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London shareholders in this instance have only themselves to blame for acting so rashly on the advice of their supposed mining expert. They could not have found an expert in this colony, outside of those who were directly interested, who would have ever led them astray to such an extent.”
It is evident that the Bedstead Gully group of mines was never very remunerative to those interested in the properties. In the early days of the Perseverance Company, when it was operating on the surface gossans, it is possible that a fair amount of profit was made, but the Johnstone’s United Company, which later worked the same reef, little more than paid its way. It is therefore very doubtful if any further investigation of the locality is warranted; but Bell[1] has expressed the opinion that prospecting to the northward, along the line of contact between the graphitic phyllites and the amphobilitic sericitic schists, might lead to the discovery of further rich surface patches such as were got in the Johnstone’s United Mine.
WEST WANGANUI INLET FIELD.
This field lies about twelve miles due west of the Town of Collingwood. Alluvial gold was first discovered in the locality about 1868, and auriferous quartz in 1874. Within the twenty years following this last date three small mines are known to have been worked there. One of these was owned by Wilkie and party, and was situated on Friday Creek. A small battery was erected, and a certain amount of crushing done, but no information is now available as to the tonnage of quartz crushed or the yield from it. The stone must, however, have been poor, for work was only carried on for a short time. The other two mines, known as the Morning Star and the Old Golden Ridge, were in the vicinity of Slaty Gorge, south of Mount Baldy. No very definite information is available regarding either of them, but both evidently erected batteries and did some crushing. The Morning Star is said to have returned its owners £1,650 over and above all expenses, while from the Old Golden Ridge gold to the value of £22,000 is reported to have been recovered.
About 1895 an English company known as the Taitapu Gold Estates, Ltd., with a capital set down as £175,000, purchased 85,000 acres of land between West Wanganui Inlet and Big River, and covering the areas within which the mines referred to were located. This company at once set aside three 150-acre sections of its holding as mining reserves, and started prospecting operations for gold. For a time it concentrated its attention on what may be termed the New Golden Ridge Mine, about 15 chains south of the Old Golden Ridge Claim. Gold was got here in cement, and a battery of ten heads of stamps was erected; and from this mine and the Anthill Mine, a little farther south, a considerable amount of the precious metal was won. All the deposits or lodes found were, however, very broken and were soon worked out, with the result that the company had ceased mining operations by 1904. During the intervening period 10,807 tons of stone were treated for a yield of 6,327 oz. 18 dwt. 17 gr. gold worth £25,028.
In the meantime at least two other companies—the Australian Gold Trust and the New Zealand Pioneer Company of London—had made arrangements with the Taitapu Gold Estates to prospect on the latter’s ground, with the right to peg off and lease certain-sized areas within the freehold. The former company commenced operations in 1896, and carried on con-
- ↑ Geol. Bull. No. 3, p. 95.
