HAWKE'S BAY HERALD SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1863.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 6, Issue 358, 7 February 1863, Page 3

HAWKE'S BAY HERALD SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1863.

A few weeks ago a list was taken round with the view of obtaining, by means of subscriptions, a sufficient sum to secure the services of one or more experienced diggers, in order that the province might be efficiently prospected, and the questiou determined as to the existence of the precious metal within its limits. The .amount collected, at least promised, did not, we. believe, exceed £90 —a sum wholly inadequate to the proper remuneration of a good practical party, or even of one good practical miner. Some idea of the value which such a man would attach to his services in this capacity, may be formed from the following paragraph, which we extract from one of the Otago papers : — Our old acquaintance, Mr Reilly, lately paid a flying visit to Tasmania on board the Aldinga, and was, it appears, lionised to a great extent. The Cornwall Chronicle, a Launceston paper, says : —" Mr. Lewis Cohen, having learned yesterday morning that Mr. Reilly, the discoverer of the Dunstan gold fields, was on board the Aldinga, inquired on what terms he would remain -to prospect on our gold fields, and, having ascertained this, he communicated by electric telegraph with the Hon T. D. Chapman, in the hope that Government would secure the services of Mr. Reilly. The terms were, £1,000 a year, —the engagement to be for six months certain, with two assistants to be paid by the Government, and in case he discovered a, payable gold field, to receive a reward of £5,000. The reply was, that the Government had no funds which they could devote to this purpose, but if Mr. Eeilly chose to prospect on his " own hook" the Premier had no doubt that in the event of his discovering and causing the development of a payable gold-field, the Legislature would vote him a liberal reward. Strange to say, Mr. Eeilly declined to accept this liberal offer; and at once took leave of Tasmania, and its anti-progressive Ministry.' —Of course every miner would not be so extravagant as Mr. Reilly, one of the two discoverers of the Dunstan ; but still it is evident that £90 would not pay the expenses of a prospecting expedition, to say nothing whateverof pay or reward to the men composing it. Possibly the Council might devote towax*ds this object a portion of the limited funds iikely to be at its dis-'

posal ; but in the mean time the season is passing away — and that, too, at a time when every exertion . should be used to give renewed life to the province. - The question naturally occurs, especially when one is asked to put his hand in his pocket, what reason is there to suppose that gold is to be found within the province ? A miner— we believe of some' experience — who recently addressed the local papers upon this subject, expressed himself as convinced, from the general aspect of the country nor-west of Napier, that its quartz would be found to yield gold. And it is generally supposed that Mr. Sturm of Wairoa — a gentleman of considerable geological knowledge — is in possession of specimens that have been discovered within that district ; oi", at least, that he is aware of some tangible indication of the precious metal being there ; and we see no reason to doubt the fact. It is also reported that gold has been seen in the possession , of a native, believed to have been picked up at Patia, a tract of country at the northern extremity of the Euahine range, and just outside the boundary of this province. Other circumstances might be mentioned, tending to shew, at least, that the effort at discovery is one worth making. The opinion has been expressed that the sum collected — inadequate for the original purpose — should be employed in securing the services of the most suitable man or men to be found within the province. It is one in which we quite coucur. To wait until we should be rich enough to get up men from Otago, pay their expenses, and remunerate them for their labor, would be, we fear, indefinitely to defer the attempt.