THE LARGEST NEW ZEALAND NUGGET.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 438, 25 December 1868, Page 2

THE LARGEST NEW ZEALAND NUGGET.

We have lately hinted that the largest nugget yet found in New Zealand had been discovered in theßuller district, but we did not care distinctly to publish the fact until the nugget itself was received in Westport. Yesterday the nugget in question was brought to town, and it fully realises the description given of it by those -who were acquainted with its discovery. It is a nugget weighing 92 ozs 5 dwts 12grs—a weight exceeding, we believe, that of any piece of pure gold yet obtained in New Zealand. It was found on the north side of the Bnller river, and about four miles on the Westport side of the Lyell, on the bed-rock and on a level with the flood water mark, at a depth of fourteen feet from the surface, of the earth. It is of a flat form, apparently well waterworn, and is not unlike the figure of & sheep. The lucky finders were Messrs James Hutton, liobert and Wm. Scott. They!

were engaged in seeking for fine gold, and have been ten months occupied in this particular piece of ground, but without anything Hke the present reward for their labors. On being brought to Westport it was purchased byMr Hughes, of the Empire Hotel, at the rate of £3 18s per ounce, and ia now to be seen at that house.

A few years ago a nugget weighing fifty ounces was procured on the banks of the Buller, and, up to that perLd, it was the largest found in New Zealand. In Otago the largest nugget discovered was dug between Gabriel's and Waipori, and weighed twenty-six ounces. This is, therefore, the heaviest piece of gold as yet obtained in New Zealand, and it certainly affords an excellent indication of the auriferous wealth of the Buller district.