GOLD FROM SEA BEACH

Taranaki Daily News, 24 August 1931, Page 16

GOLD FROM SEA BEACH

USE OF HYDRAULIC PUMPS. ? : OBJECTIONS BY RESIDENTS. 9. “* A scheme to extract gold by means of modern hydraulic machinery from the sea beach near the mouth of the Rakaia River is now under review by two Wellington men, Messrs. F. W. Manton and Godfrey Magnus. An application by them for a special sea beach claim was refused recently on a’technicality by the wayden, Mr. C. R. OrrWalker, S.M., who said he did so with regret, as the industry was one to be encouraged. It is probable that the application will be renewed, however; in a manner to overcome the previous objection. Messrs. Manton and Magnus are interested in a strip about a mile long and 500 ft. .wide on a portion of the beach three miles long that, although in Canterbury, was included in the Otago mining district in 1897. In the early years of the century, miners with primitive appliances used to make reasonable wages at normal times and high wages after heavy seas, from the sands in this area.

The strip comprises black ruby sand and extends from the Rakaia River terrace' northwards. The intention of Messrs. Manton and Magnus is to operate a special hydraulic pump to a maximum depth of 15ft. below the sand surface level. At that depth a clay bank would be encountered. Hitherto, of course, the surface sand only has been dealt with, this being washed up by rough seas from a gold-bearing source. When Messrs. Manton and Magnus made their’ application to the warden the Ellesmere County Council and about a dozen adjoining landowners objected that if the sandhills were removed by the hydraulic pumps there was a danger of the sea flooding the low-lying land beyond the shingle bank along the shore line. Messrs. Manton and Magnus considered that the objection would not arise, as the pumps would operate in a lagoon, throwing the sand behind them and reforming the sandhills. The Commissioner of Crown Lands took up a neutral attitude on the subject, beyond requiring more definite details of the scheme.

It transpired that the pegging of the area in respect of the beach claim had not been correctly carried out and the application was 'dismissed on that technicality.