BACK FROM PROSPECTING.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 30 June 1933, Page 4

BACK FROM PROSPECTING.

LEVIN PARTY’S EXPERIENCES IN MURCHISON COUNTRY. SATISFACTORY RESULTS OBTAINED. A trio of Levin young men have come, away from the West Coast for the time being, after spending an interesting if strenuous time there, gaining experience in gold prospecting. They are Stanley Mudgway and William Malcolm, who have returned to Levin, and Harry Charmings, jnn., who had to break his return journey aLWellington owing to a slight illness, but who is expected to be home shortly. Although their sojourn in the Murchison district involved a good deal of ‘ ‘ roughing it, ’ ’ and in the last month, the cold was intense, th ( ey leamt £he ins and outs of placer mining, and only left, it when water became too scarce for ,these operations, owing to the amount of freezings which takes place in the winter at the high altitude where they were working, the territory being among the spurs of the Spencer Range. It is their intention to return to that district in the summer.

To qualify for the prospecting subsidy, the party had to work on county roads for two months, receiving 15s each for a three-day week. Afterwards they went on the prospecting field and obtained the Government subsidy of 15s a week per man, which is •paid subject to a royalty to the State of 10 per cent, of the gold won. “Colour” was soon obtained, and the young men made a satisfactory living. The gold is of first quality, and there are thousands of acres as yet untouched in this prospecting country, about forty miles from Murchison. It is. in the Howard district, where some three hundred men have been gold seeking this year. Married men are allowed to earn 35s a week on the roads, and: when they go On the field their subsidy is 30s, subject to the same royalty as in the ease of the single men. The country is rough, necessitating the use of packhorses, but prospectors have accustomed themselves to it; slab huts, as well as tents, have been put up, and there even are families living bn the field.