THE TE AROHA GOLD FIELD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 5918, 4 November 1880, Page 6

THE TE AROHA GOLD FIELD.

[from a couukspoxdext.]

Tk Akoha, October 30. .Siion after reading the reports of the gold finds at Te Aroha I. struck a bee-line for the scene of prospecting operations, where I met with several "old hands" who have been prospecting around in this neighbourhood for the past two months. They assured me that i they had not seen anything approaching a gold-V:>ring lwf, and with the except" , " »• ' the few gold-bearing stones picked up by the prospectors they had not seen any indications to warrant the theory that a rich gold-bearing lode existed in the neighbourhood. I myself have been here for the last ten days, during which time I have traversed tlie prospectors' ground from peg to peg, and excepting the small vein from which the trial crushing was broken out, have failed to discern the semblance of a gold-bearing reef. And, moreover, I have it from the prospectors themselves that the locality of the reef from which the specimen s'-oues picked up on the surface have detached themselves, is as yet a scaled book to them, as, indeed, it is to every other prospector in this district. Within easy distance of the prospectors' workings is the outcrop of a conglomerate mass of basalt ami sandstone, intermixed with veins of quartz. The general course of this immense body is north and south with a westerly underlie, and it runs right through the prospectors' ground. After making a careful examination of this outcrop, without finding the slightest traces of gold, we made tracks for a reef which outcrops about 200 yards further up the gully. This reef has also a general north and'south course, with a westerly underlie, and will average about two feet in thickness. We gave this lode a thorough prospecting, but failed to raise a eolour'of gold. It presents, however, all the characteristics of a gold-bearing lode, and miners here are so convinced of the truth of this that they have pegged off claims along its line for some considerable distance. These are tlie only outcrops in the immediate neighbourhood of the prospectors, but there are other reefs further a-field, of which more hereafter.

Tlui prospectors (lioiiiii Wharehiko and party) are at present engaged in trenching "the surface, which varies in deptli from six to twelve feet, with a view to intersecting the supposed line of reef, but judging from the progress being made, they will hardly accomplish their task within the given time, which expires nine days from date. One must even go abroad to learn news of home. Yesterday's Thames papers credit". Mr. (I with having made a new discovery here. It would appear that this L'cnUeman visited Te Aroha, and upon bis return to the Thames exhibited several pieces of stone, exceedingly rich in gold, which arc said to have been broken off the cap of a reef. Mr. and Mrs. Potts, of the Cathedral city, accompanied by Mr. (Stafford, oi" Wairakau, walked from O'Halloran's Hot Springs Hotel up to the highest peak on the Aroha mountain and back, in seven hours. This is the tii--1. time that the Mountain of Love has been graced by the presence of a lady, and in all probability a long time will elapse ere its summit will again be pressed by the feet of ?. lady, for there are few men, much less women, "gifted with the pluck and endurance necessary to a trip up the steep stopes of Tc