Prospectors and investors in the Te Aroha mining district during the 1930s

Abstract

This paper gives the ages, occupations, places of residence, mining experience, and all other details that have been unearthed about all but one of the men who acquired prospecting licenses during the Depression, along with five men who prospected for others. Malcolm Hardy and those associated with him are covered in another paper. In some cases a mini-biography can be given, but usually the available information permits only a skeletal outline of their lives. Few had experience of mining, and in almost all cases their prospecting or investing reflected a desperate attempt to make some money at a time of considerable financial hardship. Their often feeble attempts at prospecting or arranging for prospecting to be done produced no new discoveries and no ore of any value. Their lives and details of the extent of their involvement in mining are dealt with in alphabetical order.