LAND OF HAURAKI

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22936, 14 January 1938, Page 14

LAND OF HAURAKI

WEALTH FROM GOLD POSSIBILITY OF REVIVAL OPTIMISTS VERSUS PESSIMISTS PEOPLE'S FAITH IN FUTURE

BY E. D'ESTERRE

No. 11. Great wealth came out of the reefs of the Hauraki peninsula. Tho phenomenal enrichment of some of the veins is history still related where mining men foregather. Has" all the payabjo gold been won, or aro there worth-whilo lodes still awaiting discovery ? Tlieso questions aro of absorbing interest to everyone on tho Peninsula and no topic will raise so animated and general a discussion among those familiar with tho country. Even tho children, absorbing ideas from conversation in family circles, chatter of "colours" and "prospects." One bright little chap, with all the assurance of eight years, assured me ho knew of "a bonzer reef."

All .up and down this delightful mountain land I find a wonderful faith, the faith of a virile people in their own country, and it is a faith that compels respect. They are such lovable, kindly peoplo who live in this golden land of Hauraki, ever ready to extend hospitality to tho stranger within their gates.. To them has been handed down the finest traditions of the pioneers, who were the salt of tho earth. Born and reared in an atmosphere of sturdy independence and mutual friendliness, they have grown into a community of which tho parent province may well bo proud. They have looked up to their mountains and gained strength of mind and breadth pf vision. Search for Gold Always tho topic of gold yet to bo found brings a flash to tho eye and an expression of faith and hope to tho lips. In tho city of Auckland tho same topic is mot by disbelief and pessimism, and by stories of money lost in share gambling. What a pity it is that the search for mineral wealth should have to depend on capital subscribed by people who have no knowledge of the subject. A happy-faced littlo old lady turned her sleek cows out to pasture where once strong, eager men tunnelled the hillsides. "Yes," she said, "that's where a fortune was won, but, bless you, there's more in the hills than ever came out. Tho field's only been scratched, that's what it has. It costs a lot of money to prospect properly, but it would be better spent than in all those flash cars and trips Home."

Smilingly she agreed she would .not know a rich reef from any old outcrop of quartz. She had faith, a faith learned from miner father and brothers; only a faith, but it was as a light in her soul. "The prospecting scheme's all right in its way," agreed the Old Timer, as lie busied himself to make me a brew of tea, which is the preliminary to pleasant converse in any mining camp. "It makes a little money go a long way and helps a lot of chaps. The men in charge show the right spirit, too, but, between you and me and the man in the moon, it's onlv playing at the game. Scratchin* round 011 the surface's no good. That was all done aces ago, and by real practical men, too, not newcomers who have to be taught. What they want to do is sink a shaft, just over beyond that little gully, go down seven or eight hundred feet and open her out. Crosscut east an' west, that's what I say. Man, that's a virgin field! Come on up the creek, and I'll show you a 'tail' of gold half-way'♦round the dish." Future Prospects Wo sat on boulders in the midst of rushing crystal waters and admired the prospect. "Gold to be foHnd yet!" he resumed. "This field's never been more than surface scratched, and there isn't a miner on the Peninsula won't tell you the same. I'm a deep ground man, myself; worked in a lot of mines and I've seen gold like honeycomb in a hive. This field may be three-four thousand feet deep for all wo know." Then we talked of angle of dip and intrusive rocks, and this and that. Prospectors and minors, farmers and fishermen, business men and lorry drivers, bushmen and teamsters, mining men and geologists, engineers and clerks and roadmen, men and women in scores and hundreds, all imbued with the same trejnendous faith! With all the earnestness of thinking and reasoning people they advance argument and evidence that is perfectly logical. If I said there was a volcano under the Firth of Thames 1110 man in the street would proniptl.v contradict me. He would think of something belching smoke and flame into the clouds. Whence came that insidious deadly gas that filtered along the Moanatairi Slide and the veins of the deeper ground at Thames? What was it but the emanation of dyyig volcanic activity somewhere far below the present bod of the Firth? Was it out there the fumarole that created the fabulous enrichment of the Thames? Where is the bottom of tho Thames field, anyway ? Colossal Wealth Some day someone is going after the colossal wealth logically presumed in the "central block" below the Iteach Slide, and that is deeper mining than New Zealand has ever known. Somebody, some time, will explore tho deeper andesite beds of Coromandel. Huge fortunes may yet bo made. It should bo remembered tho mineral fields of Hauraki are unlike any other in many respects, and they present geological problems peculiarly their own. Tho present land surfaco bears no relation to the surfaces of past ages. Whole reef systems may exist that have not outcropped on tho horizon of to-day. If tho Martha lodo had not outcropped the Waihi mine might still be awaiting discovery. Incidentally a number of "experts" cbndemned tho Martha as of no value. That is not surprising; the Great Boulder and other famous mines have been condemned at the outset as hopeless , "wild cats." Enrichment was not confined to tho reefs of the present land surface, and the supposition that it was limited to a depth of about 400 ft. is, geologicallv speaking, pure nonsonse. A new school of thought has arisen of recent years, and in the light of present-day knowledge of deep mining and refractory ore treatment, is turning interestedly to the problems of such fields as those of the golden land of Hauraki.