ADVENTURES OF AN AMATEUR GUMDIGGER.

Observer, Volume 9, Issue 524, 5 January 1889, Page 8

ADVENTURES OF AN AMATEUR GUMDIGGER.

I.Wjwtten roKxnß Ousehvkk.] *Hp.' was just as I had arrived at the conclusion pi that I bad made a mistake in coming to £L Auckland that I met Cbigg whom I had known down South. ' 'Billets,' said Ghigg in reply to a query of mine, 'at a moderate computation, sir, there are just about one million seven hundred thousand men, some with callings and some without, some 'wellconnected,' some not connected at all, who aro perambulating the streets of Auckland at the present time seeking for billets and snapping like hungry fish at anything that appears lo hold out the prospect of " tucker." Note the rush for the papers morning and evening, and see the way the " Wanted " columns are devoured. Why, sir, the announcement thai Brownjones wanted a clerk at a couple ox pounds a week would cause more excitement amongst these fellows than a cablegram bringing word of the swallowing up of London by an earthquake. * Take a peep into the registry offices and labour agencies il you want to get an idea of the number of the 'unemployed' belonging to a certain class who are to be found in this city of Auckland at the present moment We are being inundated with people from the South whom the glad tidings ' things are looking up in Auckland ' have attracted here. But what are the majority of these men fit for 'V New Zealand is a grand couatrv, sir, for the working man ; for the carpenter, for the bricklayer, the blacksmith and the navvy, while the butcher and the baker and the candlestickmaker may also do well here. And for the capitalist, large or small, New Zealand offers^ at thousand advantages over the old country. But for clerks, shopmen, and men without money this colony is no place. ' And if ' said Cbigg, speaking very loud, for he saw I wished to say something, 'and it 1 had my way 1 would have an Act oi Parliament passed prohibiting. under a heavy penalty, this class of persons from coining out. " ' 1 would, sir,' said Chigg smiling one palm upon the other with much violence, • and no two ways about, it. 5 'But,' said i, ' what are these unfortunates to do?' 'Do sir. do,' said Chigg, - Why stop at Home of course. Why should «-v be afilicted with them?' And, frowning severely, Chigg passed on without waiting for a reply. Chigg came out in the ' early days,' and of course landed with the inevitable twopence half-penny in his pocket. He is now 'well in,' j as it is called. So virtuously indignant did ho j wax upon the ' unemployed ' question, that 1 really had not the courage to stop him and tell him that, through no fault of my own, 1 found myself for the first time since landing in the colony, nearly seven years ago, without a billet, or any immediate prospect of getting one, either in my own or any other line, and with the exchequer nearly exhausted. Why, oh why, I sadly asked myself as I walked on, was I not bom a 'working man,' with the : ' privilego of being alluded to in the radical press • '.'as a 'homy-handed son of toil' and a 'down-—-trodden serf,' and with the ability to earn my ■'■ bread (from six to ten shillings' worth per diem) , ; by the sweat nf cay brow ? As I was never gocd al conundrums I gave ; this one up, and sauntered moodily onwards down t ';', to the wharf. Here al one of the side jetties a ! - schooner was discharging cargo. Puzzled as to >. '■- ■ what the sacks fished out of the vessel's hold by j f'the crane could contain, 1 sought enlightenment j > of a bystandfr, and was told that the cargo was i i: gum. I had often heard of the charms of a gum- j '. digger's lot, and what a -good time 'he generally i "managed to put in. \ ;-'•"■ Happy thought ! I would go gunuligging ! ! j> I devoted the next few hours to making en- \ ':■■ quiries, and learnt that gum was found in many j K'v places both near Auckland and at a considerable from it; that a digger's outfit cost but 4 little; and, most important of all, that «yen a '^novice could make enough to keep himself from fLtbe very outset, while he might hope to earn bis >J; ; £4 or £5 a week when time should have him with the work, and experience !y tajghfc him how to use spade and spear. The CVork was hard, but not so hard but that any bonds, though previously unaccustomed t to labour, might not easily ' tackle ' it. to- Visions of a snug tent nestling somewhere [launder a fern-clad hill, of blazing wood fires and yarns, of sacks of gum and of a banker's i Saccount slowly but surely growing, and of a good ffiiirae coming in ihe sweet by-and-bye, floated bevV'fore nay eyes — and my resolution was taken. [f'-,Vlt would be no use, 1 was told, to start digging panywhere near Auckland. To do any good I Iginust go further afield. Behold me, then, on the [^following afternoon, seated in the train that was i§ip; convey me on the first stage of my journey to l^he home of the gum. ■^Between 7 and 8 o'clock p.m. the train ■^brought me to a little riverside township looking i&'yery cold and still in the moonlight. A small ■giteanier lay at the wharf, in which I was to take mMn? passage for Swampville. Finding the boat Hpjtald not sail until 11 p.m. 1 improved the Brining hour by a visit to the neighbouring hotel, ■f£nd fortified the inner man with a substantial l^tea. ■jf&JOn returning to the steamer about 10 o'clock. ■ItJV found some half dozen passengers in ■l^e/jsaloon lying coiled upon the cushioned Bleats, "wrapped in shimbev and coloured rugs ' ■jfupplied by the steward. I, too, procured a rug, Band- proceeded to snatch such fragments of sleep ■pfvihe thumping of the screw, ihe shrieking of Rfiie-'stbanvwhistle, and tho jolting and noisa ocHeiasibned by the arrival of the boat at and her ■,cjepartui,;e from the various places of call en- route H^friob. appeared to be innumerable, would ■allow. ■i> About -7 o'e^ek a.m., there was a genera ■iur'ri-oufc, and an hour later the breakfast ball Bfeang. M|~:After many more stoppages, now on this side |Kffctne river, now on that, wo reached our destinBkion, and made fast to the Swampville wharf H§bout 3 p.m. ■fp^anipville cannot be said to be prepossessing at Hj|riJ>fsigh£, end neither does it improve on ac-

■fJthii was sr^e four or five ysnrs ago, when tilings E'e'ji g-jou deal worse i« Aticklaud than they s.re

quaintanee. If; consists of a couple of big hotels*, a store, two or three small shops, and a number of scattered cottages and houses. It appears to i be built on a swamp, and its streets are for the ! meet pa t anklo deep in thick yellow mud. In the early morning the- township is frequently buri.ee! in a white fog that rises from the river and its reedy, marshy banks. One is a I first astonished at the size of the hotels, which seem out of all proportion to the town, but the astonishment disappears when you find that Swampville is in the very heart of the timber and gum districts, and that a good deal of ' knocking down ' goes on in the place. I made my stay as short as I could in thirf sweet spot, and 'having got my instructions, I proceeded to walk to my camping ground, a tedious journey especially when one is t-ncnin-b?red with blankets, tent, itc, &c. In due time 1 found myself encamped in a valley said once to have been teeming with gum, and where gum is still found. Dotted here and there all around were the tents and if/wrw of the diggers. Before 1 could ' Jix ' my calico dwelling J found it would be necessary to visit the bush, two miles and a- half away, in order to procure uprights and ridge poles. These had lo be carried over the shoulders lo (he ground- a pleasant exercise on a hot morning, which h slightly calculated to 1 take it out of you.' Then a bunk or stretcher had to be provided, and for this more limber was required from the bush. Finally stores had to be got in, the store being more than two miles distant. The diggers camped near, one and ail assisted me in every way lo get ilxed, and right here let inf say that a liner lot of fellows i nevpr mcl. and I wish, for their sake-.?, that they were better employed than in digging for gum, one of lh« most wretched occupations going. It requires a long apprenticeship, great perseverance, strength of arm. and strength of will. The gumdigger", if he succeeds in his calling, rnnst be a sort of amphibious croaiur«- equally at home on dry ground or amongst the ready swamps which abound in districts where gum is found ; 9ml\ with all these qualifications he must not be disappointed ;)' Ik- (iocs not make * wages.' Some old hand:- may ' knock cut- ' a hundred weight, or even a hundred weight and a-haif of gum per week, iho stuff being .voiih '-Ms. v, hundred weight delivered at the store (it is le.ss than that now), but this may be saH to be exceptional luck eve:; for r-xp-i! kneed men. j As for tire raw hand?, the ' new chums, r they j cannot pos:-il)?y hope to make even ' tud^r ; for. some lime after they commence digging. Meantime, as they must live, their account is running up at the store, and they are heavily handicapped at the very outset, as it were. The ii'.odiu iipinmdi of gumdj'rging is as follows: The dsggor must provide hijnseli' with a spade and a gum spear, which latter bears a close resemblance to the weapon concealed in n sword walking stick. Jt is sharp-pointed, and is Jixed into a spade handle cut short oil". Thus armed, the seeker for gum sallies out in quest of a 'patch.' Me proceeds to some likely locality, and then commem.es to probe the ground with his spear us he walks. When the spear encounters the hidden gum, which may lie from 2 inches to 5 or (i feet beneath the fiurfuce, a peculiar grating noise is heard, and the digger proceeds to make a ' pot hole '•- i c, he turns up a circular sod with tiir. spade of pwihaps a foot and a half in circumference. All around Swampville for many mil^s the earth i.s riddled, so to speak, with thesis pot holes. The socl removed, the gum may b* revealed, or it may lie deeper, in which case the spear is again in requisition, and the gum 'spotted ' the spade, whu-h ought lo have an edge like a yb'/.oy, quickly removes the earth concealing it. The stuff is"found in lumps, ranging from the size of a walnut (technically known a?, 'nuts' to huge piece? weighing hundred weights. The nuggets of gum having been picked out of the hole, are deposited by the digger in a bag or sack slung on his back, and the search recommences. Towards evening the digger returns home to his tent or whare, lights his lire, toils his billy, and has tea., and'afcerwards employs himself in scraping the gum collected during the dsy— if he has any to scrape. .For this purpose he uses a big clasp knife, with which he pares oil' the dirt, and ' soft stuff ' adhering to the gum, and renders it fit for the market. The gum must be scraped before it will be a:ceptcd at the store, and a bag of gum is frequently reduce! to half U«; bulk in the process. Spears ranging from four to live or. six feet in length are used for dry ground, but- for the swamps and marshy land the spears (often hooked at the end, these latter) are made twenty to twenty-five feet long. The spearing process is very trying to the notice, especially when he spears for hours together without ' striking gum ' — which very frequently happens. The right wrist feels as if it was dislocated, and often presents a red and swollen appearance until ' seasoned.' Then, again, the amateur digger is very liable to be deceived. Perhaps after an hour or two's fruitless search, his spear encounters something hard and gritty, and he fancies he is ' on the right lay.' After digging down— it may be for two or three feet— he will very probably discover that he has been expending his energy on a big i lump of charcoal, or, perhaps, on a kauri log. Charcoal is very difficult to distinguish from gum when struck by the spear— that is, by the novice. Or again, our amateur digger, mindful that a good deal of gum is found in the swamp, may try his luok amongst the reeds, and alter getting i his feet wet through and his clothes damp, be J compelled to beat a hasty retreat, the stench from the swampy ground when turned up by the spade being simply overpowering. Borne sensational yarns are t jld by the diggers of lucky find;?. One story goes that a digger probing with his spear one night to test the tool for the morrow's work, much to bis astonishment ' struck gum ' and before he turned in for the night had unearthei about a ton and a half of the stuff. Another yarn is related of a digger's little nine-year old son who struck the gum for which his father and all his camp companions had speared in vain, the said gum being spotted by the boy in a pot hole ; and a rich haul it proved. But these things must have happened in the

early days '— if they ever happened afc all. 'Certain it is sensational ' finds ' are few and far between now-a-days. The ranks of the gum-diggers are recruited from time to time by all sorts and conditions of men. Bank clerks and men more familiar with the pen and the ledger than the spade and the spear have gone to Swampville and tackled the gum — for & time. Professional men out-at-elbows and ' down on their luck ' have been known to turn diggers ; even titled men ' under a cloud ' have as a last desperate resource taken to the gum. In the Valley where I was camped are still shown the ruins of a rude sod whare once occupied by ' a real live lord ' who for a season, became a digger of gum ; while a baronet who bears a familiar name was at the time I speak of working away as a common digger near Swampville. L -aye the gum a few weeks' trial, and, perceiv-

ing that I could not hope to make even • tucker ' for a considerable time, and that the chances of ever doing anything better were to say the least, very remote, 1 resolved, wisely as I think, to give the gum ' best,' and to retire from the scene while the mosquitos (swarming in myriads at jSwampville) had left anything of me. Although some few men previously unaccustomed to such hard work occasionally stop at the digging and take to it permanently, the great majority of those who try it are fain to abandon it at the first opportunity. The men who, like Longfellow's Village Blacksmith, possess ' hrawny arms' and muscles ' strong as iron bands,' are the fellows best adapted for gum- digging. Should anyone (not a ' working man ') feel after reading this like trying digging, 1 can only reecho .Punch's famous advice to 'Parties About to Mavvy ' and say—' Don't I 1