NEW ZEALAND "DIAMONDS."

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 338, 30 May 1885, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND "DIAMONDS."

A farmer's wife, from the Waikato, rushed into the shop of a local expert the other day in a high state of excitement. She had journeyed all the way from her country nome to get an opinion on sundry stones found on the farm, and which she imagined were diamonds. The poor lady was soon imdeceived. The expert pronounced the (sparklers to be very pretty things, but Almost valueless. They were simply crystals. It is to be feared that diamonds will never ibe found in New Zealand, although some people would appear reluctant to think so. Every now and then a find is made of supposed valuable stones; but, alas! they prove as delusive, on examination, as the gems in the fairy story, which melted away at the touch. About 12 months ago, as many of my readers will remember, a wellknown Auckland citizen hoaxed a number •of Tpeople with his supposed discovery of valuable diamonds at Takapuna. That gentleman was offered £5000 by^ an old Kimberley miner if he would indicate the .•exact spot where he had unearthed the treasures, which were bona fide diamonds of considerable value. The bargain was never .struck, however, and the whole affair is now recognised as a remarkably clever practical joke*

The -writer was in Canterbury at the time of the diamond rush to Alford Forest, about .56 or 60 miles from. Christchurch, and well remembers the excitement in the little township of Ashburton (the nearest to the forest) 'when the news arrived that diamonds were to be picked up by the hatful round about ihe Alford Forest Hotel, and in the neighborhood of the Ashburton River. Some of -fcbbf ierystals found were certainly very Jbelfttiful, and after they were ascertained to' be crystals, and nothing more, several changed hands at satisfactory prides, as much as £10 being paid for a little box of the "diamonds." Had these stones proved what they were supposed to be by Mr Jacobsen and other enthusiasts, would have been worth thousands of pounds, and sleepy little Ashburton would have eclipsed Melbourne in no time. A few people residing in the neighborhood of Alford Forest are still fossicking about the forest, the creeks, and the river-bed, in the hope of making a sensational discovery, but I fear their hopes are doomed to be disappoiuted. : %2