ON THE "DIGGINGS."

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12082, 10 August 1917, Page 4

ON THE "DIGGINGS."

EARLY DAYS AT THE THAMES. THE REMINISCENCES OF A GOLDSEEKER, No one at the present day can have any idea of the hard times in Auckland just before the Thames "broke lout," writes Mr Charles Blomfield in I the "New Zealand Herald." Empty ■ houses everywhere, scores of unemploy- ! Ed, people leaving every day like rats ' from a sinking ship. | The news of the gold found at the ' Thames was like a. lifebuoy to a drowning mariner. The first reports of the. find were so extravagant that few believed them; but when solid bars of the real metal were exhibited in a jeweller's shop in Queen Street, Aucki 'land, citizens took the fever, and all! : who could possibly get away went down to try their luck. I was then a. young I fellow of nineteen, and, having nothing to do, went with two bosom friends. Our hopes rah high, for had we not heard the tales of how the stampers in the. (-olden Crown Battery had jammod because of the richness of the. I quartz, how the Shot-over people, had taken out. £27.000 of gold by merely watching the surface, and had not one, of our leading ministers, the. Rev P. H. Coroford. come to see us off and hoped we, should come back and pay off the church debt! We knew nothing at all about gold mining and very little about, camping, but. managed to pitch our tent on a. vacant spot between the Hape and Karaka Creek:-!. One day soon after our arrival we noticed a. crowd surrounding a, man on horseback in what is now Pollen Street. He had a butcher's Basket on his arm. just like a butcher-boy delivering meat, but when we came near we found he bad a- mass! of gold in the basket, 301b or 401b weight. It looked very remarkable to us, all rough and jrorous at the top and round and smooth underneath, it turned out to be the last return from the Golden Crnvrn, and had just been turned out of the retort. That, was the way gold was sent to the bank m those, days. There was the charm of novelty, the lovely surroundings, the song of the tuis and bell-birds, the flutter of the friendly fan tails, the call of the. moropork. I don't think it would be possible to exaggerate the exquisite beauty of the native bush. Wo see nothing like itTiow. Such a wealth of luxurious and varied growth ! Tall kauris and rimus lifted (heir massive shafts among spreading cedars and picturesque tawas, while great tree-ferns and nikans added grace and beauty to the scene. Every stump was decorated with moss and creeper, and every vacant inch of ground carpeted with crepe and kidney ferns. There was only one drawback—mosquitos. They simply swarmed everywhere. Day and night they gave us no rest. "We* tried every remedy, but to no purpose. Sometimes in despair w 0 carried our blankets to the top of the ridge, but they followed us up in a cloud. .It. seemed as if whole generations of them had been waiting our advent. Our failure at the Hape Creek sent, us prospecting once more. Not long after came the rumour of the of alluvial gold at Tapu Creek. Quiu" a rush set in, .and ire were among the first' to venture. Leaving one of the party to bring the gear by boat, two of us walked there. ""While waiting for the baggage wo strolled up the creek. About, hnlf a mile up we came across two diggers working an old-fashioned cradle. One rocked the cradle and bailed in water, and the other shovelled in the wash dirt and stirred i\ about with :> forked stick. Every now and then one of them would snatch something out of the dirt and pop :V,i into his mouth. Presently he allowed uk to see what he bad. They were littlo nuggets of of a dark rich colour. We thought this all right, and pegged out a claim just above them. We took out a little coarse, gold, and some very pretty nuggets, one of which, weighing ~Bdwi, i have still in my possession. This was me on.'y spot on the Thames Peninsula where alluvial gold was found. An old Californian digger named M'lsaacs discovered it, and fossicked out all the likely places in the creek, taking out; over lOOoz before the news leaked out Those who came after him. had his leavings. |

Vve enjoyed a very welcome change in the bill of fare at Tay/;i. The rocks on the coast were crowded with fine oysters, and I used to knock off w/)rk a couple of hours before the others, go down to the beach and fill a billy Vi'hen the. others came home, we feasted on .stewed oysters and potatoes. Then the peaches! My mouth waters at the thought of them still. On tTio river fiats of the next creek, a mile or so aloiijr the beach, v.-ere some fine peach proves, all laden with the ripest fruit. It was no unusual thing to see a procession of diggers on a Saturday afternoon returning laden—kits, flourbags, sacks, c;tc., full of rips peaches, the juice running down their backs.

"When we had worked out our claim, came the question of disposing of the spoil. T, being the only one "Villi an anxious mother in town, was deputed to go to Auckland rind sell the gold. When wo squared up we found we had made 26s n wee': evek for three week l -' work. That was all wo got out of ou;- gold mining venture.