OUR NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 12, 26 January 1870, Page 5

OUR NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS.

Tho following interesting description of a portion of the Otago Gold-Fields is from the pen of tho travelling correspondent of tho Otago and Southland Mining Journal, and appeared in that paper on Saturday last :r—------','l have journoyed, and noted many things on my journey, some of which I shall set down hero—other some I shall keep for another occasion. Travelling northwaids from Dunediu, I noted in my mind sundry places which a gold-fields

correspondent ought to see, and then I drew a mental map of the gold-fields, commencing at Palmerston, and going inland to Lake Wakatip, and running along the Kakanui Range to the Waitaki, and then along the Waitaki and its tributaries to Lake Wanaka. Most of this country I travelled over, and although I shall not "preserve the same order,in relating as I took in seeing, I shall tell you what I saw, heard, and thought while pursuing my investigations. " But, first of all, let me say that the prevailing impression on my mind is one of wonder that auriferous resources so great as ours evidently are, do not attract a larger population. As regards the geological features of the countiy, from within

a few miles of the coast' it is everywhere schistose, interspersed in a greater or less degree with quartz-veins. Gold is found to exist on the beach at Moeraki, and along as far as Oamaru, where from a small lagoon, open at high tide to the sea I saw some sand taken full of small garnets, and when washed on a shovel, a residuum of black sand, containing a number of exceedingly fine specks of gold, was produced. This, coupled with soma other indications, leads me to believe that there may be a certain quantity of gold mixed up with the volcanic rocks which abound at this part of the coast, though it is scarcely likely to be payable. The country at the back for some miles inland, and forming the fine agricultural area known as the Oamaru district, consists of alluvial; soil interspersed with beds of basalt and limestone, revealing an old sea bottom, and about fourteen miles inland the schist rock crops out. From this point, near the Kakanui, to the present workings at Maerewhenua, is about 1G miles; and hills of ' made ground,' consisting to a large extent of quartz gravel and cement, rest on a substratum of schist rock.

" I cannot say much about the Maerewhenua goldfield at present. A few have got a living there, and very sanguine expectations are entertained, from the prospects got, that when the large water races are in, very good results will be obtained from sluicing the hills. Certainly appearances favor this view, but time alone can show. About 160 people are located within a radius of ten miles. There is plenty of water, but it runs chiefly in rockbound gorges, which renders it expensive work to get it on to the auriferous ground. From Maerewhenua to the Awakino—the bouudary of the new goldfield, some twenty miles—very little has been done as yet. Some very heavy gold has been got in patches at the Kurow, but nothing to pay more than small wages, although from what I saw of the country at the back, I should judge very favourably of the prospects. Quartz reefs exist in abundance, but as yet I believe no gold has been found in them.

" I see no reason why the whole valley of the "Waitaki should not prove to be auriferous. It has all the features of a goldbearing country, and in the alluvial drifts left by a receding chain of lakes along its upper course, I feel certain there are places which would reward the skill of the miner. The existence of gold in the beaches of the river has been proved, but no systematic mining has been carried on. The same remarks apply to che large tract of country between Omarama and the Lindis Pass—a plain bounded with low 'made' hills. Jn the narrower part of the valley, just at the foot of the puss, veins of quartz crop out on the hill side, but, so far as I saw, without auriferous indications. Anion" the best indications, however, that I saw anywhere were those on the Lindis River, along whose banks a large amount of drift, similar to that on the banks of the Molvneux, was exposed ; and, although somewhat circumscribed in extent, owing to the close proximity of the hills, there seemed to me to be ample to justify'the bringing of a race from the upper part of the river gorge along the side of the river at as high an elevation as the fall, which seemed considerable, would allow. I am certain no man need want work which would pay fair wages, while so large an extent of ground with more or less gold in it, exists in such close proximity to the needful element of water. But hero I travelled nearly eighty miles, and never saw one digger at work, though I' saw numbers of men seeking work, or professing to'seek it, at the different stations, and, some of them told ine they had earned Wcithirig for months, having neither tools, nor money to buy. them. Of course, even gold digging requires tools, and so the ground re-

mains unworked, whilo mon go about idle, Surely there is something wrong horo. Is >it one of the necessary aeoonipaniments oi gold-digging that able-bodied men should go about eai nihg nothing, 'and, I ain afraid even worse than that, not earing to earn, so long as they can get'drink enough, ami eke out a bare subsistence by loafing about from station to station ] I should be sorry to be severe on hard-working mon who sometimes, like everyone else, get hard up, but it should be known, at all ovents, that men can get a living if they only like to work* and I believe that is the case over a large area in this province. " In my next I shall give some account of my visit to Bendigo Gully and Cromwell, the future centre, as I believe, of our mining districts."