DIVING FOR GOLD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 28 January 1939, Page 9

DIVING FOR GOLD

NEW ZEALAND POOLS ’ SYDNEY MAN S SCHEME 'UP A —By ElhcUmc Telegraph—Copyriebt! SYDNEY, 20th January. A resident cf Sydney, Mr Charles Edwards, aged 23, will leave here shortly to dive for gold in deep pools of New Zealand mountain rivers. He will use diving apparatus which he divised after eight years of experiments and in which h-> has already dived for pearls in Northern Australian waters. The apparatus Weighs only 1001 b, and this, the owner claims, will enable it to be carried into the steepest ranges. The scheme to use the outfit to recover gold was evolved by a mining engineer who heard of Mr Edwards’ invention. According to the engineer, who has worked on goldfields in Canada and Africa, prospectors are recovering satisfactory quantities of gold from the margin of New Zealand rivers. However, he says, deep pools in the mountain ranges have never been explored, the streams being too swift to allow of dredging, and the country too rugged to permit of the porterage of the heavy standard diving apparatus. Rich accumulations of gold fin in those pools, the engineer asserts, and he believes that will Mr Edwards' light diving gear, they can be recovered. Mr Edwards expects the deepest pools will be 25ft, at which depth he says he cay stay under for about two hours at a time. He will shovel mud into buckets to be hauled to the surface and washed. He will be accompanied by a friend, Mr Sydney Dudley, aged 22, of Manly. It is expected by Mr Edwards that the New Zealand diving, in fresh water, will be unadventurous and dull, compared with his experiences in salt water, which include being knocked down by a shark, attacked by an octopus and, about 18 months ago, a mild attack of divers’ paralysis.