town of Okarito, there was not the slightest alarm felt by the business community as to the stability of the Bank of New Zealand, and until 2.30 p.m. business went on as usual. About that time a number of miners rushed into the Bank of New Zealand from the Five Mile, and demanded gold for their deposit receipts. The agent was at his wits end to know how to act. Fortunately for him Yates put in an appearance, and learning the cause of the excitement, he told the diggers that he did not believe in the truth of the report; had it been true he would have had some special communication from Hokitika. Several miners asked him if he would take Bank of New Zealand notes; he replied in the affirmative. This fended to allay the excitement. The next mail brought the news of the stoppage of the New Zealand Banking Corporation. The similarity of the name to that of the Bank of New Zealand had caused the panic.
Okarito is situated about fifty miles south of Hokitika, and was at the date above-mentioned a stirring place. The diggings were a few miles south, at a place known as the Five Mile Beach. The claims, strange to say, were on the beach just above high-water mark. The lead extended for fully three miles, and the digging was only a few feet in depth. The top sand was scraped off until a layer of black sand a few inches thick was reached, which was immensely rich. Many a “pile” was made at the rush. A second lead was found some time afterwards a little further back from the beach, and a third still further inland, all running parallel to each other, the gold getting coarser the farther they went from the sea. On this, as well as on many of the other beaches on the Coast, it was quite a usual thing after stormy weather, to find men removing the black sand—which had been thrown up after each tide—to a safe distance above high-water mark, where it was piled up, and washed at leisure.
Many have been the theories to account for the beach deposits of gold on the West Coast. The gold found is so fine and “scaly” that if dried it will actually float in water. One, and to me the likeliest theory, is that it has been washed down by the rivers, and then washed up on the beach by the surf. It favours this theory that the deposits are nowhere found more than three or four miles from the entrance to the various rivers.
This gold being so fine, and the black sand so heavy, renders a very complicated process for extracting the gold necessary, involving the use of quicksilver and copper plates. The latter I have known to be sold at the rate of £1 for 1 lb. of copper.
I was the first bank officer that visited the rush, and although the majority of the miners had large quantities of gold in their possession, my purchases were very small, the price offered not being considered enough, but it afterwards turned out to be a fair one. It was an impossibility to get the dust out of the gold, it being so fine, On my second trip I was nearly coming to
