SIR J. HECTOR AND THE ARROW DIGGINGS.

Lake County Press, Issue 1063, 7 May 1903, Page 4

SIR J. HECTOR AND THE ARROW DIGGINGS.

Sir James Hector has resigned his position as director of the Geological Survey. The Daily Times in referring to the resignation of Sir James, remarks, inter alia, that it was while he was provincial geologist that it was Dr Hector's privilege to forward to Dunedin the first authoritative news of the discovery of gold at Fox's rush at the Shotover and Arrow Rivers. Those who are acquainted with the history of those times will remember how a miner named Michael Grogan, who had hoard the rumour that Fox had discovered a goldfield of surpassing richness in some remote and unexplored region, set out, with others, in quest of the new field, and how, when he was on Fox's track, he and his mates nuggeted ou<- in one afternoon, nearly 10 ounces of gold. Dr Huctor happened to be a spectator of Grogan's discovery. "Following up the Cardrona to its source"—we read in a report by Mr Vincent Pyke, then Secretary of the Goldfields Department under tho Provincial Government, which was published in the Blue Books for 1863 — " he (Dr Hector) crossed the Crown Range on the western side of which he came upon Fox's party and about 40 others quietly working in a secluded gorge of the Arrow River. A few days after Dr Hector's visit a large party of miners, pursuing nearly tho same track, observed the smoke of camp fires ; and, following the clue thus given, they suddenly preseuted themselves on the scene of operations. Secrecy was no longer possible. The news was rapidly circulated, and an extensive migration from other fields ensued."