The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]
[introduction]
The date of the first discovery of gold in New Zealand is not generally known. It took place as early as 1842, when, on the occasion of an exploring expedition from Nelson to Massacre Bay, a gentleman named McDonald is said to have discovered the precious metal. No notice was taken of the discovery, however, and no one ever thought of or believed in goldfields, until the wonderful discoveries in California and Australia rendered the phenomenon a startling fact. The discovery of gold in Australia reacted very sensibly on the adjacent colony of New Zealand, a large portion of the population migrating to the new goldfields; it also led people to prospect for gold in various parts of New Zealand, and in October, 1852, “A Beward Committee” was formed in Auckland, and promised a reward of £500 to the discoverer of a payable goldfield in the northern district of New Zealand. In the same month the reward was claimed by a settler named Charles Ring, a recent arrival in Auckland, from California, who asserted that he had discovered gold upon Cape Colville Peninsula, forty miles east of Auckland, and in the vicinity of Coromandel harbour. To be more exact, the find was on the Kapanga stream, in the neighbourhood of the present group of Kapanga and Hauraki mines. The specimens produced by Mr. Ring were pieces of page 461 auriferous quartz, and some minute particles of gold dust. The commissioners sent to investigate the matter confirmed the existence of gold, but left it doubtful whether there was a goldfield extensive and rich enough to pay for the working. The excitement in Auckland was intense, and sanguine hopes of the commencement of a golden era in New Zealand were indulged in by the people. Everyone, including about 3000 miners, accordingly flocked to the scene of the discovery. The land upon which the gold was found belonged to the natives; but Colonel Wynyard, then Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony, interested himself in the matter, and in November, 1852, an agreement was made with the Coromandel chiefs for three years, by which the Provincial Government pledged itself to pay tha natives one pound (£1) a year for each square mile of land upon which gold was being dug, and for each gold digger two shillings per month. In consequence of this the Government was obliged to lay a tax on the diggers, granting an exemption for the first two months, but afterwards exacting from each digger thirty shillings per month for a digging license. About 3000 diggers set to work. On the Kapanga river, towards the north, the Coolahan diggings promised favourable results, as also the Waiau diggings, a short distance from the former, on the Matawai creek — a tributary of the Waiau river, which flows southwards into Coromandel harbour. The gold produced was sold in Auckland by public auction, but, when the taxes became due, there were only about fifty diggers who took out licenses; these also were not able to subsist under the heavy taxes demanded, and, nothing being heard of any encouraging results on a large scale, and more difficulties arising with the natives, the whole enterprise died out in about six months.
This was practically the first discovery of gold in New Zealand that led to any working for the metal. The verdict was that the field was too poor, and the promised reward of £500 was withheld from the discoverer. The whole produce of the goldfield was about £11,000, and the largest nugget found was a round piece of quartz about the size of an egg, which contained gold to the value of £10 or thereabouts. The Coromandel field was then abandoned and neglected for nearly nine years, but at the end of that time a reaction took place, probably brought about by the discovery of gold in the Otago district. In October, 1861, Coromandel again attracted attention, and in April of the following year, about 248 diggers assembled on the field, and, owing probably to a better knowledge of gold washing, the results were more promising than before. On the 28th of June, 1862, Coromandel was proclaimed a goldfield, and Mr. H. H. Turton was appointed Commissioner. On the Matawai and Tiki creeks, pieces of gold quartz weighing from thirty to forty ounces, and one even of eleven pounds in weight, were found, containing, it was supposed, fifty to sixty per cent of gold. A party who began to work a quartz reef on the Kapanga is said to have obtained from one ton of quartz, by crushing and washing, two ounces and a half of gold. It should be recollected that quartz reefs in Australia, even at that time, when treated systematically and with good machinery, yielded profits from stone carrying less than one ounce of gold to the ton.
The first reefing claim taken up on the Thames goldfields was Hunt's “Shotover.” The extraordinary yields from this property in a comparatively brief space of time raised the shareholders from poverty to affluence. Some say that the claim was first discovered by Mr. Hunt—others, by Mr. Alexander—who, when passing over a small waterfall, situated near the mouth of the Kuranui creek, casually struck a piece of rock with his pick, and perceived that it contained gold. The original claim contained six men's ground, which was divided amongst four shareholders, namely, Messrs Hunt, Clarkson, White and Cobley—Alexander says he was left out under circumstances related elsewhere in his biographic sketch—two extra men's ground being allowed by the Commissioner as a reward for a prospecting claim. Several quarter sleeping shares were sold, previous to striking the rich deposits, for about £100 each; in fact, shares might have been obtained immediately after the ground was opened for a merely nominal price, in order to raise sufficient funds to work the claim. A quarter share, sold for £100, was repurchased by Mr. Hunt for £2500, and another was sold for £12,000. The reef in the claim was comparatively easy to work, the miners having simply to cut away the hill over which the little waterfall formerly ran, and shoot the decomposed quartz into the machine. There was nothing particular in the appearance of the reef except that rich “pockets” were frequently discovered; otherwise the colour gave no indication of the auriferous character of the reef. The average yield of the stone was fifty ounces of gold to the ton of quartz, but the rich “pockets” frequently met with in the reef yielded more than five times that quantity. At first the shareholders crushed their quartz at the battery of Messrs Fraser and Tinne (afterwards bought by the Kuranui Company), but, finding that they were losing a large amount of gold through the incompleteness of the machinery, they erected a battery of their own. To give an idea of the richness of the country, it may be stated that with the machinery then in use over 10,000 ounces of gold were obtained in ten months. In 1868, so high had the value risen that £20,000 was offered for a full share and refused. Shortly after the erection of the battery an incident occurred which very nearly deprived the shareholders of their right to this claim. Before the Supreme Court, in a case previously tried before the Warden, a mandamus was applied for, setting aside the Warden's judgment, and was granted. During the trial the Judge decided that miners' rights signed by the Commissioner and not by the Warden were illegal. Upon the news of this decision becoming known in Shortland great excitement ensued, it being understood that holders in “Hunt's” held miners' rights signed by the Commisioner. Arrangements were made to “jump” the claim, and matters at one time looked very serious, but it was ultimately proved that, the Commissioner being the representative of the Government, the rights held good although not signed by a Warden. Amongst other companies formed at this time may be mentioned the “Kuranui,” which at first only included “Barry's” claim (situated above “Hunt's” claim and beneath the claim known as the “Deep Lead” on the Kuranui Range), and was the second claim pegged out on the field. The company, however, comprised a number of wealthy and enterprising speculators, and, by buying up machinery and shares, it eventually secured interests all over the field. Other well-known claims in 1868 were the “Alburnia,” “Ballarat Star,” “Clyde,” “Cuckoo,” “Day Spring,” “Dixon's,” “Eureka,” “Happy-go-Lucky,” “Kentish,” “Khyber Pass,” “Lone Star,” “Middle Star,” “Nil Desperandum,” “Pretty Jane,” “Star of the South,” “Whau,” and “Golden Crown.” The first mill erected on the Thames goldfields was called the “Great Expectations.” It commenced working in November, 1867, and consisted of four wooden stampers, shod with plates of iron, the whole being worked by a donkey-engine.
The demonstration of the richness of the goldfields of the North Island naturally gave a great impetus to trade, and the Auckland of to-day may fairly be described as a product of the goldfields. Throughout the sixties and almost into the seventies the excitement lasted, and then it gradually cooled down. The mines were still working, and gold was still page 463 being brought up from the depths of the earth, but the “boom” times had passed away, and it was not until the latter part of the eighties that there was a revival, when new country was opened up and the famous “Martha” lode gave a fillip to the industry. In 1887 the original Waihi Company was formed, and bought a number of small claims in the district, the principal of which were the “Union” and the “Rosemount;” four years later this company acquired the “Martha Extended” property, and then the excitement commenced which culminated in the “boom” of 1895 and 1896. Almost every available piece of ground in the vicinity of Waihi, Waitekauri, Karangahake and Coromandel was pegged out and innumerable companies were floated. Speculation and flotation became rife, and undeveloped properties were sold in the London markets for phenomenal prices. In 1894 the famous Hauraki Company was registered, and, by means of careful and scientific working, the property proved to be of exceptional richness. From January, 1895, to the 12th of December, 1896, bullion bars from this mine were sold to the Bank of New Zealand representing 62,853 ounces of gold (or 1 ton 18 cwts. 2 quarters and 23 lbs.), the amount realised being £193,677 17s 2d. From the start of operations in the Waihi mine up to the 20th of July, 1901, £1,746,527 worth of gold was taken out, and many other properties have yielded exceptional returns. The richness of the claims developed attracted the attention early in 1894 of both English and Continental capitalists, and shortly afterwards a number of companies were formed to take up or purchase properties. The influx of English capital caused an army of promoters to take the field, and claim after claim was thrown on the English market, with the result that the best and richest properties at the present time are controlled by English companies. Every credit, however, is due to these companies for the energetic and enterprising manner in which they have developed the North Island fields. They have sent out their best engineers, erected the most expensive and modern plants, and spared no expense to thoroughly exploit the country. The reward they have received is therefore deserved, and no one grudges it to them.
Since the introduction of the cyanide process a great saving in gold has been effected, and at the present time stone which a few years ago would have proved worthless can be treated with profit. Statistics compiled up to the 31st of March, 1900, show that the stone crushed in the Auckland district from the 1st of April, 1880, to the 31st of March, 1900, amounted to 1,914,747 tons, which yielded 2,932,876 ounces of bullion, the average yield of gold or bullion per ton being, since the introduction of the cyanide process, slightly over two ounces. The total output of gold from the Auckland district for the year which ended on the 31st of March, 1900, was £672,453 —an increase of £96,811 over the year 1899. The total amount of gold entered for export from New Zealand from the 1st of January, 1857, to the 31st of March, 1900, amounted to 14,608,901 ounces, valued at £57,406,100. There were, at the close of 1900, 1235 head of stampers in active work in the Auckland district and 265 in course of erection, and there were, in the latter part of the same year, eighty mines crushing regularly with results more or less profitable. These figures and statements demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt that the goldfields of the North Island of New Zealand rank amongst the richest in the world.
All mining articles connected with the provincial district of Auckland are classified under the names of the places to which they relate, and are brought into this section of the work, instead of being inconveniently dispersed, according to towns and districts, throughout the volume.