"ALPHA" AND THE GUMDIGGER ARMY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9221, 8 June 1893, Page 3

"ALPHA" AND THE GUMDIGGER ARMY.

I**"*" "*• • TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—You give prominence by a sub-leader to the gum industry, quoting your correspondent, " Alpha," who estimates the diggers from 12,000 to 15,000 men. I constantly hear people guessing at the probable number of men on the gumfields, and have always held the number to be greatly exaggerated. Let us test "Alpha's smallest estimate of 12,000 by the production of gum for the year, and see how it works out. I take the average of the four years you giv>. in your article, which comes to 8145 tons, to produce which 12,000 men would only have, in round numbers to dig 15'201bs per man iu the year. This sold, say, at £40 per ton on the field, would give the digger £27 2s lOd for his year's work! This goes at once to prove the absurdity of the supposed army of gumdiggers present on the fields, and that we must at once reduce the number by one half so as to enable the men to earn twice £27 2s 10d a year, for no one will venture to assert that a gutndiggor would remain under £54 3s 8d a-year. And that sum reduces the diggers from twelve to six thousand, and then they most certainly will not make, as " Alpha puts it, " 10s a week after paying food, to say nothing about clqtbes and other incidental expenses. We know that a great many diggers only take to the fields to fill up spare time, and the natives only -dig gain when not engaged during their planting season. In a general way the computation is near enough to prove the contention that six thousand diggers is much nearer the mark than twelve. As to fifteen thousand, that is a mere figure of speech,— am, etc., Omega.