GOLD SEEKERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 135, 9 June 1932, Page 15

GOLD SEEKERS.

UNEMPLOYMENT BOARD AID. NEARLY 800 MEN OPERATING. ANNUAL OUTLAY OF £22,000. (By Telegraph.-—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. The extent to which the Unemployment Board is encouraging prospecting for gold by men who would otherwise be workless in the cities or a charge oil relief funds is indicated by the fact that at the end of last month no fewer than 780 men were being assisted by the board to carry out this work. On the basis of the present number prospecting, financial assistance being given by the hoard amounts to £22,000 a year, or between £400 and £430 a week. Help is given to prospectors in different ways. Of the total of 780 seeking gold at May 31, 022 were being assisted under the No. "> scheme. As far as the board's funds will permit, it is doing everything [possible to encourage gold prospecting.

Jt has been found that those who are prepared to leave the cities are, in many instances, able to make a good living, although it is (sometimes found necessary to supplement their earnings by certain forms of assistance. The great majority of the prospectors are reaping the benefit of their decision to leave the cities. It is estimated that at present there are at least 2000 men prospecting for gold throughout New Zealand under the auspices either of the Mines Depattment 01 the Unemployment Board, both of which organisations are co-operating in fostering this form of unemployment relict, which is likely to prove lucrative for some. •V party of 2.~> men will leave Wellington to-morrow for the Golden Hope goldfield in the Nelson district. These men pav their own passages and find thenown equipment and tools, and it costs them about £10 to get to the goldtjckl fully equipped for their work. They receive a subsidy and will work with th<. assistance of the mining authorities.