GOLD LEADS ON THE WEST COAST.

Otago Witness, Issue 1241, 11 September 1875, Page 15

GOLD LEADS ON THE WEST COAST.

On the West Coaat of New Zealand, a cemented sea sand is met with and worked for gold ; it is conglomerated with iron, and such is its hardness that; though usually removed by the use of a gad, it has frequently to be blasted with powder. It is immistakeably a sea deposit, risen. It is crushed in the ordinary way, and leaves large dividends, with a yield of only 1 dwt per ton. The being left bare by the receding sea, as the land has gradually, gold occurs in distinct leads, parallel to the sea coast ; they vary from 20 to 50 feet in. width ; all the rest is barren, in the intervening space between these leads. Their direction is so true that the diggers follow them for miles by compass, frequently cutting their way through the bush for considerable distances, to pick up the precise point indicated by the needle, and seldom mark out a claim anywhere outside of the line. Far back from the water's edge there are a series of these leads, all preserving their parallelism for miles. The operation known as " haymaking " consists in collecting the sand thrown up by the spring tides, consisting largely of titaniferous iron, with loose gold visible to the eye, on walking over it. This is removed, and afterwards treated by running through a box. It is a remarkable fact, that all the gold leads on the West Coast partake of the same character of parallelism, and are, evidently deposited in the same way. It is, however, believed that the gold is originally carried down by the river running at the back of the range. To show the changes taking place in the level of the land, there may be seen on the West Coat of New Zealand, south of Hokitika, and nearly half a mile back from the sea, the remains of an old whaling vessel surrounded by thick scrub ; some part of the hull is still in a good state of preservation, and where the mast once stood now grows one of the monarchs of the forest. — S. L. Bmsusan.