OLD THAMES MEMORIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18324, 14 February 1923, Page 7

OLD THAMES MEMORIES.

RECORD OF A PIONEER. SHARE IN THE LONG DRIVE. A ROYAL INVESTOR.

BY f.w.w.

One of the pioneers of the Thames, Mr. Richard Newdick, now lives at Buchanan Street, Kingsland. Mr. Newdick, who landed at Shortland in September 1867, is a boo. of one of Auckland's earliest colonists, having been born in the city in the early "forties." . With his brother Alfred, also still a citizen of Auckland, he-' was one of Ihe original shareholders of, the famous Long Drive mine, which '. ad-.'. joined the prospectors' claim, the Shotover, and also in another rich mine on Kuranud Hill, tho All Nations. 7 Exactly why the Long Drive was so named nobody seems to know. Certainly, there was ao' long drive in existence a.\ the time it was christened, and though, the Moanataiari tunnel, the greatest drive on the Thames, eventually started within the boundaries of the claim, that . fact could not possibly have influenced.,' the conferment of a name (hat was chosen years earlier. When in course of time the Long Drive property was forned into a company, H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh v. second son of 'Queen Victoria, and afterwards a German {nineelet, under the title of Duke of Coburg—who happened' to. visit Auckland in the course of his tour of the colonies when the mine was at the height of its fame as a gold "producer, became one of its shareholders. One of the * reefs upon which the company, worked was a'so called the Duke of Edinburgh, in honour of the Royal investor, and remained so designated on all mining plan* as long as it was being operated upon.

Gold found in an Outcrop. ..< /i The Long Drive claim consisted of eight ■.•■ \\ men's ground, extending along the face of " the Kuranui spur. The first gold in itwas found by one of the Newdick brothers in th& outcrop of a reef on the point of the spur, and very rich it proved to be. For some time this lode was worked from a surface winze, and the rich stone was followed in this way down as far as was practicable-. The claim-owners also drove a tunnel which intersected the Duke of Edinburgh reef. For the space of a couple of years Newdiek and party continued to work their claim, obtaining excellent -returns. By this time interests in the mine had been sold by different shareholders to outside persons, who eventually floated it into a company, under which the' /'mine was for many years managed " by A Mr, if ,,,, J. W. Walker who thereby earned the i.f soubriquet by which -he was known throughout his life, that of " Long; Drive Walker." It was also Mr. Walker who - started what is now the longest tunnel of the field, though he can hardly be credited with having had the prophetic vision to, know that it would in ' after years 'be : "taken up by the Moanataiari company, and extended far into the bowels rof the Coromandel range, and, so become the main arterial road for. the opening up 01the low levels of the back country. Under . the company the Long Drive' mine;, en- {.'-. joyed a protracted career of .; prosperity,'■;"/', working the?', "Duke", and other reefs that cris-crossed through,, the ground, ~notably the All Nations"arid'the Inverness-1 •''<?. which were intersected in and 'worked from the main tunnel just mentioned. Detailed 'returns of the output.-- of the , ' .V, mine are not readi'y available, but 'the Mines Department's report for' 1870-71 .,'■ show that in that year alone the Long vi '' Drive produced 11,4570z. gold, and .the company was a dividend-payer for quite a long, period. "" -y-'

N s Working Partnerships. *'* ' - ' *•■'{s*,, The second mining string to th© Newdick brothers' bow, the All Nations, was situated further v. up the spur than the Long Drive, and was peg-antl-peg ,■', wim..;., . the Inverness, another -■ mine , "of * note- '■> Richard and Alfred 1 worked on the syistem known to the pioneer diggers as "dividing - mates," each member of a partnership be- . ing a working shareholder in a particular.-■: claim, and the interest in both being held ~ : in common. Thus it fell to Alfred to work 1 ' their joint interest in the Long Drive, and to Richard that >in v the v All"' Nations. ,?- Eventually they patted. with their. "-£ll ,"■ Nations share, and the concern was formed ip into a. company. As to; the value <of the 7V mine, it'fo.'on record thai in the course ■■■" i of the next few years the company dis- .i tributed in dividends a sum of £41,455.' By a carious irony of circumstances. Mr. * .'/ A. Newdiek in after years returned' as ■'■ a wages man to the mine ,of which he • had .:' formerly been part proprietor. ''.''.. lI:"; > Another part of the field in which, Mr. Alfred Newdick worked, and one which was at one period thought to be a locality / of great promise, , was the : region known - as the Lucky Hit, so named from one of its original claims, . situated on the upper ~ <■' waters of the Karaka, Creek. Here, pro-, mising reefs ,were "unearthed, and' Mr.J Newdiek bought : into . a . claim. ; Though good gold was found, ."the'■'-■■difficulty.,of shortness of' water for battery ' purposes, i H.; excessive mineralisation of such- water as was available, and distance from other .;, crushing plants, proved . insuperable..,ob- L stacles to the successful working of tie claims, and no finds of great, value Were H, <'..) made. " :: :- ■:■;■:(v..•*■'.■* v-V. ~■■ V. After his return' to the All Nations, Mr. Newdiek abandoned mining for some years, and carried on a farm yin :: the Mauku district. Then he returned to' hia old occupation, with a: venture at Marototo, which proved unsuccessful. For thirteen years, he then worked ain the/ 'great Waihi mine; afterwards he finally"'? ■ forsook underground work, and he has ever since been a citizen of Auckland. An interesting episode of the early, part his Thames career was his membership of the ce'ebrated Goldsworthy" rowing crew, of the Thames Navals' Rowing Club, . com- . U posed at first of two/Goldsworthys and two Newdicks. which won first the, una- 'M: teur championship and then the, profes- «-.f sional championship, at the Auckland ■<<■':>:■ Anniversary regattas." of the respective $ years 1874 and 1875. . -: J '-" ; " ; v ; ;r / ".-y