HARD WORK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 155, 5 July 1933, Page 8

HARD WORK.

IN BITTER COLD.

MINERS OF CROMWELL. NO HOPE FOB, AMATEURS. :': (By Telegraph.—"Star" Special Reporter.) CROMWELL, this day. When everyone in Cromwell recognises that, so far as gold-mining is concerned, this is the clay of large financial interests, it is rather pitiful to see the vanguard of what is expected to bo an ever-growing stream of swaggers arriving in the town to try their luck. There is little in prospect for these men, who can hope at best to pick up a few pennyweights of gold by fossicking on the banks of the Kawarau, or to find employment in tunnelling for on© of the several companies that are operating or about to begin.

Yesterday afternoon a few young men, with swags up, arrived, cheerfully confident of winning a livelihood and perhaps of "striking it rich," but the people of Cromwell shook their heads as they passed. There is, indeed, gold for the picking up, and those experienced in the work of fossicking do eke out an existence, but with scant hope of more than that i;nder conditions of genuine hardship. Central Otago at this time of the year is probably the most bleak and depressing inhabited section of New Zealand.

Situated 155 miles by rail north-west ef Dunedin, with a normal population of about COO, Cromwell is a compact town-set on the edge of a narid plain, surrounded by frowning hills. The town is .built on a high triangle formed by the confluence of the Kawarau and Clutha, which unite to make the Molyneux. Fog and mist obscure the distant ranges, and the tall foothills are topped with snow. Little would grow here, save tussock and coarse grass, if it were not for the elaborate system of water-races with which the whole countryside is. irrigated. In summer, Cromwell simmers in its hill-rimmed basin, and fruit ripens i. quickly, especially apricots and peaches, which bring high prices on the early

market. Winter brings desolation, and were it not for the revival" of interest in gold-mining Cromwell in these cold davs would not be the lively little place it 'is.

"Gold" is the word on everyone's lips, j and one hears amusing stories concerning the pegging of claims in-unexpected quarters. Some Lowburn ; farmers left their property for a day or two to peg a claim in another locality, and returned to find the other prospectors had staked their land. All round the railway yards and up to the goods shed door claims have been pegged, and stakes .have even been driven close to walls of .the cemetery. Prospectors are going far afield, and Clyde Flat, at the eastern end of the Molyneux Gorge, has received attention. It is reported that the Clyde golf course has been pegged. ;•■_. : Much mystery surrounds the activities of some groups of visitors, who.retire to corners of the hotel bar or lounge to discuss their business in confidential whispers. Others "buttonhole" newspaper men, and endeavour -to induce them to write glowing accounts of this claim or that for reasons obvious to anyone. .'.-...

Long Hours in Tunnels. Meantime, tunnelling continues along the Kawarau and Clutha Rivers, where there is little mystery but plenty of hard work and few comforts. Men work long hours in tunnels, digging and blasting in smoke-laden air. Some mines which have not yet won an ounce of gold are employing three shifts. Cold and wet as it is in these dark, narrow holes in the hillside, there is nothing much to lure men above ground, where •the only shelter from-the bitter cold is found in rough shacks and draughty tents, with fires set in rude hearths of piled stone. Ironically enough, some of the labourers forever working towards the elusive "wash" find their chief diversion, on emerging from their- stifling burrows, in seeking flakes of gold in .the bed of the Kawarau. They enjoy spending Saturday afternoon and all Sunday in quest of tiny bits of.the precious metal. A few pennyweights can be won in this way, and as a pennyweight is worth 7/, it is a profitable enough hobby for those who know where to seek. One man said to-day that he had found 14dwt in five Sundays, and on one occasion found in one hour enough golden fragments to pay his car registration fee. Of course, this sort ■; of thing would not pay commercially, and

large siims are being spent in the hope of finding a rich "wash." To expend £1000 in a month in this way is not regarded as excessive. One hears of 13oz being washed in the Kawaraii Gorge in'four hours, but the party which did that had worked many weeks without recompense.

Appearances Deceptive. One ■ practical man remarked to-day that he would not invest a shilling iii any claim unless he had worked the face himself for at least a week, because the striking, of an unusually rich "pocket'' might mean nothing, although it was interpreted by the uninitiated to indicate potential -wealth. "Mr. Lomax and his co-workers will not be anxious to sell their 3000 £1 shares, which will be allotted them if a company is floated to work Dcai Man's Point. They, of course, believo the claim will prove one of the richest in the history of Cromwell. Company promoters have been very busy, and are so interested in "Duley's Dip," as they callit, that even if the syndicate now holding a £20,000 option does not exercise it, another group will offer that syndicate £10,000 to surrender it. This £10,000 offer, it is learned, has been definitely declined, as everj-thing is in readiness to float a company to exploit Dead Man's."

As the result of the opening of the gates of the Kawarau Dam on Monday night, the river rose" rapidly, and the prospects of the men fossicking along the' banks and obtaining good returns are now rather remote. »