GOLD AND OIL

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 12804, 7 March 1936, Page 9

GOLD AND OIL

PLENTIFUL IN HAWKE’S BAY.

A HIA'INEfTS-ekAIMS

ANXIOUS TO BE RUT TO TEST

j STATEMENTS made last week by a j farmer of Woodville, Mr O. Mc--1 Donald, who claims to have particui lar aptitude as a diviner, would ap- : pear to indicate that portion of j Hawke’s Bay, between Pnkipaki and | Te Ante, has potentialities as a proj fitable gold-mining district, and that : a- district near Dannevirkc is rich in J subterranean oil (states the Hawke’s j Bay Tribune). Mr McDonald claims j that he is able and willing to divine reefs ,of gold between Pakipnki and ■! Te Ante, and that lo his own know- • ledge there are four reefs of gold in j the Manawatu Gorge. Near Dnnne- ! virke, he said, there was “oil galore,” I! hut that was “only a. patch” on the ! oil he could locate elsewhere. Mr McDonald does riot claim to he a mining expert. All he assorts is that he can locate gold and other metals, oil and water by means of his powers of divining. He is eager to lie put to the test, and the more severe the test, the more eager he is to demonstrate his powers. If any gold mining export i" prepared to drive him past Pakipnki he will give the exact locality of gold reefs, he claims, and is confident that further investigations, such as the sinking of bores nr shafts, will prove him in the right. “About, three years ago. my young son and I were motoring to Napier,” he told a reporter. “T had a divining rod with me and divined traces of gold here and there. But when approaching To Ante, T got the reefs in big lots, right 11)1 to near Pakipnki. In some parts the road and railway lines pass right over them. “T am no mining expert, and 1 don’t ask people to take what. T say for granted. I would prefer someone lo put, me to the test so that I may convince' people. Reefs Close Together. “I consider ihere is a lot. of gold between Pnkipaki and Te Ante. Of course, T am only going by mv divining rod. but it has never failed me yet. There must, he eight or nine reel’s close together, following one another in this locality. This little country of ours is the wealthiest in ihe world for minerals.” If tlie reefs between Pakipnki and Te Ante were tested, continued Mr McDonald, it might well he that ihe same run of gold might he discovered running from Wharifi, through the race-course, at Dannevirkc, under the | township of Woodville, through Manga tainokn and through Pahiatua. Ho had already divined gold in the Pahiatua district. After divining a reef on the northern side of Pahiatua. he traced it through the. township, after which it ran towards (lie Tnrarua ranges. There are four reefs to his knowledge, lie claims, in the Manawatu Gorge. Mr McDonald wont on to say that, some eight or nine years go, he convinced mining experts in the Thames district that he was a reliable diviner of gold reefs. He told of a demonstration which he gave in that locality, when the then Mayor of Thames, Mr Berngard, and a well-known miner of ihe district. Mr Lachlan, were present at the time. Mr Lachlan, who had been brought, up in the Thames district, had featured in practically all of the gold rushes in New Zealand. Put to a Severe Test, “The tests they put me to were severe ones, but 1 convinced both of these men Ihat my powers of divining were reliable.-” lie said. “They took me over country which. I had never before visited, and J located the Mariner gold reef and its feeder reefs, and the Lord Nelson reef. Mining operations, I was told later, had been conducted there many years liefore, blit the gold could not he obtained because, the water flooded the shafts quicker than it. could he pump-j ed away.” On one occasion, in 1932, ho located alluvial gold at Lake YVnituna. in tho South Island. He mentioned that to a Mr D. Jensen, building and bridge contractor, of Invercargill, who promptly made investigations. The result of these was summed up in a letter received bv Mr McDonald from Mr .Jensen, dated May 10, 1932, reading as follows : “You: will no doubt be interested to know tho results of your test re gold hearing strata at Lake Waituna. Just last week I sank a shaft, and came across gold hearing wash at four feet level. Although it does not give a great return, still if other shafts prove similar it may he worth developing it. However, I am going out again in the course of a few days and will let you know the prospects. I have other propositions in view and should you contemplate a. visit this way (Invercargill) I would give you some interesting fields to operate on. I have referred you to another company by letter to-day, so would like to keep in touch with your movements.” Mr McDonald’s claims in regard to oil are equally interesting. “I can give Hawke’s- Bay a reservoir of oil close to Dannevirkc several miles in extent each way,” ho said. “There’s oil galore there. But. this is only a patch on the oil I could show you in other places. In the Manawatu there is a larger oil field than any ever discovered in New Zealand. There is also another in the

South Island, and if the pcoplo like to write to me. I’ll put them right on to it, if they pay my expenses to the locality.!’ Questioned about the manner in which he sets about divining gold, oil or water, he said that ho used any piece of wood, but preferably macrocapn. ‘'l just walk along, holding the rod out in front, of me. T claim that I will never pass gold if it. is in the ground. I have been divining for years and have divined water for dozens and dozens of people in different parts of New Zealand.” Concluding, Mr McDonald said that he had come to Napier -from Woodvillc especially to tell his story to the Press. If there was any good he could do for the country ho was born in, ho was eager and willing, t° do it.