THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
273

not indicating any rich deposit on that side,
which, as fertile agricultural land, must be
left to the farmer. You know that all the
tributaries of the Aorere river proceeding
from the Haupiri range, as, for instance,
Appoo's river, the Slate river with its differ-
ent branches, the Boulder rivers, Salisbury
creek, and also the Parapara river, which
proceed northwards from the same range,
have been more or less successfully worked
by various parties of diggers. The rounded
nature of the gold particles shows that the
gold has been brought down by water; and
the fact that the heaviest gold is found in
the upper parts of the streams, points clearly
to the mountains as the source of the metal.

But it would be improper to speak about
an Aorere gold-field, if the gold were confined
to the deep and narrow gorges of the streams,
cut down into the clay-slate rocks.

The whole region of the eastern side of
the Aorere valley, rising from the river bed
towards the steep sides of the mountains at
an inclination of about eight degrees, and
occupying from the Clarke river towards the
south, to the Parapara on the north, a super-
ficial extent of about forty English miles, is
a gold-field. Throughout this whole district,
on the foot of the range, we find a conglo-
merate deposited on the top of the slate
rocks, reaching, in some places, to a thickness
of twenty feet. Pieces of driftwood changed
into brown coal indicate a probably tertiary
age of this conglomerate formation. Where
a ferruginous cement binds the boulders and
the gravel together, this conglomerate is
compact; in other places only fine sand lies
between the larger stones. Quartz and clay-
slate boulders are the most commonly met
with. This conglomerate formation is not
only cut through by the deep gullies of the
larger streams, but in some places washed by
the more superficial action of occasional
water, and so divided into parallel and
rounded ridges, of which that portion of the
district called the Quartz Ranges is a cha-
racteristic example. This conglomerate
formation must be regarded as the real gold-
field, prepared in a gigantic manner by the
hand of nature, from the detritus of the
mountains, for the more detailed and minute
operations of man.

While the less extensive, but generally
richer, river-diggings afford better prospect
of gain to the individual digger, the dry
diggings in the conglomerate will afford
remunerative returns to associations of indi-
viduals who will work with a combination of
labour and capital. The intelligent and
energetic gold-digger, Mr. Washbourn, is
the first person who has proved the value of
the dry diggings in the Quartz Ranges, and
has demonstrated the fact that gold exists in
remunerative quantities in the conglomerate.

I am indebted to Mr. Washbourn for the
following interesting details. He writes to
me as follows: "In the drives into the
conglomerate of the Quartz Ranges, the
average thickness of dirt washed is about
two feet from the base rock; and the gold
produced from one cubic yard of such earth
would be, as nearly as I can calculate, worth
from twenty-five to thirty shillings. This
includes large boulders; so that a cubic
yard of earth, as it goes through the sluice,
is of course worth more, as the boulders
form a large proportion of the whole. Where
the earth is washed from the surface to the
rock, the value per cubic yard is much less;
not worth more, perhaps, than from three
shillings to six shillings per yard, and it
would generally pay very well at that."

With this data, the following calculation
may be made. We will reckon the super-
ficial extent of the Aorere and Parapara gold-
fields at thirty English square miles, the
average thickness of the gold-bearing con-
glomerate at a very low rate at one yard,
and the value of gold in. one cubic yard at
five shillings. Upon this data the value of
the Aorere gold-field is £22,500,000, or
£750,000 for one square mile.

I am not a practical gold-digger myself,
but I will leave it to those who are more
versed in that pursuit to contrive the means
by which this wealth may be best extracted
from the soil. Considering that Mr. Wash-
bourn was able to pay his men wages from
ten to twelve shillings a-day, and still to
make a considerable profit, the richness of
the deposit of gold in the conglomerate is
clearly proved.

You may allow me to add, from inquiries
I made on the spot, the number of diggers
working on the Aorere and Parapara diggings
is not more than about 250. Although the
diggers cannot be at work continually, a
large portion of time being occupied in
bringing their provisions across a rugged
country, ill-provided with roads, and occa-
sionally stopped by floods in the rivers, it is
considered that a digger earns on an average
twelve shillings a day.

The history of the gold-field does not
record any large fortunes made by single
diggers, but steady average gains. The
largest nugget found was in the Rocky river,
a nugget of 9 ozs. 18 dwts.

The whole produce of the gold-field, from
the beginning, in 1857, up to the middle of
August, is recorded in the General Govern-
ment Gazette, as about £150,000.

I may add that, looking to the position of
the gold-field generally, and its proximity to
the sea, there is probably no other gold-field
which, with moderate outlay upon roads,
could be made more easily accessible or might
afford greater facilities for being worked. I