THE WANGAPEKA GOLDFIELD.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 572, 26 October 1869, Page 2

THE WANGAPEKA GOLDFIELD.

(From the Nelson Colonist.') Although not yet declared a goldfield, the district will, we believe, very soon be placed under the goldfields regulations, and a Warden will be on the ground in a few days. Mr Burnett, at the request of the Government, consented to go up to the Wangapeka and report on the reef. He sent to the Superintendent the following letter which arrived here on Wednesday:— " Sie, —As I have a chance of sending to Nelson, 1 will write a few lines merely to say that I have seen the reef. It appears to be about 2| or 3 feet thick, running about N.N.W. and dipping about 80 degrees to the E. In many places you can see the gold with the naked eye, and before I had been there more than a few minutes I succeeded in getting a very nice specimen from the solid reef, which I will bring to Nelson. Of course, I cannot say whether there is sufficient to pay for working, as a very small part of it has been opened, and I suppose that nothing but actual raining will prove it. However, of this there is no doubt, it is a gold-bearing reef. It crops .out in a gully, about 800 yards above Blue Creek, and runs almost in the same direction, so that it will be easily worked by tunnelling from the steep hillside without sicking shafts. There is water-power to drive any quantity of machinery, and, if sufciently rich, doubtless, it will be worked extensively. " There is another reef about fifty yardsfrom the large one, and apparently running in the same direction; but whether it is gold-bearing or not I cannot say, as it has not been broken into. " I only arrived here a few hours ago, and have had very little chance of examining anything ; but I thought it would be satisfactory to your Honor to hear from me by the earliest possible chance ; particularly as my examination so far is exceedingly satisfactory. I will spend auother day or two, and then return if nothing further turns up. " I am writing in haste, and trust you will excuse this short note. " James Burnett."

Mr Burnett has since arrived in town, and he reports that he has little to add to the foregoing letter. He brought with him the specimen of quartz to which he refers in his letter. It contains several pieces of gold embedded in it in various parts, though it is not so rich as the specimens Culleford produced. Mr G. Sinclair, who was appointed to survey the sections purchased from the Government, was stopped by the miners, 142 of whom were then collected on the ground. It appears that Mr Sinclair is not in the employ of the Government, and was acting only for the purchasers. Such is our information. The miners declare, with the strongest digging asseverations, that nothing on or under the earth will induce them to give up their claims, or yield what they conceive to be their own rights to any of the purchasers. After an interview with some of the miners, who represented the body at large, Mr Burnett induced them to leave things in statu quo, to send down a deputation to the Provincial Government and state their case. This was done, and William Blake, Charles Watson, Alfred Leaver, and James Cole, were appointed a deputation. They had an interview with the members of the Executive in town, the Superintendent being absent, and we are informed they plainly intimated the determination of the miners to stick to their claims. In the meantime matters will remain unaltered until the Warden goes up to examine officially and report to the Government. Mr Warden Broad will arrive from the West Coast in a few days and will at once proceed to the Nuggetty Creek, when most probably a goldfield will be formally declared. Eroni the deputation of miners we havo received the following information, which is deemed desirable to publish:— Culleford, who .produced the specimens and applied for the land, arrived on Nuggetty Creek thirteen weeks ago, at which time there were sixteen miners on the ground in alluvial claims Culleford, after working some weeks on the Rolling River, and not doing much, went along with one or two mates to prospect for this reef, which, it appears, he had discovered some three years ago. They found the reef, procured specimens, and Culleford came to town, and applied for the land. On returning, he told the miners that he had bouyht the ground, which caused a great deal of dissatisfaction because of his having done this " on the quiet," as they phrased it. They protested against the purchase of the ground, and refused to recognise it. They, however, at once measured out for Culleford and his two mates six men's ground as prospectors' claims, and all the others on the ground pegged out theirs. When the deputation left there were 142 men on the ground, and on their way down they met-about sixty or seventy men goin<* up. About sixty miners' rights were issued in Nelson by the Government during the last two or three days. The latest rumor about this reef is that it is within the boundary of the South-West Goldfields, but that is not certainly ascertained. Indeed the dividing line is so indefinite, —" from the summit of Nouut Arthur, to the summit of Mount Owen," — the Owen range being some eight or ten miles, that the boundary is little more than imaginary, as the line itself is. However, if proved to be within the limits,

which is possible, this will add to the complications into which these mistaken sales have led the Government. (From the Examiner.) Gold-bearing quartz was found at Wangapeka ten years ago. The existence of the reef about which so much is now said was then known; and a lease, we believe, of the very ground now sold was held for two years by Mr Tatton and other gentlemen, and afterwards abandoned. Mr Robinson, who was then Superintendent, visited the ground, and saw the reef, but he neither proclaimed the district a goldfield, nor put a stop to the sale of land there, which has gone on ever since the district all the while maintaining alluvial diggings.