THE THAMES GOLDFIELDS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 424, 23 September 1869, Page 3

THE THAMES GOLDFIELDS.

♦ (From a Correspondent of the Nelson Colonist). Thinking that, in the present state of excitement of the public about the New Zealand goldfields, a little true information f roir this part of the island may be very acceptable to your readers, I jot down the results of my observations in the following lines. I shall not attempt any systematic order, but simply write out my thoughts as they enter my head, strictly confining myself to the truth. This goldfield, now exactly two years old, has certainly made the most wonderful strides as regards the permanent settlement of a large population on a rich and most valuable district. Houses are springing up daily in every direction, and at the present rate of building, Shortland and Grahamstown conjoined (as they are already no longer apart, except by name) will, in a very short time, form one of the largest towns, if not the largest, in New Zealand. The present population on the field cannot be less than 15,000 souls, and the daily fluctuation of passengers to and from Auckland is at least 300, or about 2000 per week, which are transported by three regular steamers, two or three smaller ones being used more for cargo than passengers. Besides these there are never less than fifteen to twenty sailing vessels at the anchorage, nearly half of those being engaged in the timber and coal trade. The water frontage of the two townships combined comprises rather more than two miles of perfectly flat land, the width of this flat, from highwater mark to the foot of the hills varying from a quarter to nearly half a mi'e. At the very foot of the hills the mines commence, and embracing all the lower ridges, gradually extend up to the very tops of the higher range at the back, and up and down every gully for at least five or six miles round. Some of the celebrated rich claims, such as Ilunt's, Long Drive, Golden Crown, &c, are situated close to the township, and all the rich reefa are supposed, by practical men, to run right under and along the whole of the flat down to the sea beach. The town may therefore bo considered to stand on real golden foundations; but, apart from this, I believe few goldfields can bs compared to the Thames as regards permanence and stability. One good proof thereof lies in the immense amount of capital already invested, but which is daily and hourly being increased, with the fullest confidence on the part of the investors.For many years to come these wonder^i quartz-reefs will give employment tp-->nou-sands of miners, and many a claims confidently expected to equal in rjp*^jess Hunt's or the Long Drive, wheo^jce the proper level is reachel, and tb«> are supplied with all the requisite mac>>ery. Not a few claims are at a stand-still for want of pumping gear; others cannot get their quartz down to the batteries on account of the frightful roads; while, again, a number of others being formed into companies, have ordered all sorts of machinery of their own from Sydney and Melbourne. Whole gangs of labourers are busily engaged in forming tramways up the different gullies, and the amount of work being done in this line is wonderful, as there are numerous places where every inch of the road has to be blasted through the solid rock. That there must be rich claims to pay for these immense and expensive works is no matter of doubt, and as the miner continues his slow and laborious way further into the hills, miles of reefs, as yet unknown, will be opened out to the enterprise of the capitalist, even in generations to come. Another class of claims to be mentioned are those which have been worked for months past, and are on good ground; but the works having been proceeded with at random— that is, without a proper system, no returns have been got from them as yet. -And these kind of claims are the majority of those that have amalgamated into companies, and will in future be superintended by practical managers, and no doubt entertained that a great many of them will be able to pay handsome dividends to the shareholders. "While speaking of companies, a few remarks for the information of your readers will not be out of place, especially: when it is considered that there has lately been a perfect rage for the formation of so-called companies. I say advisedly " so-called," for ■bine, and I may add not a few of them, are nothing more than a swindle. This is the kind of claim of which the uninitiated must be extremely wary before they invest in mining shares, particularly in "scrip." I will give an example of the modus operandi : Six men go and peg off a piece of ground in a likely neighbourhood, and form it into a company under some grand name. A meeting of shareholders takes place, and the capital of the company is fixed at £10,000, in 5000 shares at £2 each, out of which .£6OOO are considered as. paid-up capital,. and the.remainIng .£4OOO are offered to the public as scrip in 2000 shares, at tne nominal pricie qf..say Js per share .of £2 each . Now;!h jreajftfc the original six shareholders, who have only paid

£1 each for their miner's rights, and nothing more; 1 represent the paid-up capital. They go to work on the claim, or pay hired labourers out of the scrip they have sold, but the money not being sufficient to pay preliminary labour, a call of another shilling per scrip is made to continue the work, and this still leaves the unfortunate holders of scrip liable to thirty eight more shilling calls, unless payable quartz is struck, and the claim pays its own expenses and perhaps even a dividend. Let us suppose now that the company has hit a good spot and strikes a splendid vein of leaders ; up go the shares to their full value or double it, according to returns of crushings ; and by this time the holders of scrip have perhaps paid four calls of one shilling each, Uut they sell . their scrip at £2 and.upwards, and thereby realise a handsome profit. On the contrary, if the claim should turn out a " duffer," the poor scripholder, may have sacrificed five or six shillings per share of scrip, and with shrugging shoulders says to himself, better luck next time. Now, what is the position of the original six shareholders, who have paid no calls, but have only watched proceedings. It is simply this : If the claim turns out well, they gain £1000 each to commence with, receive their dividends at the same rate as the holders of scrip, and may be able to sell their original shares at double the amount. In case of failure, they do not lose a single pound, as they have paid nothing — have, in fact, run no risk whatever. This by no means condemns the scrip altogether, for in well organised companies it is as safe as the original shares, and no doubt a good investment, if the purchaser is careful in his selection. A great deal of scrip has, however good, been bought up by the labouring man; and wages on this goldfield being very low (from 36s to 42s per week), on account of the great influx of poor miners, this class of people find it difficult to meet the calls. The consequence is that they offer their scrip at almost any price, however low, to get rid of paying calls. This and various other causes have made scrip within the last fortnight to become next to unsaleable, and a complete drug in the market, although instances have come under my personal observation where scrip has in vain been offered for one-fourth of its original cost. And that some of this kind of scrip will prove a splendid investment in course of time, and before long, I do not doubt; for the richness of this goldfleld, as it gets more and more developed, will prove astonishing. No capitalists need therefore feel any hesitation in investing either in real shares or genuine scrip, as long as he places himself in good hands on the spot. To go in something like rotation. I next came to the quartz crushing batteries, the whole of which consist at present of about 350 stampers, fully three-fourths of which are driven by steam, on or near the flat, the remainder by large water-wheels up the different gullies. Nearly all these batteries .have paid their owners very well, and are a safe investment, if properly worked and looked after. The price for crushing has been as low as 15s per ton by waterpower, and from £1 to 24s per ton by steam; and a fully employed battery is kept going from Sunday night at twelve o'clock till Saturday night at the same hour, the hands in attendance being changed every twelve hours. A battery of from ten to twelve stampers will crush, if not interrupted, about a ton o_f*'C?3»rtz per hour; but there is a variaticu " caused through the nature of the stoj^'some of it being rather soft, while vttier kinds are as hard as flint, in which latter case the process is, of course, more tedious. By way of an illustration of the immense power necessary to crush a ton of quartz into the finest powder, I give the following calculation, on a very moderate scale: — Taking a ten-stamper battery, driven at average speed, which is about thirty five to forty pounds of steam to the inch, the said stampers are lifted up, and dropped at least fifty times per minute each, or 3000 times in the hour. Every stamper weighs, on an average, four cwt., and, consequently, the enormous weight of 120,000 cwt., or 6000 tons, is lifted per hour to crush a ton of quartz. That some of these batteries, in spite of the care taken, lose a good bit of gold, there is no doubt; but, as able men have already set earnestly to thinking, and are endeavouring practically to work out their plans, the final result cannot fail to be a satisfactory one. As the number and efficiency of the batteries on the field, as well as the quantities of gold-bearing quartz brought to light, increase, the export of gold may, in the course of this summer, reach an astonishing value. For the particular information of some of your Nelson readers, who have been the means of letting the coal at Pakawau rest in peace, I may mention en passant that the whole of the Thames steam batteries use Bay of Islands coal, and, from personal intercourse with able engineers and firemen, whom I have known in some of our coasting .steamers, I can add, that they find this coal far superior to Newcastle coal for steam purposes, not only on account' of the great heat it gives, but the small quantity required and the little refuse it leaves behind. This coal is put into the vessel at the pit for 15s per ton, and 1b delivered either here or at Auckland for 24s by the cargo. It is not very well fitted for household purposes, as it contains a great deal of sulphur, and also a good amount of slack. But to return to the Thames goldfield, I have a few remarks to make about the township, to show its immense progress. On the fiat already described we find no less than from 90 to 100 public-houses ; amongst them hotels, the like of which Nelson cannot show. I have seen a billiard-room in the Pacific Hotel, which, even by old diggers from Melbourne, is declared to be superior to anything there. Most of the hotel bars are splendidly fitted up, and barmaids are in demand. You find here two theatres, open and crowded every night ; no end of restaurants and idining-rooms, and grocers', drapers', star tioners', butchers', bakers', and other shops, in 'really endleas variety of size and style ;

handsome merchants' offices, and four established banks, with branches in both Grahamstown and Shortland. The Bank of Australasia in the latter place is at present the best building, but the Bank of New Zealand is about to erect a structure in Grahamstown which will, it is said, eclipse all the others. I had almost forgotten the churches. All denominations are represented ; one or two of the buildings are of a permanent character, while others partake only of a temporary kind, to be replaced by new erections as soon as possible. Finally, ns regards private dwellings, there is a goodly number of very handsome houses, hundreds of more humble appearance, hundreds of mere huts, and, lastly, hundreds of tents, the latter two classes reaching almost to the very tops of the ranges. : The Thames goldfield, seen by night from the bay, presents a most striking appearance, as the thousands of lights on flat, hills, and in gullies appear altogether like a grand illumination in honour of some great event. Having now done with the physical aspect of the Thames goldfield, I may be permitted to say a few words about the moral state of the population. All classes are represented ; on one side of the street you pass the gentleman and his lady, the honest tradesmen, the blustering digger, while on the opposite side, your gaze meets a victim in the last stage of vice and misery, whose few remaining days are numbered. A great many females have followed their husbands to the diggings, and the number of the sex must be pretty considerable. Take the mining population of the Thames as a whole, it would be difficult to find a more orderly and well-behavei body of men in any part of the globe. Even on a Saturday evening, when the majority of the diggers have come down from the ranges, and the town is literally swarming with human beings, the cases of drunkenness and quarrelling are very few indeed. It is on this day that those public-houses who have no regular customers reap their harvest, but there is no disturbance of any kind. Certainly the low wages on the field may have a great influence in this respect, as the hundreds of wage 3 men, after payiDg for their provi sions and clothing for the week cannot have much left to spend on luxuries. They seem, however, content with their lot. Of all the goldfields I have visited in my travels, this is the cheapest as regards living, and a man can exist comfortably on from 10a to 12s per week. The Irish element is predominant here, and, if there is still an existence of silent Feuianism, I should certainly look for it at the Thames. My sketch would be incomplete without a passing glance at the late Coromandel rush, which has been the means of inducing a few hundred diggers to leave the Thames. It would be premature to form a conclusion as to the real nature of the rush, as a few months must necessarily elapse before any doubt can be set at rest. A good few of old Coromandel reefers still adhere to the opinion that the district will always prove patchy. Some have more faith in Kennedy Bay, partly on account of the samples of good alluvial gold which have been found there at different periods. I believe myself that the prospeot of the Ohinemuiri being opened by the natives this summer may prove the most important move for the benefit of a gold-mining population after all, and the first exodus to that place would, of course, take place from the Thames, this being the direct road to it. If there is a cloud on the horizon of the Thames goldfield, it is the future probability of more than one dispute with regard to the native owners of the land, for there is no such thing as freehold here, every inch of ground being leasehold. However, time will show. Considerable doubts also exist as to which part of the Thames will be declared the port of entry, or whether it will be Shortland, Grahamstown, or Tararua. Each of these three places has its advantages and disadvantages, but many are induced to believe that Shortland, at the upper end of the flat, will be the place after all. Auckland is naturally much opposed to this being made a port of entry at all, as it would break up a sort of monopoly, for Melbourne merchants would be sure to step in for a good slice of the trade and shipping. But, b 3 that as it may, there is no province in New Zealand which can be compared with Auckland as regards flourishing prospects for the future.