WAIKAWA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3249, 5 July 1872, Page 3

WAIKAWA.

A correspondent writes to the Southland News regarding this settlement as follows :—

Snow commenced falling about midnight on June 10th, and by daybreak next morning it was lying some inches deep, down to high water mark on the beach. It was a singular sight, and one not often witnessed, to see the heavier breakers rolling like a contending force agansfc the drifting snow. Inside the sandhills it lay from six inches to two feet deep. The remainder of the week continued unsettled, and it was not until Sunday that, thaw could be Raid to have fairly Bet in. The track between this and the Mataura is in a frightful condition. The creeks and rivers are reported to be dangerously high. Unless the thaw is much stronger than it has been the road will not be safe for strangers to travel for the next three i weeks. Considerable apprehension is felt for stock depasturing on the runs. They art* reported to be in imminent danger of starving. On the other hand the snowfall has been a perfect godsend to the diggers. It lias deposited thousand of tons of nnow about the bush, and let the weather be what it may, they can rely upon that great desideratum, a full headrace of water for the next few months to come. The heavy surf which accompanied the storm swept the beaches so effectually, that from three to four feet of top sand or stripping has been washed away, leaving the black sand completely exposed. Although this sweeping of the beach was attended with damage to some of the tail-races, it has saved a world of trouble in stripping off the top sand, and the majority of the digging parties are engaged surfacing the beach. They are said *.o be taking out from one to four pennyweights to the load—probably the last is an over and the first an underestimate. The gold is very fine, "as fine us paint," and there is good reason for assuming that a deal of it is lost. Plush and quicksilver are used, still there is great room for improvement in the way of saving gold. I kno iv of ground where not specks, but what I would deBcribe as a small rim of gold amongst the black sand, can be washed out of a shovelful of snuff, and yet the stuff passed through the boxes does not pay more than average wages. 1 should think that would convince the most sceptical that the loss represents a heavy per centage of net returns. Any man inventing a cheap and expeditious means of remedying this loss would confer a boon upon his fellows, especially that portion who have turned their attention to beach workings. As it is, the diggers may reasonably expect to have a brisk season between this, and, say, Christinas. The j water supply will likely continue good. Between surfacing and the stripping I done in contemplation of a break in the weather the most of them will be fully employed running away their stuff. In case we may leaf) to the conclusion that it is all smooth nailing, I may inform you that between last Christmas and the month of April, when the rain first made its appearance, the gold actually got was very trilling indeed. The mining population is very small, not exceeding a dozen parties, with from two to six persons in the party. These are distributed over j the beaches from the Mataua to Waikawa. There is room for a great many more, but then the difficulty is for strangers to know where to set in. Those men who have stuck to it for years back naturally enough look upon it as theirs by right of discovery, and are not at all disposed to "lay" new comers "on." They have, moreover, secured all the more available water rights, so that no man could expect to do any good unless prepared to go to some outlay. The matter just stands thus : There is not a man in the place who does not know where to go and lay his hands on a few ounces if lie required it, and yet a stranger coming in might starve if he had nothing in liis pocket. What b known as Wallace's Beach, some twenty or thirty miles north from Waikawa is about to be taken up again. The difficulty of working beaches in this direction io that unless the party has boats it is next to impossible to got "tucker," &<:., through the bush track. They have plenty of scope for a kitchen garden, and as deserted huts are to be found on the majority of the beaches, with races and even dams, much of the preliminary work is done to hand. Still no man should think of going there unless he is moderately well supplied with the "needful," and even then it is questionable if he could not get a better outlet for hia capital. It was stated lately in the public prints that the Waikawa diggers having races were making £3 10s a week. The value of this modest announcement may be gathered from the fact that all the diggers without exception possess races. The timber-trade has dwindled down to a more nothing. This is to be regretted, as no place could possibly be better supplied with the raw material. Operations at the sawmill are not conducted with any degree of vigour. It is understood that the present proprietor, who is a non-resident, is desirous of selling out. The report that tho bush has been sacked of all its accessible timber isi a great mistake. Its timber growths—pines, ironwood, birch, &c., —are a perfect marveL To the lastnamed timber I beg to draw your special attention. It belongs to tho species known as silver birch, and, If I am correctly informed, it corresponds in every particular with a birch largely used at homo for railway purposes. I have scon a sleeper made of this timber used for one of the old sawmill tramways, and which had been embedded in sawdust and the mould incidental to bush lands for eleven years. It was as fresh as it could possibly be, and presented no symptom whatever of decay. This statement, which may be relied upon, ought to attract attention to the silver birch aa an article for railway sleeper purposes. The facilities for transit seaward are unsurpassed. The entrance to the harbour — which., by tho way, has no bar—carries eighteen feet at low water. The inner harbour is large and commodious —quite capable of accommodating a whole fleet. With all these advantages on its side it is somewhat singular that tb© Waikawa timber trade has remained so long in abeyance.