SUBSIDISED MINING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22172, 27 July 1935, Page 18

SUBSIDISED MINING

EX-SOLDIERS SEEK GOLD • ® HAFD LIFE IN THE SOUTH During the grim war days of 20 years ago men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force endured weary months of grime and tragedy in the trenches for the sake of their homes and country. To-day, with' many of them, the fight for existence still persists, says the Wellington Evening Post. Continuing to fight and still suffering there are ex-soldiers sear chine for gold on the Maude Creek, in the Nelson district, South Island. Mining at Maude Creek, in fact, cold mining anywhere, is arduous and testing. No place for a weakling or a slacker and heartbreaking at times •frith its unfulfilled promises of reward. A glint of yellow metal in the dirt and hopes bound and energy increases almost feverishly; but then it is cone and tlifr tantalising will-o'-the-wisp search is continued. . The majority of the men, try as they will, are still forced to depend on the Government subsidy. The active life, pleasant summer and rigorous winters give them health, but it will not provide their wives and families with adequate -maintenance. It is jjathetic to see some of the men whose Kailure is due to nothing but th« lack of proper equipment. The right tx>!s and camping outfit are essential. No haphazard tent that will merely , serve as a shelter in the warm but something that will withstand tile heavy snowfalls. A man who has put his small capital into, a few tools has a difficult time when the days Ixjrin to draw in and an edgy wind finds the weaknesses in his tent, for ihea bush has to be »hacked to provide a rough shelter, and there are easier tiasks than fighting the bush with nothing but an axe. Many of the men who served in the Great War are undergoing these ex- j periences in their efforts to keep a roof ovir the heads of their wires and families. Skilled tradesmen, some of them, whose only—and not unreasonable—request is work.