THE WAITOA FIELD.

Otago Witness, Issue 1874, 21 October 1887, Page 12

THE WAITOA FIELD.

Professor Huttofl ias vrrittoa a letter to the Christchurch Press oil tbe subject of the report of Mr J. A. Pond concerning the Waitoa. find. He states that Mr Pond seems to infer that Mr J. B. Smith, or someone employed by him, had put the gold into the sample, and says ;— " Now, no doubt Mr Smith had an interest in aellfog hig land, but he must have scattered a good deal of gold about if a straff.ger fouud some of it by accident near a shaft several weeks after the Waihou Company haa taken their samples. Mr Pond has also omitted a great deal of evidence which must be taken into account before forming any opinion as to how the gold got into Me Pond's samples." He then proceeds to show that:— "One of the samples which I collected for Sir James Hector consisted of solid rock from No. 1 shaft, into which no gold could be put clandestinely without being seen on the surface ; and yet this sample gave 203 sdwt 12gr of bullion to the ton, which bullion contained about 17 per cent, of silver. Specimens of the same rock collected and taken away, fts I was informed, during the absence of Mr Smith by Mr Wilson, the inspector of mines at Te Aroha, gave as an average of five different assays loz 6dwt 9gr of gold and Bdwt sgr of silver per ton, the bullion bere containing 31 per cent, of silver. Several of the directors of the Waihou Gold Mining Company, as well as myself, have examined with a microBcope the gold from a sample of sand obtained by Mr Smith himself from his land and given to the directors. We find that it does not answer at all to Mr Pond's description, for the grains are never spiral, nor even much elongated, aud are never smooth nor striated on one side. He concludes by saying that « after all, the whole thing may be a joke or an ingenious metnoa or advertising. At any rate, it is evident that Mr Pond's gold is quite different, both in quality shape, from the gold on which the directors of the Waihou Gold Mining Company have basea their opinion of the ground ; and Mr Pond s report should nob diminish the confidence^* any shareholder in the value of the property. Auckland, October 14. At a meeting of the Waitoa 0 * Association yesterday afternoon Mr rom, analyst, gave a detailed report of the result °f a testing of stuff from Smith's and other properties at Waitoa. All showed traces of goM and silver, but only one had gold m any quantity. Specks from the latter - vere «"«£* under the microscope. Experts declared that these were not wash gold, and all were con vinced that they looked decidedly susp^ou*. Mr Pond said it was evident that it was no natural gold. Its character was m every par ticular similar to filings or bonngs-th »fl«*« if a sovereign had been turned on There could be no doubt about it Tig d bury Company, has been in tomwjg asserts positively that no salting wo»* tohis knowledge. AucKLAKD , October 18 Professor Thomas to-day examined a J>£ quantity of stuff brought *om W «f»jJ

Durrard, and which is to be forwarded to Chrifltchureh ; but Mr Durrard states that the dirt brought by him from the field has remained under his care since he brought it away, aud that none of ifc has been taken to be tested.