FROM LONELY ISLE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17452, 29 December 1930, Page 11

FROM LONELY ISLE

GOLD-SEEKER’S RETURN

DISCOVERY OF LODE

After an absence from Now Zealand of 42 years, the last 20 of which lie has spent on a lonely island off the coast of Papua, Mr. Robert Boyd, gold prospector and planter, arrived at Auckland by the Maunganui this week on a visit to relatives.

So remote is the island from civilisation on the mainland and Die track of steamers that Mrs. Boyd, who has .stayed behind to manage the property during her husband’s absence, did not see another white woman for three years. When Mr. Boyd went; to tlie island of Misima, sometimes called St. Aignan, in 1903, the only white men who had visited it. had been seekers for gold. With some diligence Mr. Boyd set about prospecting, and eventually discovered a large and valuable lode, which has since produced gold in very payable quantities. “It was the biggest lode 1 ever saw,” said Mr. Boyd, “and I have been gold mining for the greater part of my life. Although it contained chiefly low-grade ore, there was a great" deal that was worked above the pay,, line, and the Broken Hill syndicate which purchased my leases spent nearly £400,000 on it before it was obliged to close down on account of the difficulty of getting timber into the country in 1927.” Mr. Boyd became interested in the Mount Sisa goldmines discovery, which caused a sensation among Sydney speculators. The find was made 111 the line of the lode discovered by him 20 years previously, and the ore taken out produced 3.1 ounces of gold to the ton.