WEST COAST EXPERIENCES. No. 2.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1053, 30 March 1867, Page 5

WEST COAST EXPERIENCES. No. 2.

[Written for the New Zeaxand Herald.] The Tasmanian Maid reached the Hokitika Wharf about eleven in the morning, and landed us in a drizzling rain ; we fancied we had come to taste the glorious weather, painted by your correspondent eighteen months ago—here we are strangers in a strange land with very little money; without a single introduction, or knowing a person in the district. We made our way to the outskirts of the town, and in an opening in the bush pitched our tent for the sake of quiet; but found before we left it would have been better to have kept to the open, the rats being nearly as numerous as at Newmarket slaughter-house, and the smell from decaying vegetables affected us, making one of. my mates ill. As soon as I had fixed, I went into town to look round; things

generally, were flat, Christmas holidays just over, and little doing in business matters ; the building trade is very flat. Hokitika took me by surprise; at the time we lauded the Maid made the ninth steamer moored to Gibson's Wharf, which is being erected with piles, and will soon be as extensive as Customhousestreet._ The town itself is on a flat of sand; the principal street, Kevell-street, about width of Shortland-street, seemed as long as Queenstreet to Karangahape Koad, the front occupied nearly the whole way, leaving out the brick and stone buildings, of which there are none ; shops of quite as good au appearance as Queenstreet, but the whole appearance reminds me far more of Melbourne than Auckland, three out of four men you meet are Victorians, vessels mainly from Melbourne, quotations in papers are all from Melbourne papers, habits and conversation, Victorian ; even the few intelligent, men I came across were as ignorant of Auckland as Norfolk Island, and the horrid Maori oppression—land-devouring— Exeter Kali tales were as thoroughly believed as they are in England itself.

Thanks to the abundance of gravel, Eeveilstreet is in better repair than Queen-street itself. I expect the inland trade being carried on by boat, tramway, or pack-horses, partly accounts for this.

I did not observe any more drunkenness daring the day, tlian in Auckland, though every other house is a public-house. I counted myself thirteen public-houses to fifteen of all other kinds of shops, and private houses. In a short scction of Kevell-street runs along, paralell with the beach, the eross-strcets named after New Zealand statesmen, "Weld-street, Staffordstreet, &c., they are, as yet, only marked out by a ditch along each side, and in some few streets a gravelled foot-path ; to make these streets the corporation are now levying a rate.

Finding little chance of work at our trades in Aioiitika, we determined, to Lave a quiet Sunday, and then join the noble army of gold seekers. There are four churches : Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, and Wesleyan ; the Episcopal, a plain, neat, and very suitable wood buildingi my idea of what a wooden Church should be—plain, substantial—easily kept in repair, yet distinctive, and tells you at once what it is, which is more than I could say of one single wooden church in Auckland.

Our party consists of three men, and ahoy of thirteen. On Monday leaving boy in charge of tent, we went out to Stafford Town, about nine miles from Hokitika, first three miles along the beach by tramway faro is 2s a head, then a lagoon two miles along the beach Is each by ferry-boat to the Auckland Rush, now nearly wrought out —then four miles into bush, a very good bridle track 6 feet wide, gravelled all way, the lava lying in ranges called here terraces. I think there are four terraces two of the gullies being as abrupt as the one between the cemetery and Grafton iftoad.

At Stafford Town we found Very little opening for us —the shallow ground being all taken up or wrought out, the deep sinking from seventy to one hundred and twenty feet, being beyond our means for most of our knowledge as diggers we received kindness, advice, and information clicerfully i given—we have a fine day for our jouruey, but returning to our tent, a wet night, and on Tuesday morning one ofmatessick with diarrhcca.

Leaving our sick man at tent went out to the Old Five Mile or Kanieri diggings, this is nearly deserted—a good survey, we determined to comc at once.

There are three distinct and different kinds of digging for gold carried on West Coast; beach washing, varying a depth from three to 20 feet from tlio surface. There is a layer of black sand from 6 inches to 4 feet thick, hundreds of men along the beach are removing the sand, shells, and gravel, till this bed is rcached, taking out the sand and stones above high water mark, sluicing it and then covering it over with copper plates covered with mercury. Men were earning from two to five pounds a week at this, but it required pumps, sluice-boxes, wheelbarrows, copper plates, quicksilver and a week's tucker ; at least twelve pounds to start it, so though we had our minds set on beach washing, the grapes were very sour.

2nd. Sinking a shaft.—(called here a paddock) down from the surface till tlie bed of wash dirt is reached, then tunnelling under and taking it out winding up in buckets and washing with a cradle, the depth varies from 2 feet to 50. Nearly the whole lies on what is called a false bottom, in very few places has the main bottombeentouched yet, it is all gravel some of the beds loose as brook gravel, others very compact, the boulders of immense size ; the larger and closer tlieboulders the more chance of gold. Men we spoke to were earning from one to five pounds a week.

3. Ground sluicing. — Washing the whole strata down to the wash dirt through the sluice boxes, it is characteristic of "West Coast that there is colour (fine gold), everywhere, so wliereever there is fall for fallings and water for boxes, this is a favourite plan ; our place on the Kanieri they are sluicing away a terrace nearly a mile long and fifty feet high, the men at these sluicing claims are earning from three to twenty pounds a week ; to commence this would require twenty pounds, but the whole terrace is taken up, so a new chum must buy into a claim. Generally four or six men in a claim, shares arc worth according to returns, from twenty to one hundred pounds each, nearly all wrought by partners themselves.

For ourselves we commenced travelling in an old place which had been stopped by water, it took us two days to clear away rubbish to begin, wc then wrought at it three days, when we were drowned out, we then removed on to higher land where we had from 9 to 10 feet of stripping (rubbish to remove,) when we got down we found above half the wash dirt had been taken out by tunnels. Our earnings for three men and a boy were : — £. s. d. Ist week 9§ pennyweights . 1 16 0 2nd " loz. 2J do.- . .45 0 3rd " loz. 7t do. . .5 4 6 4th " loz. 4" do. . .680 oth " loz 3 16 0 Half our fifth week was spent removing rubbish for the sixth. The cost of living plainly—has been 13s per head per week, we have enjoyed excellent health, and but one accident, a boulder roller jammed one of my mates' feet in fifth week and kept him in tent 5 days ; but I have transgressed all bounds. "We work digging gravel with all our might, from 10 to 11 hours a day ; no loafers need come here. W. J.