diggers, who payed his men for working in the Quartz Ranges wages of from ten to twelve shillings a day, and still made a considerable profit for himself. With these data, while at Nelson I ventured to make the following calculation in order to encourage the public to a more extensive enterprise in the working of the gold-field. If we reckon the superficial extent of the Aorere gold-field at 30 square miles, the average thickness of the gold bearing conglomerate at one yard, and the value of gold in each cubic yard of conglomerate at five shillings, the total value of the Aorere gold-field amounts to £22,500,000; or in other words, each square mile of the gold-fields contains gold

[Image of page 107]

to the amount of £750,000. Of this the above mentioned sum of £150,000, already obtained, is of course only a very small part.

The Parapara diggings are the northern continuation of the Aorere gold-field at the mouth of the Parapara river, four miles East of Collingwood on the shores of Golden Bay. A striking phenomenon at the Parapara Harbour is the large masses of sandy brown iron-ore protruding from the white quartz boulders in the form of rugged rocks of a dark-brown appearance, and giving rise, from their striking resemblance to volcanic scoriae, to the erroneous supposition that volcanic forces had been active on the Parapara.

On the eastern slope of the Haupiri and Anatoki Ranges it is principally the Anatoki, the Waikaro (or Waingaro) and the Waitui, branches of the Takaka river, as well as the upper Takaka valley itself, that are found to be goldbearing; those together constitute the area of the Takaka Diggings. Of professional diggers I met but few in those parts; but farmers and wood-cutters settled in the Takaka valley, finding markets bad, occasionally exchanged their usual avocations for gold digging, thus finding in "hard times" among the wildernesses of their mountain heights a sure source of gain. Mr. S., one of these farmers, settled upon the fertile, wooded, alluvial plains of the Takaka valley, in whose house I found hospitable quarters, was in the habit, whenever he projected a trip to town for the purpose of making purchases, to send his sons for a few days previous into the mountains to wash for gold; and they would always return with their pockets filled. The heaviest nuggets were found in the Waitui River, which takes its rise from the Mount Arthur range. A characteristic feature of the Takaka diggings is the occurrence of Osmiridium and Platiniridium, 13 which is washed out together with the gold in small grains of a whitish tin colour; likewise grains of titaniferous iron, and magnetic iron, and very numerous garnets, -- not rubies, as the diggers generally thought - are found there. On the southern slope of Mt. Arthur

[Image of page 108]

range, on the sources of the Todmore, Wangapeka and Batten, tributaries of the Motueka river, very promising traces of gold were found.

These are the facts, as far as they were known up to August 1859, -- at the time of my stay in the Province of Nelson, and which sufficed to convince me that the Nelson Gold-fields, although not like those of Australia or California, were nevertheless well worth a more extensive system of digging. On the other hand, there could be no doubt whatever that the auriferous formations continue to strike in a southerly direction probably through the whole of the South Island, and I was perfectly right in positively asserting in my Nelson Report, 14 "that, what is at present known is but the beginning of a series of discoveries which future years will bring to light."

I have been therefore always greatly delighted by the news furnished me, since my return to Europe, in letters from friends, and in New Zealand papers as to the favourable progress of all the enterprises on the Nelson gold-fields and the new gold discoveries. Numerous associations were formed which commenced their labours in 1860 and saw them crowned with the best success. 15 There were parties working with 20 hands, paying them wages of 10 shillings each per day, and still realizing £80 a week for themselves, while individual diggers averaged only £1 per day. The Takaka diggings especially met with a most satisfactory success, and in January 1861 the news coming in from the Wangapeka and its tributaries, where individual diggers realized as much as 10s. per day, roused the whole of Nelson into a general excitement. 16 Farther explorations

[Image of page 109]

towards the South confirmed the supposition that the auriferous formations continue in that direction. Dr. Haast in his expedition to the West coast found traces of gold in the rivers forming the outlets of the Lakes Rotoiti and Rotorua, and also in the Owen and Lyell river. On the West coast, the precious metal was discovered in the Wakapoai (or Heaphy river), in the Karamea (or Makay river), in the Waimangaroha, seven miles North of the mouth of the Buller, 17 in the Buller and Grey river district. But the Nelson gold-fields were totally eclipsed by the surprising discoveries and splendid results obtained in the Province of Otago in 1861.

To Mr. Ligar, the former Surveyor General of New Zealand, the merit is ascribed of having first proved the existence of gold in the Province of Otago; already in 1857 and 1858 reports were current of various gold discoveries on the Mataura river, upon the Waiopai plains and on the mouth of the Tokomairiro, moreover on the Tuapeka, Pomahaka and Lindis, tributaries of the Clutha river; also near Moeraki and various other points. Even in the immediate vicinity of Dunedin, the capital of the province, in the Northeast Valley, reports of gold discoveries were noised abroad; and claims were made by two parties, in 1859, to the reward of £500 fixed for the discovery of a paying gold-field. Yet all these discoveries were not sufficient to rouse the general attention. The existence of gold in remunerative quantities was not established as a fact, and there were many among the colonists who would not even consider the discovery of a rich gold-field as a peculiar blessing to the young colony, but deemed the quiet and steady development of agricultural pursuits and the breeding of cattle more beneficial to the common weal than the richest gold-diggings.

It was not until 1861 that the gold-fever broke out. Thousands

[Image of page 110]

of persons, who despite storm and rain, in the middle of winter, along almost impassable roads, flocked towards the Eldorado situated about 80 miles West of Dunedin on the Tuapeka river, 18 established by the produce of their labour in a few months, the

[Inserted page]

Gabriels Gully,
on the Tuapeka Goldfield in the Province of Otago.

[Image of page 111]

fact that New Zealand is one of the richest gold countries of the known earth. The first news was dated in June. Any one who can stand the weather, the report says, can gather from one to two ounces of gold per day (£3 to £6). Such profits, of course, were enticing. On the 28th June 1861 the Tuapeka district was announced to the provincial assembly as a gold-field by the superintendent, and Mr. Gabriel Reid received a considerable public remuneration as its discoverer. Towards the close of July there were about 2000 diggers congregated in Gabriel's Gully on the upper Tuapeka, turning up the ground in all directions. A tented town of not less than 6OO tents had sprung up in a region hitherto wholly desolate. The excitement in the Province of Otago spread rapidly also over the other provinces, and from Canterbury and Nelson, 19 from Wellington and Hawke's Bay, and even from Auckland, they came flocking by hundreds and thousands to the gold-promising South. The "News from the Waikato", and of the "Maori War", that hitherto has been the daily theme of all the New Zealand papers, was supplanted by "News from Dunedin" and "Latest news from the Otago goldfields", and nurses would lull the children to sleep with:

"Gold, gold, gold, bright, fine gold!
Wangapeka, Tuapeka, -- gold, gold, gold!"

Despite the immense rush of people to the gold-fields, reports continued to be favourable. Along side of Gabriel's Gully, Munroe's Gully was discovered, in which the Wilson Party obtained in one day 38 ounces, and Weatherstone's Gully, where four Cornish miners gathered in four weeks £1000 each, and other parties £90 each man per week. Gold was found everywhere, in the valleys and on the slopes of the mountains, so that on the 1st August the whole area of 51,000 acres, which is bordered on the North, East and West by the mountain ranges encircling the Tuapeka basin,

[Image of page 112]

was declared by the Government to be a gold-field, to which the laws of the Goldfield Act were applicable. Mining statutes and digger licenses were issued, gold commissioners were installed, and escorts established, who conveyed the gold produce every fortnight under guard to Dunedin. At the close of August and in the beginning of September the gold-fields numbered already 4000 diggers, who together with their wives and children represented a population of 12,000 to 16,000 inhabitants. Already in the middle of August the weekly produce of gold was estimated at 10,000 ounces. The "dirt" was obtained from superficial boulder and shingle deposits in pits four to five feet deep, and the gold was mostly in thick leafs; larger nuggets, however, were of rare occurrence. The success of some individual diggers, and of parties of 4 to 6 men, exceeded even the most sanguine expectations. 20

No wonder that the golden tidings from the Tuapeka resounded also beyond the sea. The Victoria diggers upon the gradually exhausted gold-fields of Australia 21 replied to the call, and two months after the arrival of the first news, which had spread abroad with incredible rapidity, the rush to Otago from Australia was general. Diggers bound for New Zealand thronged in the streets and on the quays of Melbourne; sailors deserted from their ships, and speculators of every kind saw a new field open in New Zealand. Victoria papers from the middle of September 1861 reported no less than 23 vessels, all bound for Otago, among them the best

[Image of page 113]

Australian steamers, and the most magnificent Liverpool and London clippers. It was calculated that this fleet would bring about 12,000 persons, which number would exactly double the former population of the Province of Otago. Not only gold diggers embarked, but also other enterprising men of all kinds, who hoped to secure their share of gold indirectly, were of the party. At the close of September the number of immigrants daily arriving from Melbourne was estimated in Dunedin at 1000. The busy hum and bustle, the noise and confusion caused by this sudden rush of people, were something unheard-of on the hitherto quiet shores of New Zealand. But while thousands came with golden hopes, there were many who soon quitted the country, sadly disappointed; and after having sacrificed to the thirst for gold, the little which they possessed, were glad to earn their passage back to their former homes by working on board some returning vessel.

The arrival of experienced professional diggers, however, was of great importance for the working of the newly-discovered goldfields. The Australian diggers soon found out, that hitherto only the superficial deposits had been worked, and that they had not yet come to the "bottom", where according to their experience, gathered in Victoria, the richest treasure was to be expected. They began "deep sinkings", and after having dug to a depth of about 130 feet through a tertiary deposit of clay and marl, struck a second gold-bed, which proved rich beyond all expectation. In this way Gabriel's Gully was worked a second time, at a greater depth, and the result was even more brilliant than before.

Additional researches at greater or less distance from Tuapeka continued to lead to new discoveries. Similar treasures were found seven miles Southeast of Tuapeka-Camp in Mansbridge Gully, and in all the side valleys of the Waitahuna river, likewise in the Waitahuna flat itself. There was room for 1000 to 1500 diggers, where they could average from 30 shillings to 3 pounds a day per man. Northeast of the Tuapeka rich gold-beds were discovered on the Waipori river and its various branches; and the upper range of sources of the Tuapeka, Waitahuna and Waipori now consti-

[Image of page 114]

tutes together one gold-field of about 400 square-miles, an area affording room enough for 50,000 diggers. With the extension of the gold-fields and with the always increasing number of diggers, which at the close of 1861 was already estimated at 12,000 to 15,000, the amount of gold obtained increased, so that in December 1861 weekly escorts were established, which, exclusive of considerable quantities of gold, that remained in the hands of private individuals, conveyed each time from 10,000 to 12,000 ounces to Dunedin. By the middle of January, 1862, the total amount of gold obtained upon the Otago gold-fields was already about 250,000 ounces, or in round numbers about one million pounds sterling in value.

The gold from the Otago gold-fields is partly granular or gunpowder-like, partly in scales or nuggets, or crystallized; it exhibits every degree of intermixture and variety of each of these forms or kinds in different localities. It is associated with titaniferous iron-sand, iron pyrites, tin-ore, topaz, garnets and other minerals. The original matrix of the gold is quartz, and the latter occurs interbedded in, or associated with metamorphic slates, especially of the gneiss, mica-, talc-, chlorite- and clay-slate families. These auriferous schistose formations, which form the geological base of the greater part of Otago, are the source of the gold drift so abundantly distributed over the lower parts of the province. Quartz-reefs are confined to the upper arenaceous schists, but there are very few instances of true fissure-reefs having been discovered. Only one reef as yet is being worked in the same manner as those in Victoria, and the yield is about one ounce to a ton. Dr. Hector states, that he has nowhere seen in the Province of Otago the exact mineralogical equivalents of the auriferous slates of Victoria or California, but they resemble much more those of British Columbia. 22

In the beginning of 1864 gold was discovered on the northern end of the island, in the Province of Marlborough, on the banks of the Wakamarina and its tributaries, a river running into the

[Image of page 115]

Pelorus at a point now known as Canvas Town; while the Pelorus itself runs into the Pelorus Sound near the township of Havelock. It was at the juncture of the Wakamarina and Pelorus, that Mr. Wilson and his party first made the discovery of the existence of gold. In the month of May, 1864, nearly three thousand men were on the ground up the river, all actually engaged in digging. Many of the claims were wonderfully rich, 23 others turning out satisfactory, but the great bulk yielded little more than fair wages. The last, though not the least important discovery of gold has been made in the Province of Canterbury. In the North on the Teramakau river, on the borders of the Provinces of Nelson and Canterbury, the bold and enterprising James Mackay found traces of gold as early as in 1859; and Lindis Pass, where in January 1861 there were already 500 diggers collected, is situated quite close to the southern boundary of the Province of Canterbury. The Canterbury Government therefore in 1861 set a reward of £1000 for the discovery of a productive gold-field within its territory. Such a gold-field has at last in 1864 and 1865 been discovered on the West Coast of the province. All the numerous streams which run into the ocean from the Southern Alps are charged with deposits of the precious metal, and the whole beach from Greymouth in the North to the Wanganui river in the South, and beyond, is prospected in hundreds of places with varying success. The Wahi punamu of the Maoris (the greenstone coast) may now truly be called the New Zealand Gold-coast.

[Image of page 116]

The country at the mouth of the Hokitika (Okitiki) river about twenty-one miles South of the Grey river, and fifteen miles South of the Teramakau now became the centre of immigration. A township was set out at the mouth of the river; a gold-field was proclaimed, magistrates and wardens appointed, and already in the month of March, 1865, 3000 men were at work over some twenty miles of the country around Hokitika. The extraordinary impulse given to trade by the discovery of gold has never been more fully illustrated than in the case of Hokitika. In spite of the depressing influence of a climate as tempestuous certainly as that of any habitable part of the globe; in spite of a harbour perhaps the most dangerous to enter in New Zealand, 24 a populous township has arisen within a few months, which now is the important metropolis of the Westland gold territory. 25 A spit or mere bank of sand a mile and a half in length, and, for the greater part of its length, scarcely ten chains wide, formed by the conflicting actions of the river Hokitika and the ocean, is the deposit of capital, the amount of which, could it be stated, would be considered fabulous even in the annals of gold-digging communities. This discovery of gold on the West coast will be of the greatest importance to the colonisation

[Image of page 117]

and future development of South Island, and no doubt the Westland gold-fields of Canterbury are quite equal, if not richer than those of Otago. 26 Concerning the geology of the West coast I may refer to the instructive reports of Dr. J. Haast. 27

May New Zealand in its golden age, thrive and flourish in a manner never before dreamed of, and by the opening of its coal treasures and the yet hidden mineral veins may the bronze and iron ages of art and manufacture follow in rapid succession. This is my wish in concluding this chapter.

Appendix

[Image of page 118]

Appendix.

A. Dr. J. Haast gives the following list of ores and minerals occurring in the Province of Canterbury.

Mineral Coal:

a) Carboniferous Anthracitic and bituminous coal, River Kowai, Mount Harper, Clent Hills, etc.

b) Secondary coal, bituminous, River Grey, West Coast.

c) Tertiary brown coal and lignite in tertiary formations, all over the Province, Malvern Hills, Mount Somers, Rakaia, Coal Creek, Rangitata, Northern Hinds, River Potts, Ashburton, Tenawai, etc.

Selenite, in crystals on the surface of tertiary shale, Tenawai, etc.

Calcite (calcareous spar) in cavities of volcanic and in veins of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, abundant all over the Province.

Travertine, deposited from water having carbonate of lime in solution, Weka Pass.

Marble, Malvern Hills.

Stalactite, Stalagmite, caves of Mount Somers, etc.

Arragonite, lining fissures and cavities of volcanic rocks, Banks' Peninsula.

Dolomite (Magnesian limestone), Malvern Hills, interstratified with augitic greenstone.

Quartz, in veins, in metamorphic and palaeozoic rocks, all over the Province. This mineral occurs also in the following varieties: --

Rock Crystal, Amethist in amygdaloidal trap lining, geodes, and cavities, Malvern Hills, Mount Somers, etc.

Milky Quartz, in granites, West Coast.

Prase, small deposits in quartzose Porphyritic trachyte, Gawler's Downs.

Chalcedony, in mammillary and botryoidal forms in amygdaloidal trap and quartzose trachytes, Malvern Hills, Clent Hills, Mount Somers, etc.

Chrysoprase, filling cavities, ditto, ditto.

Carnelion, in small geodes and filling cavities, ditto, ditto.

Agate, in geodes, often of very large size, ditto, ditto.

Flint, filling cavities in the rocks, ditto, ditto,

Aventurine, ditto, ditto.

Onyx. Some horizontally arranged chalcedonies in different colours show a tendency to become onyx and sardonyx, ditto, ditto.

Plasma, filling fissures in tertiary quartzose trachytes, and occurring principally in Gawler's Downs.

[Image of page 119]

Heliotrope, in tertiary quartzose trachytes in small pieces, Snowy Peak, Malvern Hills.

Jasper, Basanite, Chert, Lydian Stone in different varieties, Malvern Hills and elsewhere.

Silicified Wood (petrified), in creeks in many localities where siliceous rocks are decomposing.

Ferruginous Quartz, Gawler's Downs.

Semi-opal, filling small cavities in quartzose Porphyritic trachyte, Malvern Hills, and Mount Somers.

Opal, ditto, ditto.

Quartz, in pseudomorphs, imitative crystals of calcite, Snowy Peak, Malvern Hills, Gorge of Rakaia, Clent Hills, etc.

Hyalite, in small masses lining cavities, Snowy Peak, Malvern Hills.

Apophylite, in amygdaloids, Rangitata.

Ichthyophthalmite (zeolite), in felsite porphyry, Rangitata, Turn-again-Point.

Serpentine, in veins, Mount Cook Range, and some other localities in the Alps.

Diallage, in Gabbro, Mount Torless Range and Upper Rakaia.

Delessite, in amygdaloides, Rangitata and Malvern Hills, etc.

Chlorite, in laminae, metamorphic schists, West Coast.

Nephrite (punamu of the Maoris), in rolled pieces of the beach of the West Coast.

Augite, in trachydolerites and in fine twin crystals imbedded in agglomeratic tufa, Banks' Peninsula.

Hornblende, in basaltic and doleritic rocks, Banks' Peninsula, Malvern Hills, Timaru, etc.

Hypersthene, in hypersthenite, Malvern Hills.

Actinolite, in metamorphic schist.

Chrysolite, in grains of basaltic rocks, Banks' Peninsula.

Bole, filling cavities in lava streams, Banks' Peninsula.

Pimelite, filling cavities in amygdoloidal rocks, Malvern Hills, Clent Hills, etc.

Palagonite, in angular fragments in palagonite tufas. Harper's Hills, near Selwyn, and Two Brothers, Ashburton. Another variety changing insensibly into a

Pitchopal, inclosing leaves and stalks, silicified, occurs in the same localities.

[Image of page 120]

Heulandite (Zeolite), in amygdaloidal traps associated with felsite porphyries, Turn-again Point, Rangitata.

Stilbite (Zeolite), in amygdaloidal traps associated with felsite porphyries, Turn-again Point, Rangitata.

Natrolite, filling cavities in volcanic rocks, Banks' Peninsula.

Mesotype, in needles, in fissures of volcanic rocks, Banks' Peninsula.

Chabasite, in trachytes, do. do.

Orthoclase (potash felspar), in granites and other crystalline rocks at the West Coast, etc.

Sanidine, or glassy felspar in trachytes and trachy dolerites, Banks' Peninsula, and quartzose Porphyritic trachytes, Malvern Hills.

Obsidian, on the sides of trachytic dikes, Banks' Peninsula.

Pitchstone, associated with quartzose Porphyritic trachytes, Snowy Peak, Mount Somers.

Albite, in dioritic porphyries, River Wilkin and Makarora Ranges.

Oligaclase (soda felspar), in quartzose Porphyritic trachytes, Mount Misery, Malvern Hills.

Labrador, felspar in lava streams, Banks' Peninsula.

Saussurite, in Gabbro, Mount Torlesse.

Garnet (Almandine), in quartzose Porphyritic trachytes and pitch-stones, Malvern Hills and Mount Somers.

Pistacite, in diorite, Mount Torlesse Range.

Potash Mica (muscovite), in granites and schists, West Coast.

Magnesia Mica (Rubellan), in volcanic rocks, Banks' Peninsula.

Pearl Mica (margarite), in gneiss and metamorphic schists, West Coast.

Tourmaline, in granite, Mosquito Hill, West Coast.

Marcasite (white iron pyrites), in clays and tertiary rocks, in many localities.

Pyrites, partly mundic, in older palaeozoic rocks as well as in brown coal and shale, ditto.

Mispikel, in diorites, Malvern Hills.

Clay Iron Ore, ) in tertiary strata assotiated with brown coal and

Sand Iron Ore, lignite.

Ilmenite, titaniferous magnetic iron ore, in grains in melaphyres, Clent Hills.

Magnetic Iron Ore, in grains in dolerite, Malvern Hills.

Green Earth, in amygdoloidal trap, Malvern Hills, Ashburton, Rangitata, etc.

Spathic Iron (carbonate of iron), found in large boulders coated with black psilomelane, near the sources of the River Kowai, Mount Torlesse,

[Image of page 121]

Sphaerosiderite, in small crystals, or lining cavities of volcanic rocks. Banks' Peninsula, Malvern Hills.

Vivianite, coating cavities in melaphyres, Clent Hills.

Hausmannite (red oxyde of manganese), coating joints in rocks and in rolled pieces in River Selwyn.

Psilomelane, in veins, Upper Waimakariri.

Glauconite (green sand), as small grains in the pepperstones, middle tertiary series, Malvern Hills, Coal Creek, Rangitata, Weka Pass, Ashburton, etc.

Copper Pyrites, in grains imbedded in quartzose schists, Moorhouse Range, etc.

Green Carbonate of Copper, in a rolled piece, from Mount Somers Range, River Stour.

Gold, south-eastern part of the Province near Waitaki, and southwestern near Lake Wanaka, and western side of the main range generally.

Retinite, in brown coal (fossil gum).

B. At the international exhibition at Paris, 1867, a golden obelisk was again exhibited by the Commissioners of Victoria. The Pyramid, representing the aggregate bulk of gold obtained in the colony of Victoria (Australia) from October 1851 to October 1866, a period of 15 years, is ten feet square at the base and 62 feet 5 1/2 inches high; its bulk is equal to 2081 1/3 cubic feet. The gross quantity of gold extracted is 36,514,361 ounces, value £146,057,444 Sterling.

[Image of page 122]

C. Summary of the Quantity and Value of Gold Exported from New Zealand, from 1st April, 1857, to 31st December, 1865,

extracted from the Statistics of New Zealand for 1865.

Summary of the Quantity and Value of Gold Exported from New Zealand, from 1st April, 1857, to 31st December, 1865
1   The same clayslate formation constitutes the Hunua range in the brown coal district South of Auckland near Drury and Papakura, and continues towards South and North to a great distance. It is but very recently (May 1862) that traces of gold are also said to have been discovered in the Hunua district.
2   On the Waiau Creek the gold found is said to have been heavier and more rounded.
3   From Auckland newspapers I learn, that the discovery of the rich gold fields in the Province of Otago, in 1861, has given a new impulse to entreprise. The Coromandel gold-field was again worked, and in April 1862, 248 gold diggers -- among them about 100 Australians who had come from Dunedin, -- are said to have been assembled in the Coromandel Harbour, to try their chances on Cape Colville peninsula. The latest results seem fitted to inspire brighter hopes. On the Matawai and Tiki creeks pieces of gold-quartz weighing 30 to 40 ounces, and even of 11 pounds weight, are said to have been found containing 50 to 60 per cent of gold; Murphy and Co., who began to work a quartz reef on the Kapanga, are said to obtain from one ton of gold-quartz by crushing and washing an average result of 2 1/2 ounces of gold. But it is known as a matter of fact, that quartz crushing in Australia with good machinery yields profit even when the ton of quartz contains not more than one ounce of gold. The Coromandel gold occurs in the form of dusty scales or nuggets -- frequently as scaly nuggets or "pepites", but still more generally dendritically disseminated in quartz, which is usually ochrey or brownish in colour. While there is a very limited and insignificant field for alluvial digging, there is ample scope for quartz mining.
4   In 1862 there were to be seen in the London Exhibition Terawiti Gold and Wairiki Gold from the Province of Wellington.
5   D.L. Bailey, Nelson Directory. 1859. p.19.
6   Pack-oxen were used for transportation.
7   In Australia nuggets have been found of more than 1 cwt. in weight. The "Welcome Nugget" found on the 11th January, 1858, on Bakery Hill near Ballarat in Victoria, the largest of all nuggets hitherto found, weighed 184 pounds 9 ounces 16 dwts., and was valued at £10,000.
8   A large portion of the gold-fields of Victoria falls within the range of the so-called Bala beds (lower Silurian), containing numerous fossils, especially remarkable graptolites (Diplograpsus, Didymograpsus, etc.) and crustaceae (Hymenocaris Salteri). The slates of Castlemaine and Bendigo are full of them.
9   The gold drift deposits are divided by the Australian geologists into old-pliocene, new-pliocene, and post-pliocene deposits.
10   Experience seems more and more to confirm the views of the Australian geologists, Messrs. A. Selwyn and G. Ulrich, that the reefs of gold-quartz in Victoria are real mineral veins, which render a permanent system of mining in a downward direction possible, as on the veins of silver, lead, tin and copper ore in Great Britain and Germany, while the prevailing opinion had been, that the gold decreased in proportion to the increasing depth of the mine. G. Ulrich has proved upon the quartz reefs of Victoria the most different ores, such as iron pyrites, arsenical pyrites, copper pyrites, galena, grey antimony ore, copper glance, bismuth glance, native copper, and native silver. The greatest depth hitherto reached in the gold mines in Victoria is 460 feet, and at this depth quartz has been obtained containing over 5 ounces gold per ton.
11   The principal ones of those gold bearing rivers and creeks are: Apoos River with Apoos Flat, Lightband's Gully, Cole's Gully, Golden Gully, Brandy Gully, Doctor's Creek, Bedstead Gully, Slate River with Wakefield Creek and Rocky River, Little and Great Boulder River, Salisbury Creek, Maori Gully; all of them tributaries from the right and their side branches rising in the Haupiri Range and its spurs. But recently gold was discovered also on Kaituna Creek, coming from the Wakamara Range as a tributary from the left.
12   According to a test made at the mint office in Vienna, the Nelson gold averages 89 per cent fine gold, and 0,145 per cent fine silver.
13   To Mr. Hacket of Nelson I am indebted for a piece of Platiniridium, weighing 4,57 gr., which is likewise said to have been found on the Takaka River. The spec. gr. of the piece is 17,5.
14   New Zealand Govt. Gazette of the 6th December 1859.
15   The Nelson Company, Collingwood Comp., Devil's Hill Comp., Tunnel Party, Metallurgie Comp. etc. The Nelson Examiner of Nov. 10. 1860 says: "Our gold diggings are going on steadily and well, the companies still realizing a regular profit, which gives them a good return for the capital invested; and the Takaka valley in particular bearing additional testimony to the truth of Dr. Hochstetter's assertion, that the whole range of mountains is auriferous, and the gold generally diffused all over their lower slopes and the valleys at their base. On Bell's diggings, situated between the river and the hills on the West, there are now about 70 men at work, all doing well, and averaging, it is said, a pound a day per man."
16   The gold on the Batten River near Wangapeka is said to originate from decomposed hornblende-granite, and to be found in small grains of the size of gunpowder, thus differing from the leaf-gold coming from the slate mountains.
17   According to the testimony of Dr. Haast the granular or gunpowder-like gold in the beds of the rivers Rotoiti and Rotoroa is derived from the decomposition of rocks of a granitic and syenitic character. In the Waimangaroha diggings (in the Papahaua range North of the Buller) the gold is nuggety and angular. A few Maoris washed with a tin-dish, in two weeks, 80 ounces! In August 1861 there were about 60 diggers, mostly Maoris. -- In the Grey River district in 1864 there were about 700 diggers.
18   The following letters received from diggers at Tuapeka are taken from the Nelson Examiner:
Tuapeka Goldfields, Aug. 14. 1861.
Dear Friend -- I now write you a few lines about Tuapeka gold-fields, so that you will be able to inform your friends there from Dunedin. The roads are in an awful state. It takes 20 bullocks to pull one dray with a 12.cwt. load. The diggings lie in a gully between two ranges of hills, and a small creek runs through, where the diggers have their tents pitched close alongside. The gully is very narrow in some places, and not over 200 yards in the widest; all the best claims are taken up. Any man, however, who can stand up to his knees all day in water can get 25s. a day and his grub. The average findings on these diggings are about £2 a man per day; but there are plenty not making more than their grub, and there are some working for 10s. a day and their grub. There are a few lucky ones making £40 per day, but that is only one party consisting of six. My advice is for people to stay where they are for two months; this gully will then be worked out, and Mr. Reid says when it is he will show them another. I would also advise parties of six to form themselves at home, and provide themselves with a California pump, sluice, picks, shovels, tent, blankets, etc., and whatever they need in the way of provisions can be obtained in Dunedin. I have had a cold ever since I came; at present I would not go and dig for any man under £3 per day. It is killing work, and every man deserves to do well. F. B. T.

Dunedin, Aug. 1861.
Surprise, I expect, will be stamped on your countenance when you see my letter headed "Dunedin", but such is the case, and here I am. The day we wrote to you we all started for the diggings, and have been out ever since on the snowy ranges, lost our way, got short of food, and had to find our way back as best we could, nearly famished. I never went through so much fatigue and hardship in my life. I thought we were done for. Three days and as many nights we were forced to clear among the snow, which was three to four feet deep, and lie down with our blankets thrown over us. There was not a whole biscuit among us for the last two days we were out. Every man in the party (and there were 35 altogether) was completely knocked up, and all are either in town here or at the accommodation house, bringing themselves round again. My shoulders are cut to the bone carrying my swag, and all my teeth are loose with the intense frost; but my spirits are not a bit broken. I feel quite sanguine, and intend going to work here at once for some time till the roads become practicable. The weather is very severe at the diggings at present, and, as I have no pump or tent, it will be just as well to wait two or three weeks till the weather gets fine.... The news from the gold-fields is very good, but the weather severe. I will write to you every mail if you write to me; when you do so, direct your letters to the post-office, to be left till called for. By the next mail I will write you more fully, but I am now in a great hurry, as I am going out to see after some work.
N. J.
19   The Nelson gold-flelds were deserted in consequence of it; every body rushed to Otago. In September 1861 there were scarcely over 100 diggers left on the Aorere, who, however, found themselves amply rewarded by abundant profits for having withstood the temptation to emigrate for the South.
20   I quote here from Otago papers of July and August 1861 the following facts: "Stuart's party of four men averaged from 8 to 16 ounces per day. John Crammond brought in 32 ounces as the result of five days labour of 5 men. A party of 7 men gathered in three weeks 270 ounces; three other diggers, 93 ounces in two weeks. One man and his son made about £500 per month, and of Peter Lindsay's party each member had gained £1000 in two months, from the beginning of the diggings to the close of August. Five pounds (Sterl.) were considered as a middling result for one man per day.
21   Since the "surface diggings" in the Australian gold-fields are being more and more exhausted, the individual digger no longer finds his expectations realized as formerly. But numerous mining companies have established themselves, who invest considerable capital for the construction of larger works, to be carried on with machinery, and are realizing splendid results, especially by mining the quartz reefs so that the golden days of Australia are yet far from being passed.
22   See Dr. Hector on the Geology of Otago (Quart. Journ, of the Geol. Society of London, 1865), and W. L. Lindsay, on the Geology of the gold-fields of Otago (Proceed, of the Geol. Section of the British Association at Cambridge, 1862).
23   Of the finds recorded -- Henry Wilson and party divided two hundred ounces for their week's work. Rutland and his party disposed of eighty ounces of gold for the same period. Three men, in felling a tree at the edge of the river, in order to work their claim, came suddenly in a pocket, from which in a few hours they washed thirty ounces of gold. Matthews, an old man, with his two sons, obtained eighteen ounces of gold near the Fork in four days. Many others have been more or less successful. A correspondent of the "Havelock Mail" writes on the 2d June: "However lucky the digger is on the Wakamarina, and the tributary creeks, he is certainly not to be envied in the labour he has to perform in getting at the gold. The fields of Victoria are gardens in comparison, and even the bleak inhospitable ranges of Otago are preferable. Here the sun seldom penetrates the forest, and is never seen by the men at work in the creeks. There is not a man who has visited those parts but will endorse these remarks."
24   The tongue of sand on which stands Hokitika is bounded by a very narrow channel of deep water on the outside of its lower extremity, which is entered at a sharp angle by vessels running the bar. Unless there is a good breeze, a sailing vessel cannot preserve sufficient steerage-way through the rollers to round the corner; she drops bodily off before the sea, and two or three tremendous broken seas lift her broadside on to Hokitika spit, there to be pounded to pieces by the following tide. The entrance to this river is exactly represented by the letter S of which two-thirds form a channel not 100 feet wide, and exposed to the whole drift of the Pacific Ocean. The wreck of a sailing vessel attempting to enter has really come to be considered a certainty here, safety the exception. This state of things is producing its natural results. Running the blockade, as it is termed here, will not be attempted twice; no offer, however lucrative, is sufficient to induce a fortunate skipper to dare the danger he has once escaped. The beach is strewn with wrecks; eighteen sailing and seven steam ships were hurried to destruction here within five months in 1865. This great destruction of shipping makes it clear that the trade of the gold-fields cannot be carried on with security until a road fitted for heavy traffic has been completed, connecting the eastern with the western side of the Province.
25   A second township, Kanieri, is situated on the right bank of the Hokitika, two and a half miles from its mouth.
26   In Sept. 1865 the following estimate of the population now on the West Canterbury gold-fields has been made: --
Grey, Arnold................2,000
Greymouth............... 600
Saltwater Creek............. 300
Greenstone............... 400
Teremakau............... 100
Waimea................1,000
Hokitika................. 2,500
Kanieri................3,000
Totara................4,000
Further south..............2,000
[Total] 15,900.
The population was increasing at the rate of three thousand per month. From a return in the New Zealand Gazette, published on June 20. 1866, we find the quantity and value of gold exported from the colony from the 1st April, 1857, to the 31st March, 1866, to be as follows: -- From Auckland, 15,794 ounces, value £48,512; from Marlborough, 32,898 ounces, value £116,465; from Nelson, 188,669 ounces, value £731,188; from Canterbury, 351,913 ounces, value £1,369,256; from Otago, 1,938,837 ounces, value £7,512,995; from Southland, 22 ounces, value £85; making the total export from the colony 2,528,133 ounces, value £9,788,501.
27   Report on the Geological Exploration of the West Coast by Dr. J. Haast, Christchurch 1865; Lecture on the West Coast of Canterbury by Dr. J. Haast, Christchurch 1865. I may be allowed to mention here the words of the Superintendent, Mr. J. Bealy, in his address on opening the Provincial Council on the 21st Nov. 1865: -- "It is with much satisfaction that I recognise the importance of the scientific researches undertaken by the Provincial Geologist; and the fact of his having two years ago -- in papers laid before this Council -- accurately defined the gold districts on the West Coast is a strong proof of the practical value of his labours, and leads me to expect that the Province will derive great benefit from his knowledge as to the auriferous nature of the lands which it may be advisable to survey for sale."

Previous section | Next section