Hawke's Bay Hearld SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1867. PROSPECTING.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 817, 12 January 1867, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Hearld SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1867. PROSPECTING.

The subject of prospecting for gold is again being agitated in different parts of the Northern Island, particularly in Auckland and Taranaki. Prom Auckland papers to hand by the Sturt we learn " that, a subscription list has been set on foot to raise funds for exploration and prospecting." The Southern Cross says :— " This list is signed already by some of our first men, with the handsome figure of £25 opening the list. The season favourable for exploration has begun, and no time should be lost in subscribing the necessary funds — estimated at .€SO0 — giving employment to 10 men for three months. A gentleman, well known in this Island for his long experience in all matters connected with exploration, has been in communication with the principal men of our town for some time. The confidence reposed in so much experience and energy will, no doubt, be rewarded ; and we earnestly recommend our commercial community to use every despatch in tbe completion of all preparations for this important work." From another copy of the same journal, which we have obtained through the courtesy of a mercantile firm — no files having been received by ourselves — we have an account of two men, named respectively Cash and Brenn'an, who had been out for ten months prospecting in the Kawhia ranges. They found likely wash dirt in some places, but were ultimately ordered off by Rewi, who said that " if they (the prospectors) found gold, the Government would step in, and that they (the Maoris) would be forced to fight. He gave the prospectors food ancl shelter for the night, and told them to go away and not return." In the meantime, however, the party " had seen enough to satisfy them that the precious metal existed in paying quantities ; that it was diffused over a wide extent of country, and would be found all along the western slopes of the ranges from Pirongia to Taranaki." It will doubtless be said by some that we in Hawke's Bay need not trouble ourselves much about this — that the precious metal has hitherto been found on the western slopes only ofthe range which forms the backbone of the Island, and that the East Coast has not shewn any indication of its having a share in the great auriferous wealth which, without doubt, remains yet to be developed in the Northern Island. We are not so sure of this. On the contrary, there are well authenticated instances of gold having been discovered at Wairoa, Poverty Bay, and Waiapu, if not on other parts of the coast ; and we are sanguine that prospecting on this side would be quite as likely to yield good fruit as on the other. If, therefore, a party of experience were to offer their services upon the simple condition of being supplied with rations (and we have heard of such a party within the last day or two) we think that residents would be forgetful of .their own interest if they did not promptly unite in raising the small sum that would be requisite for such a purpose. Indeed, every enterprise having in view the development of the mineral resources of the coast should be fostered and encouraged to the utmost possible extent.