PAPAKURA FLATS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1143, 13 July 1867, Page 5

PAPAKURA FLATS.

To tbe Editor of the New Zealand ETbraib. ......1 Sib, —Will you oblige by giving ub (the Papaktua. gum' diggers) a little; informs tion respecting the., prices of gam, as quoted in your paper. . l.i Gum quoted at 35s to 38> per cwt. "Where" ' does that gum come from, and what, is the meaning - of your expression " bold ?" ' . ' ■ ■ ' • i 2. r Papakura gumi "Well-scr apd, you say, 22s to''-J -249. Is that price really to be obtained in for'it? The storekeepers here .say they canhot'- ' get any such price, and are giving ,18a only. • ;.rc ; 3. Are'there two pricea given for Papakura gum, l or does all the gum'from here fetch but the one price, • v irrespective of the quality, as we believe that a great deal of the. gnm obtained here is equal ' in "quality .to ; that found in any part of the Province. , ■ Sir, you will be conferring a great favor, (and to aT£ I class of men both hard working and. industrious) if. J you will in your next Saturday's issue, give us. the "*• desired information, and we think it may be productive of Bome good to us if you. know more of the ; . " truth" of gum digging, than appeared in • some letters recently published in your valuable paper, in one of which letters it stated a man was able to -- procure 1 owt. of gum in two or three days. "Wo think, sir, the esteemed correspondent who wrote ~ that, Bhould give it, at least, a• - month's" I trial. There are numbers of men working on this; Flat, nd working hard from d ylight till dark, who do not average their eight (8) pounds of clean gum per day taking the week throughout; and, sir, it mußt be borne in mind that they must work hard, and in water nearly up to the knees, at times, to get even that quantity. A man may now and then be for- " tunate enough to come upon a " patoh" of from 30 to 40 lbs., but these occurrences are very rare. ; Another remark appeared in your paper alio short time since, viz., about cleaning the gnm with a ti-tree broom or besom. The idea, -to any one knowing anything of gum cleaning, is simply absurd- The gum cannot be properly cleaned unless with a knife or other sharp instrument, and it must be a " good hand " at scraping who can .clean 301bs. of such gum as is now found here in a day. A few words about the price of provisions here, and we have said our say, sincerely hoping you will excuse ub for taking up so much Bpace in your widely circulated journal. Bread is selling at Drury, two mile* further from Auckland, for 4d the two pound loafj here it is sd. Flour we cannot get under_ 183 per owt., other things, equally dear. Taking it into cosideration that the amount of money received for gum, is spent in provisions at the same store, we ■ hope the hint now given will raise the price of gum, or lower that of provisions. If it does not, surely it will be more to the advantage of. the men now working here, to proceed in a body to the " Soup Kitchen" at Auckland; instead of struggling, on . here, striving to maintain their manly independencej and scorning to receive the foo of charity.—Remain* ing, sir, For the Papakura gum diggers. " One op teem.

fin anßwer to our correspondent, we may state that the following are this day's quotations of kauri gum here :—Well scraped, in caßes, £28 to £32 per ton; inferior quality, 15s to 17s per cwt; good Papakura gum, tcell scraped, 22s per cwfc. There are no purchasers for the low swamp gum of Papakura. —Ed. H". Z. H.]