Page:Notes on New Zealand (1892).pdf/173

Rh found. Before long, if the field prove a rich one, the grog shanty becomes an hotel, and several more are opened, but it is the first which gathers in the dust.

These gold rushes, however, now occur but seldom, and, indeed, the word "gold" seems to have lost much of its old power to awaken the enthusiasm of the Colonist. Three main causes have been and are still in operation to produce this result.

Firstly, gold fields are bought up and monopolized by Companies which, with their machinery and improved methods of working, have taken the place of the private digger with his pickaxe, and the