THE GOLD FEVER

Hokitika Guardian, 6 January 1932, Page 2

THE GOLD FEVER

WEST COAST MINING BOOM. BEACHCOMBERS BUSY. A HARD LABOUR AND VARYING REWARDS. (Christchurch Press). The gold fever which made the West Coast famous in the latter half of the last- century seems to have gripped the province again with a strong bold, for from end to end of the long mountainous stretch of country, from north of the Bullpr river to the practically unknown forests and beaches of South 'Westland, prospectors are out seeking feverishly for go.'d ; beachcombers are toiling day and night to keep pace with the tides which uncover the gold laden stretches of black sand ; in the deep gorges and on the river-beds parties are working with pans, shovels, and cradles iii search of the precious nuggets ; and on the river fiats or near the sea-coast dredges wheeze and whine as their buckets haul up the dirt- from which is precipitated more of the gold about which the whole country-side is talking.

PEOPLE CONFIDENT. West Coast people are confident that they are on the verge of a great boom in gold-mining, and in West Coast towns there is an air of prosperity and an absence of the, gloom accompanying depressed conditions elsewhere, which addy weight to their assertions that already tils increased amount of gold being won from the hills and plains lias restored prosperity to their trade- 111 Greymouth, the principal l West Coast town, there was little indication that business over the Christmas period was anything but satisfactory; business people stated that they ha cl little to epmplain of and on Christmas Eve people from the town, the mining settlements, and the farms thronged the streets to celebrate in traditional style. “We can thank the gold boom for this,” said a prominent Greymouth business man when he was asked why it was that., nhhough the coal and timber trade was so bad, there was this general air of returning prosperity. His work brought him closely i;i touch with goldmining, and he made no secret of (the fact that ho. as well as other men, was leaping the rewards ol the boom. Miners and bankers alike '.lit quite freely of the rich harvest which a few of the lucky gold-diggers hi ' reaping, and one young propped or had a pouch with thirty pounds’ worth ol gold .'to show lor a week’s work by three men. This was from a small riverclaim about nine miles from Greymouth. Miners keep strict silence about the location of their claims, but me talkative of ‘th.or fortune ; nor is it bard to learn from reputable sources about the leg sums of gold which the banks at Grevmoufh arc handling.

TRANS PARTI NO THE GOLD. Only a fortnight ago a. detective and batik cl«rk s from a Greymouth bank, all heavily armed, guarded a little safe

carried (from Greymouth to Christchurch in a passenger carriage on the ordinary express. Three detectives were with .the bank clerks who met the shipment at Christchurch. One of the men denied that they guarded gold in that little safe, but still one could be fairly sure that another ten thousand pounds’ worth of the yellow metal was being hurried to San Francisco, so that the 'bank could obtain the high prices now ruling. Apparently the old method of transport for bullion, by timber-ves-sel to Australia, has bem found impracticable, owing to the few intercolonial ships which now visit the port of Greymouth. Tnen the gold was taken in small boxes on a lorry through the streets to the wharf, and without- any undue fuss was placed in the enpta n's sate for the voyage across the Tasman. The gold i.s usually shipped in lots from 250 ounces up, but the bankers’ anxiety to secure the high prices has caused a departure from that practice, and now smelters at each of the gold-buying banks are working almost continuously to g:t smaller parcels away. Nearly 250 ounces sent recently to 8a n Francisco from -a 'South Westland dredge which is winning gold from the beat Ill's sometimes at the rate of 120 ounces for as many horns of dredging, realised £5 15s an ounce. >

A BANKER'S CLAIM

It .is among the banking people that ■the greatest enthusiasm over the boom appears to be shown, and all Greymouth is interested in a claim which has begun t.o be wGd rialo m the town's front street, on e ’ •>" >ni ' '-Don b.tween two batik premises u•: not gp ordinary claim, however, foi on the section was once the smelting-house of a bank, which handled millions of pounds’ worth of gold in the hey-day of the West Coast, and a miner is pat - ently panning out the earth upon which, it is thought, some of the gold ■must surely have dropped during the smeiting. A bank official is responsible for this, and his ardour seems to have spread to his fellow-officers, fbr many of them spent the Christmas and New Year holidays prospecting. One of the members of practically the first party to revive the interest in blacksanding on the Greymouth beaches was a bank clerk, and since his party secured their first "colour” many young men, temporarily thrown out of work, have resorted to the black-sand for a precarious existence. To secure a living wage from the .sand on the beaches necessitates long hours of hard toil, for often the sand and water must be carried in buckets to above the waterline, and then washed down in the cradles.

One prospector stated that just as much gold should be won from the Coast as was won in the first great boom. Miners used the most primitive means in the early days, he said, transport and access were extremely difficult, water was generally scarce' because there were none of the modern facilities for lifting it, and good food was sometimes almost unobtainable because of its high price. iA miner to-day certainly had ito face the rigours of the West Coast’s changeable climate and had still to work hard under difficult conditions, but with the present- prices ruling for gold, a man with average experience epujd surely earn a diving and morOi, He agreed that men sent prospecting under any scheme should, in the first place, be given instruction by experienced prospectors.

WORK FOR UNEMPLOYED. The greatest boon the boom has brought the people of the West Coast is that it has provided employment for many men who would otherwise be spending their time worthlessly. Parties of prospectors are working under the No. 5 Scheme in different parts of the West Coast, and suitable fields for their work are- pointed out to them. lh?ie are many men, too, who add to their regular earnings with what little they are able to secure from small claims near their homes. There are more and more men making gold-mining their occupation ; some make bigger wages than they could ever earn in the ordinary paths of industry; others fail through lack of experience. But gradually the fever is catching hold and it seems that a return of the or’d gold-rush days is not impossible.