The End of the Rushes

MENTION has been made of only a few of the remarkable finds that were made in Otago after 1861; it seemed, for two or three years, that the whole country was sown with gold, but since1863 no such outstandingly valuable discoveries have been made by individuals prospecting with shovel and ‘ tin-dish.’ The beginning of the year1864 saw the ‘digger’ population at its height, 15,700 being the estimated number of goldfield inhabitants, of whom 10,000 were actively en­gaged in mining. By the end of that year a depres­sion had set in; the most accessible gold had been won, and the West Coast discoveries lured away many miners. Of those who remained, some con­tinued to make a small but steady income from gold-mining, and others returned to their previous pursuits or took up farming.

The next gold boom in Otago came at the turn of the century, when improved dredging machinery brought fabulous returns from the working of river-beds. To this period belong the sensational dividends paid by some dredging companies, such as £85,750 paid by the Hartley and Reilly Com­pany on a capital of £.7,000; £50,000 paid by the Rise and Shine Company on £ 12,000; and £32,000 paid by the Rising Sun Company on a capital of £8,000.

This revival of gold-mining was not a repetition of the early gold-rush days. Although the share­holders were numerous, the actual workers were few; and they were mainly technical experts, who with the experience gained in Otago found no difficulty in securing for themselves lucrative positions overseas. The dredging boom brought more money to Otago, but it could not repeat the beneficially stimulating effects of the first rush, and it attracted few valuable permanent settlers. The romance of this bonanza lay not in the heroic endurance of hardship and the overcoming of physical obstacles, but in the spectacular rise of stock exchange quotations, and well-timed buying and selling of shares.