MINING INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15456, 13 November 1913, Page 7 (Supplement)

MINING INDUSTRY.

'.'" ORIGIN AND PROGRESS, 1 — ii FIRST DISCOVERY OF GOLD. |P f| THE COROMANDEL FIELD.

§' REMINISCENCES OP THE EARLY DAYS. . .', NATIVES AND THEIR LAND.

A good deal of romance is woven in with tho strictly commercial history of the <;nldfields of Auckland.

The miners of the fifties and the sixties were out after nuggets ,and got them, too. Quartz such as is now going to the mill*, and helping to pay dividends, was scornfully tossed aside with the mullock refuse.

Enormous vields of bullion came from (he surface workings of the Coromandel and Thames fields in the early duys. Specimens and picked stones were prac tidily tin only materials crushed. In other words, the gold had to be visible to the naked eve before the ore containing ii would be considered worth whilo

handling.

Gradually these rich surface workings became exhausted, and exploration into the bowels of the earth, in auriferous localities, followed. Even then the first mining companies exhibited none of the patience characterising the companies of to-day. Shafts, drives, and crosscuts which did not speedily open up highlypayable reefs were very soon stopped.

The next stage in the evolution of the industry was precluded by the discovery, about the beginning of the year 1889, of the properties of cyanide in solution as applied to quartz tailings. From the time of its advent there has been a continual succession of further economical processes, until it is now a common thing for ore worth from 30s to £2 per ton to be treated at a profit. From time to' time the rich finds of the olden days have been recalled by the striking of seams of ore at the Thames which have given abnormally handsome returns. Also at Coromandel frequent "pockets" of very highly-payable gold have been unearthod in old claims.■ Now and then specimens are obtained, or were in quite recent years, in the latter field, the precious metal in which has largely exceeded the quartz contents. Such specimens— thickly impregnated with gold as to be unbreakable with a hammer— occasional small nuggets, are found some.times, but only rarely, nowadays. First Gold Found at Coromandel. Gold was first discovered in the Auckland district at Coromandel in 1852, by Mr. Charles Ring. During the greater part of that year the extraordinary productiveness of ,the Australian goldfields

was drawing together ' from all parts of

the world to the neighbouring "continent. 1 a, large and rapidly-increasing population..The previous experience of Californian : adventure had taught the settlers of New Zealand that gold-seeking was a lottery, and that even gold itself might be purchased at too dear a rate. In any case, New Zealand had not. then even .dreamt that it possessed in its mountain ranges ' and lonely gullies hidden treasures of e almost untold * wealth. k .

' .Vague rumours had been current of pieces of gold-bearing quartz having been picked up in the Nelson district, in the South Island, but it was not until the outbreak of the Victorian diggings that the attention of Ancklanders began to be devoted towards the possibilities of gold being found in their province. The minds of the people became naturally excited, and this led to the initiation of prospecting expeditions, which in turn resulted in the discovery of the Coromandel and Thames goldfields. At the outset, owing to the fact that the prospectors had little or no experience, and were for the most 'part indifferently equipped, their researches were desultory, superficial, and fruitless.

"Seward Committee" Appointed.

As a last effort a subscription was made by inhabitants of Auckland and its neighbourhood with a view to encourage the prosecution of an efficient and systematic exploration of the country. To adminis-

ter, this fund a "Reward" or Goldfields

Committee was set up, the names of the members of which were; Frederick .yYhilaker (chairman), David Nathan, W.

C. Daldy, J. A. Gilfillan, Joseph Green

k, ,'■ wood, Jbo. Williamson, Richard Ridings, ,(. Wellesley Huges, James Williamson, Jno. ?' -McFarlane, Jno. Salmon, James Macky, ..' Patrick Dignan, T. Henry, and Thos. ' i ', Forsaith (hon. secretary).

{'f, ..'A reward of £500 was publicly offered <It'in October, 1852, to the first person who should discover and make known to the ~ " Reward Committee" a " valuable goldB'field." Within less than a veek the re■field." Within less than a v.eek the re-

{'ward was claimed by Mr. Charles Ring, : a New Zealand settler, who had recently returned from California, and who asserted that he had discovered gold at Driving Creek, Coromandel. An Encounter with the Natives. . Mr. Ring's narrative told how, when ho and his brother, Frederick, reached Coromandel they were immediately faced with the native difficulty. On arrival at the Tiki they found a great chief, Taniwha ("old Hooknose"), with about 30 men and women, seated on a small hill, watching the prospectors come along the beach.

Three or four of the Maoris descended to meet them, and the first thing they did was to demand that Mr. Charles Ring's barrelled gun should be given up to them. When he asked the reason they said it was for "utu," for being on "tapned" ground. Mr, Ring at first thought it was only a joke, but soon found the natives were in earnest. He refused to give his gun up, and they tried to take it from him by force. Ultimately * Taniwha called to the Maoris to bring the prospectors up to him for a "parley." . Tho end of it was that the chief turned to his party saying;."l .think these are good ; men. We will let 'them go,"

The two prospectors then proceeded up the. creeks and commenced prospecting, On the third day of the first week in October, 1852, they got a few specks of gold at Driving Creek, and later found gold at Preece's Point, Cabbage Bay, and i elsewhere. , General Prospecting Commenced. • The specimens produced by Mr. Ring for inspection by the "Reward Committee" 'were exceedingly small, and the question arose as to whether they contained gold. Specimens had frequently been found which had some resemblance to gold, but which proved to be iron pyrites and yellow mica. To set all doubts at rest the " Reward Committee" sent a deputation to Coromandel to investigate. They' returned with a satisfactory report confirming the existence of the gold.

Many prospecting parties then left Auckland for Coromandel, and nearly all of them found gold in the surfaco soil in minute quantities. Early in November one party washed out 2oz or 3oz of the precious metal, including several nuggets, and another party got £oz of gold for one day's labour. All these early prospectors, however, laboured under the disadvantage of the want of troughs, pumps, and means of raising the heavier rocks.

A proclamation was issued by the Government on November 11, 1852, warning the public against trespassing on the goldfield, and declaring that licenses to work the gold would be issued as soon as the necessary arrangments were completed with the native owners of the land. Temporary permission to proceed with prospecting was, however, given. Conference with Maori Landowners. The historic conference between the Government representatives and the j natives at which an arrangement was entered into respecting the Coromandel goldfield is worth recalling. LieutenantGovernor Wynyard, the Bishop, and the Chief Justice were the official representafives of tho State. Spokesmen for the natives included the aged chief Taniwha land Hohepa Paraone.

The latter chief, who spoke at considerable length, said: "We have no wish to conceal the gold, or to let it remain in the earth. This is what we accede to, 0 Governor—for the gold to be taken, and the land to be left. But Waiau is the only place we will at present give up to be worked. When we see that this works well we will give up other places. The owners of the land, however, will expect something for the gold.".

"Yes," chimed in Taniwha, waking from a doze. " Yes, let the gold be dug."

After other natives had spoken, one of thera proposed that " the amount of payment bo now named before all the people."

\ Terms of the Agreement.

The terms eventually agreed to by the native were .—(1) That the whole district should be placed by the respective owners of the land under the management of the Government for the purpose of searching j for and working the gold for a period of j three 'years; (2) that, for this right -of ■ search, the Government should pay to 1 the owners of the soil £1 a year for each square mile, but that if during any year more than 500 persons should be licensed by the Government to-search for gold, but not. more than 1000. persons, then the Government should pay £1 10s a year for each square mile, and for over 1000 and not more than 1500 persons £2 a year, and so on in proportion. „:•'•_.' The land' thus brought, into the arrangement extended over an area of about 16 square miles,, or 10,000 acres. A further sum of 2s, a month for each licensed person was afterwards guaranteed .by the Lieutenant-Governor to the natives. First Public Sale of Gold. ' The assent of the Maoris to the working of the district having been obtained, work on the goldfield proceeded. About the middle of November gold was discovered- on the eastern side of the Coromandel range, at Arataonga, a small harbour facing the great Mercury Island. Out of about six pans washed four gave specks and grains of gold. The precious metal was next found at Wairau, a creek on the eastern side of Coromandel Harbour. '

A report that created excitement at the time was to the effect that towards the end of November a working party had in a quarter of an hour obtained £2 worth of gold out of about 20 shovels full of yellow' clay. The members of this party were looked upon ~as "Fortune's favourites."

The first public sale of Auckland gold from the Coromandel field took place at the auction rooms of' Messrs. Connell and Ridings in Queen .Street on December 11, 1852. The parcel • offered for sale comprised about 6oz of gold dust and about 10oz 'of auriferous quartz, dug by Mr. Coolahaft'g party at the Wynyard diggings. The entire quantity realised £32 Is. Some very fine samples of gold from the Waiau diggings—about seven miles from the foregoing— sold a"few days later at £4 an ounce. About the same time, too, several parcels were brought up to Auckland, consisting of about 17oz of auriferous quartz and lOoz of gold dust and nuggets. Tips and Downs of tho ttoldfield. The fame of the Coromandel goldfield soon spread, and it was not long before about 3000 miners were attracted to the field. The original arrangement with the natives was extended to permit the search for gold over the whole area between Cape Colville and Kauaeranga (or Shortland, Thames, as it is how called). The terms were that the payment for any number of licenced persons under 500 should be £600; from 500 to 1000, £900; from 1000 to 1500 £1200; from 1500 to 2000, £1500. In addition, 2s was* to be paid to the natives for every license issued. '

A slump was experienced at Coromandel rom 1857 to 1860, the discoveries of aluvial deposits at Collingwood in the orraer year by Mr. William Lightband, it the Buller River in 11359 by Mr. John Roclifort, and at Tuapeka m 1861 by Mr. Gabriel Read proving bo attractive that :oromandel was practically abandoned. A. reaction took place, however, and in October, 1861, the field again became the scene of mining operations. Coromandel was proclaimed a goldfield on June 28, 1862, Mr. H. H. Turton being appointed Commissioner. There were then about 300 miners on the field, who reported more favourably than did those who went there at the first rush, as to the payable nature of the ground. The field was again deserted, and it was not until after the war of that period came to an end that the miners began to gradually return. Coromandel has been more or less under development since, the principal bullion producers having been the Kapanga mine and the Hauraki group, and 6ome of the claims in the Tokatea. ranges.