Page:Rambles on the Golden Coast of New Zealand.djvu/93

Rh “Craig’s party washed 7 ozs., the result of their first five hours’ work. Charley Riley’s party got 4½ ozs. in two hours. Bill Friend’s party have just bottomed on 1½ dwts. to the dish. No sawyers here. Miners must make boxes as best they can.” About the same time the average wages obtained by miners at German and Maori Gullies in the same district were reported as averaging £10 to £15 per man per week.

The Grey rush was just then setting in, and Surveyor Rochfort was despatched to lay off a town, and survey the same into allotments for settlement. The mining intelligence from this quarter created the wildest excitement imaginable, and hundreds were on a fresh stampede northwards. Sites in the new town were speedily being covered with temporary buildings of calico or timber. Timber and iron were in great request, and for a time there was not 100 ft. of sawn timber to be obtained for any money. As high as 60s. per 100 ft. could have been obtained for a cargo, were it on the spot about the end of July 1865. Provisions became very scarce for a time, both in Greymouth and at the Twelve Mile diggings, the carriage between the two places being £20 per ton. The town dealers had run out of several articles, kerosene among the number; and candles were selling at 1s. each. Flour for a time was also very scarce on the diggings, and was selling at £130 to £150 per ton. At some of the distant places a 50 lb. bag of flour has been known to fetch £4, 10s. to £5. It was currently reported, and I believe without exaggeration, that many claims in Maori Gully and Red Jack’s were yielding their lucky owners a pound weight of gold per day, with a large area of ground to wash for a considerable time. Two gold-buyers, or bankers, representing the Bank of New Zealand and Bank of New South Wales, had paid these localities two or three visits, and on each occasion had purchased from 800 to 1000 ozs. each. In the middle of August the Bank of New Zealand opened a branch at Greymouth. The price of sections in the new town ran up rapidly, and as high as £12 per foot was given for one or two frontages to Mawhera Quay for the bare sections, and these too with a considerable annual rental, the title being leasehold from the Maoris.

The Okarito rush is the next to which I will ask my readers to accompany me. We started from Hokitika by the steamer “Bruce,” on either her first or second trip to that reported El Dorado. Having had the good luck to clear a round hundred pounds or two on Greymouth sections, I expressed my intention to my friend, Mr Robert Harrold, then manager of the Union Bank at Hokitika, of paying a visit to Okarito, whereupon he suggested that as no gold-buyer had yet paid that part a visit, I might pay my expenses in this way, while taking stock of the prospects of the district. Starting with £1000 in notes and not telling any one my mission, I made straight, after landing, to the heart of the diggings, the Five Mile, where I found no difficulty in meeting with a couple of customers for my bank notes, in exchange for which I received their gold dust at £3, 10s. and £3 10s. 6d. per oz. Before leaving the township I secured a section—an excellent one at the time—for £45, which was considered a high price. Returning and disposing of my gold at 2s. 6d. per oz. profit, and knowing that there were hundreds of ounces more waiting a purchaser, I at once decided on taking a second trip, and provided myself