REPORT ON THE GOLD EIELDS

G.—No. 4,

14

No. 8. Mr. Waeden Whiteeooed to Undee-Secretaey Gold Fields. General Eeport to March 31, 1872. Nelson South-west Gold Fields, Grey District, Sib,— Warden's Office, Cobden, 15th June, 1872. I have the honor, in compliance with the request contained in your circular of the 27th of March last, to report as follows upon the district under my charge for the twelve months ending 31st of March, 1872. As this is, I believe, the first report the General Government have received with reference to this District, I think some information as to when it was first discovered to bo auriferous, its extent, and the various modes of working, may not be without value and interest. Gold was first found at Black Ball Creek, a tributary of the Grey Biver, in the year 1864, and a mining population being attracted to the neighbourhood, other discoveries rapidly followed, which resulted in the opening up of No Town, Nelson Creek, Moonlight, Nobles, the Little Grey and other places in 1865, 1867, and finally a large population settled down in what has since been known as the Grey Valley. From a report received by me from the Mining Surveyor (Mr. Lewis), I find that the extent of auriferous ground in the district may be estimated at 348 square miles, a very small portion of which has ever been prospected. In a district so large and diverse in formation as this, various modes of working the different gold deposits must of necessity exist. In one or two places the auriferous ground is reached by tunnels of a thousand feet and upwards, which have been very costly, occupying parties of miners for some months to put in ; in other places the gold is found at a depth of fifty feet or so, but the quantity of water to contend against has been so heavy that it is only by the employment of powerful pumps that the bottom has been reached. These pumps are generally worked by water wheels. Another class of claims is to be found on the sea beach, where the miners work below high water mark, and the auriferous deposits in their claims are renewed by every heavy storm on the coast, when the breakers throw up fresh quantities of black sand, in which the fine beach gold is invariably discovered. The most general method of working is, however, by what is known as ground sluicing, and to enable this kind of labor to be profitably carried on, the miners have gone to very great expense in the formation of deep tail races, and in bringing water to bear upon the terraces. The present condition of the Grey Valley may be considered in every way satisfactory, the population having been fairly maintained* for some years ; lately, however, some have loft, owing to the great attractions held out to them by the discovery of rich quartz reefs in the Eeefton district, within a few miles of the boundary of this gold field, which it adjoins. Some left after the late disastrous flood, which in many instances destroyed the work of years, and caused damage to miners and farmers to the amount of £8,000 or £10,000; the number leaving from this cause was not, I am happy to say, very great, as the majority of those whose property was injured had such confidence in the place that they at once began to repair the damage they had sustained, and set to work again with renewed vigor. There has been for years a steady increase in tho number of acres of land brought under cultivation, and there seems little doubt that eventually the miners will to a great extent be supplied with farm produce grown in the valley, a circumstance tending to give the residents hero great and material advantages over the other and less fertile portions of the West Coast. The returns which accompany this report show a reduction in the revenue received as compared with the preceding twelve months, yet they may, I think, be considered satisfactory. The decrease I attribute to the falling off of population, together with depression consequent upon losses by the flood. What has been hitherto done in the district may be looked upon as the working of the most accessible and riclier spots. With an abundant supply of water at a sufficient level to work the numerous terraces, and good roads (to reduce the price of provisions), a population of 10,000 or 15,000 persons would readily find employment in the valley. The leading feature of this gold field appears to be the general payable nature of the ground in all places, there being thousands of acres of ground, chiefly terraces, with great depth of wash dirt, having gold distributed throughout, capable of being made to pay from ten to fifteen shillings per day for years to come. To bring water on to work these terraces properly is quite beyond the reach of the small capitalist, and as the miners here must ultimately depend on hydraulic sluicing on an extensive scale, it is apparent the district must become much depressed, unless some large and permanent water races are soon constructed in it. That these races would prove a payable speculation there can be no doubt, and increasing as they would the gold fields revenue consequent upon a great influx of miners, would be doubly productive. The formation of two large water races, one from Lake Brunner, to command what is known as the Arnold Country (embracing No Town district), and the other from Riddle's Creek to the country about Napoleon Hill and Noble's, would give such an impetus to mining throughout the valley as would speedily render it one of the most prosperous of the gold fields. The survey of Riddle's Creek race has been made, and the scheme found quite practicable, but the estimated cost (some twenty thousand pounds) puts the project beyond the means of any company likely to be formed here. The Government, I believe, shortly intend to construct a very important race from Lake Hochstetter to Nelson Creek ; and if this yery desirable work is carried out it will have a most beneficial effect upon the whole of the country through which it passes. Tho length of the race would be some sixteen miles. In remarking upon the probable prospect of the district, I may state that there seems little doubt that the quartz reefs discovered so near the boundary of this gold field and the Inangahua, will