Page:Rambles on the Golden Coast of New Zealand.djvu/194

152 In considering the industries of this district, I must not overlook that of timber, which is an important one, and will eventually be far more so when the large areas of wooded country in the upper Buller has been opened up by roads, and the timber so made available. Operations will no doubt then be conducted on a far more extensive scale than at the present time, although even now they are by no means inconsiderable as the following figures will prove. There are several sawmills in the district, and the horse power employed in producing timber is as follows:—Westport 30, steam; Waimangaroa 25, steam; Charleston 10, water. The quantity produced monthly averages about 200,000 ft., value £800. These mills give employment to over sixty men. The export trade is not very large at present, but is gradually increasing. The contracts now existing for railway sleepers for export is 25,000, value about £4000. The timber used principally for these sleepers is black birch, which is found to be durable, and in every way adapted for the purpose; somewhere about 40,000 of these sleepers being used in the 20 miles of railway lines in this locality, comparatively few of which have had to be replaced during the nine or ten years since the line was first constructed. The local requirements for timber being large, the industry does not depend so much upon the export trade for development. Very little totara is found here, but the supply of red and white pine is more abundant. The oldest established firm of timber merchants in the Buller district is that of Messrs Marris Brothers, who have been on the West Coast for about 17 years.

For the first few years after the discovery of gold in the Buller district, the miners sought for the gold only on the beaches and banks of rivers, as in these places it was quickly obtained, and often in large quantities without preliminary labour or outlay. As soon as the best of the gold was taken in any one place and heavy labour became necessary to get more, the miner would quickly shift camp in search of a fresh prize. New discoveries were constantly being made, and hence the rushes of hundreds, or perhaps thousands of miners, which were so common in those days. The beaches and banks of the Buller River proved to be rich, and for a few years after the first discovery, some few thousands of miners were working on the river and its tributaries, the majority of whom made large wages. The method adopted for saving the gold, which was of a coarse flaky description, was very simple, and required but little apparatus, and as a rule but little preliminary labour. But as soon as the easily obtained gold was worked out, and heavy preliminary work became necessary, in fact as soon as the best of the gold had been taken, the miners began to leave, and the population steadily dwindled down. During the last few years there has not been any decrease, but the total number of miners in the Buller district at the present time is only about 500, inclusive of those employed in the quartz mines at the Lyell and elsewhere. Of late years nearly all the claims in the Brighton, Charleston, and Addison districts have been worked on the ground sluicing system. The plan of ground sluicing is simple enough in theory, but often very difficult to put into practice. An open race or tunnel has to be brought up from a lower level to the claim, which generally extends over a few acres that have been proved by shaft mining to contain a lead. This is called a tail-race. The lead may bear a considerable depth