THE KUMARA RUSH.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4884, 16 November 1876, Page 7

THE KUMARA RUSH.

BY TELEOKAfB. (TB.OVL OUB OWN COREESrONDENT.) Kumaba, October 20. “Burnt children dread the fir«” So rune the old adage; but there are always a large number of children that have not been burnt, and if these are attracted by every garish flame, some must, and will, have their fingers scorched. Happy for them if it be no worse. The rush to the Kumara still goes on, and it is to be supposed will go on, in spite of all the warnings which may be issued through the columns of the Press. It is useless to tell people that the place is overdone ; overstocked both with artisans and diggers, and a nondescript crowd of new chums and loafers. Not that there is any intention to class the last two mentioned together as necessarily allied, but it is a fact that those who do not want to work, aud those who do not know how to work, help to swell the throng. The comer opposite Schultz’ Hotel is the well-known resort and meetingplace of the unemployed portion of the community. Here it is that prospecting parties are made up, the news of the day retailed, the latest finds discussed, the coaches start and stop, public meetings are held, and all the public business of the diggings transacted. It is very necessary and a good thing to have such a place no doubt; but it is not gratifying, nor does it say much for the richness of the field, to find this place haunted day after day by the same faces ; listless, eager, smiling, or sad, as the case may be; still it is a, good thing to know that amongst the crowds that are daily coming and going (and it may fairly be said that the arrivals and departures are at present about equal), a goodly number of the new arrivals, and of the new chums too, have turned-to manfully and faced the difficulty. This is as it should be, and is infinitely more sen-

sible than railing at fortune, or wasting Valuable time in useless inquiries about other peoples’ luck, and in complaining and gossip at idle corner. It was stated in my previous communication that the line of digging seemed to strike off in a somewhat southerly direction to the east of the . township; and this is undoubtedly the case,- for since then the claims have extended for a considerable distance in that direction, and prospects are being tried at intervals the entire way to what is known as the loop-line in the neighborhood of the Christchurch and Hokitika: road: Many of these prospects are favorable, and there seems little doubt that the lead runs, as was previously suggested, to the reefs about: the head of the Taipo;but besides this well known and defined direction of the lead, it has been so to speak tried backward, namely, in the direction of the Teremakau river, somewhere, as I should fancy, about the junction of the Greenstone. Along this line several shafts are being sunk with fair prospects, and mainly by newcomers. The field keeps up the character I gave it in my former communication, and I see no reason for altering the opinion I then formed, —based as it was on a careful and disinterested examination, —namely, that it was an extensive one, containing a vast quantity of payable wash, hut that the working was heavy and dangerous, and the remuneration at the best but smallwages—say £3 per week may be got; on some claims perhaps, and at odd times like the last few days, when there have been heavy rains, a good deal more, but only by dint of perseverance and hard work. The country is pretty much the same all over —a crust of alluvial soil over a thick layer of heavy shingle and huge boulders imbedded in loose earth; and hence the danger, for there is no knowing when one or more of these gigantic boulders may become detached and fall, smashing everything it strikes, and bringing down with it a mass of loose earth and shingle. After the shingle comes a layer of washdirt, more or less thick, varying from 4 to 12ft., and in one claim on the flat 15ft. thick, then more shingle, more washdirt, and so on, until the bottom of blue slatey clay is gamed. The bottom is rather the false bottom; for I question if the real bottom has ever yet been reached in New Zealand; and in this bold supposition I am supported by more than one practical authority. To go over a list of the .claims and what they are doing would merely be a repetition to a great extent of my previous letter; but.l may be permitted to say generally that although no new holes, so far as loan learn, have bottomed, a few of those in existence at the date of my last letter have done so, and are on gold. Some of the new ones, too, have got on payable wash, and the original ones keep to about the standard. So far there is little news to report beyond the fact that, as may be gleaned from the foregoing, the field is rapidly extending both north and south, and new ground is being taken up and new shafts opened daily. This is encouraging, for inasmuch as the population, notwithstanding the great influx, remains at about the same, it shows that there must he, as indeed there is, a sensible diminution in the number of loungers, and those who wait, like Mr. Mioawber, for “ something to turn up.” Still, these waiters on providence show in large if not goodly array,and could easily be dispensed with in order to make room for someof the bronzed-faced, broad-shoul-dered fellows I saw lately, both at Hokitika and Greymouth, swag on shoulder and billy at back; men of the right grit, prepared to do battle with the earth and wrest the golden treasures from her lap. These are the men for the Kumara rush. None of those such as I saw with these eyes, or by my faith I would not have credited it—a man camped by the side of Sneddon, chopping at a log in a hopeless kind of manner with’a full-sized American axe, and, shade of my old mate Bill Duke, hear it and tremble, wearing a black cloth coat. It is to such as these I speak when I say come not to the Kumara; but if you do come, and I know you will come many of you, in Heaven’s name come prepared for what you will have to put up with. This is no feather-bed diggings, no pile-making diggings either. I know you have the heart and the pluck, but pray count the cost before you start. Have you the physical strength to face the laborious occupation of mining such as this, as I have the physical power to endure the hardship of a tent fife in the New Zealand bush ? Have you the means to carry you on for two or three months, or perhaps longer, until you get to washdirt; or to buy. into an established claim ; and if the latter, have you the skill and knowledge to detect a paying claim from a sbicer ? If you have all these, are you prepared to toil from morn to night with the bare hope of making wages ? If you have not all these, don’t go to the Kumara ; if you have them and are in a situation at all, or if you can make a living any other way, don’t goto the Kumara. As for those whom I hear of as throwing up their billets and rushing up away to these diggings—on their heads, be it. They have been warned, and if they come to grief, have only themselves to blame. The Kumara goldfield, although extensive, is generally not even a profitable one, with a great scarcity of water, both for mining and domestic purposes, and that for the latter being of indifferent quality as well as quantity. Buildings, however, are still going, on in the township, and stores and hotels springing up in all unoccupied parts of the main streets. There is a theatrical company, under the management of Mr. G. Collier, and comprising Mr. Verner, the Gardner Bros., and Others, performing at a newly-erected store in the town; and a new theatre is talked of. One thing more, and I have done. There is to be a hospital at the Kumura, and from the dangerous character of the workings nowhere is one more greatly needed. The getting up of the hospital was splendidly managed. In a week the preliminary meeting was held, a committee and officers appointed, a capital site of about three acres given by the Government, and subscriptions were pouring in. I flatter myself that was smartly done;, for you must know that I was on the committee. I was elected the day I landed, why I don’t exactly know, except that I have a dim idea that my extraordinary method of arriving at Kumara had something to do with it. I arrived dripping wet through, after an incontinent swim in the river Teremakau. You may have heard of my singular and unpleasant exploit. However, the hospital will soon be erected, and those who take any interest in the Kumara, or, whether they do or not, and are blessed with a superfluity of coin, be it a pound or be it a shilling, might do much worse than send a donation to the worthy and energetic secretary, Mr. Wylde, Kumara, in: aid of the hospital fund.