WINNING OF GOLD

Hokitika Guardian, 23 November 1932, Page 8

WINNING OF GOLD

CHANCE FOR UNEMPLOYED

HEALTH AND EARNINGS

WELLINGTON, November 21

“Though the returns in most instances are not large, the gold mining scheme for the unemployed is a good ■one in that it .gives the men .a certain amount of independence.” Sucli is the opinion young -man who recently passed through after working for some months on the goldfields at Matakanui, Central Otago,

The young man said that under the scheme the men were paid 14s 9d a week, which kept' them in food. As they were supplied with tents by the Government, they could look upon any gold won from their claims as almost clear profit. That was with the exception of the 10 per cent taken by the Government.

The speaker had with him a sample of the gold mined in the locality, where he was working, the metal being of a very fine, texture and only a few pennyweights in weight. “That represents a week’s hard work;” he said, “so there are not many, fortunes being made 1 .” The life in the camps was healthy, he continued, and the work exceptionally hard. Tliti climate was good , though exceptionally cold in winter. Concluding,' the young man remarked that'the4’rdament of the unemployment by tlie people of the district could not be better.