New Zealand in evolution, industrial, economic and political; . e discovery of a payable field in Westland,where the numerous rapid and full-bodied streams rush-ing from the flanks of the Southern Alps down to thesea were found to be charged with the precious metal. Thence onward it was yearly made more evident thatNew Zealand possessed not merely payable gold veins,but deposits which would give lucrative employmentto thousands of men practically in continuity, that wouldgive handsome investment to capital even at high rates ofinterest, and would, in season and out, return to thepublic and pri
New Zealand in evolution, industrial, economic and political; . e discovery of a payable field in Westland,where the numerous rapid and full-bodied streams rush-ing from the flanks of the Southern Alps down to thesea were found to be charged with the precious metal. Thence onward it was yearly made more evident thatNew Zealand possessed not merely payable gold veins,but deposits which would give lucrative employmentto thousands of men practically in continuity, that wouldgive handsome investment to capital even at high rates ofinterest, and would, in season and out, return to thepublic and private exchequer millions of pounds perannum. By the end of the sixties all the main fields of the colonyhad been located, and the output of gold was now valuedat more than two million pounds annually. It reachedits maximum of ;^2,844,517 in 1866, and for the decade1862-71 was computed at -^23,464,000, an average ofsomething less than 2J million pounds a year. Fromthis point prospecting took more the form of followingup known leads than breaking new ground. New. GOLD-MINING 93 methods also found profits in deposits which the old haddiscarded. The hydraulic sluicing nozzle and thestamper are only improved ways of doing the old work,just as at later stages the alluvial dredge and the cyanideprocess have been employed to pursue the wash tothe ultimate margin of profit. New and richer fieldshave been opened up in the Auckland province, but theold abandoned areas both here and in Nelson have againreceived attention, and have yielded profitable returns tothe more economical methods employed. The result of the first failures was the evolution ofcertain methods of gold-saving applicable to particulardistricts. The most characteristic class of mining hasalways been the saving of alluvial gold, which is strangelyconfined to the South Island. Four-fifths of the goldoutput of New Zealand has come from the South Island,where the great bulk of the precious metal is obtainedfrom alluvial deposi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnewzealan, goldmining
