GOLD IN PATEA.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7065, 17 January 1885, Page 3

GOLD IN PATEA.

Bin,— About three or four months ago a letter appeared in your valuable paper signed " Kea Kaba " describing the route of the proposed branch line of railway to eomu'jt Havvke'a Biy-wifcn tha interior. In if thoro oecurroU iho following passage, which may bo interesting to the public on account of the late gold discovery by Messrs Collins and Greenwood : — " Running through the Ruaponga native village h the rapid Mo&whaonga river. This river rises far back amongst the Kaimauawa ranges. Gold haa been found in its bed and in various tributaries. Prospecting has been attempted at various

limes, but it has never been properly carried out. I have not the least doubt that gold will be found in large quantities in these ranges when it is searched for by practical men. Nearly the whole of this rugged range is a blank to most people except a few shepherds. In various places there are traces of other minerals, and it is an open secret that there is the outcrop of a valuable coal seam in the neighborhood." With a harbor at the Bluff, with the best lands in the North Island, with a railway running through Patea and bringing us all the internal trade, the imagination almost fails when thinking of the glorious future in store for Hawke's Bay. Then contrast with the present virgin soil, coal and gold — the riches' of Montezuma, and the "Iron Pot." — I am, &c, Waiearapa.