Mining at Te Aroha before the murder in February 1881

Abstract

Mining was slow to restart after the Christmas holidays on a goldfield whose value was still unknown. Some miners did not return, but other men, mostly with mining experience, replaced them. As was pointed out, more testing was required to justify the cautious optimism, and more explorations did not discover any payable ore or a reef of any sort. More capital was needed to fund adequate development, and the lack of a battery held back the field. Some searched the nearby countryside, fruitlessly, but at Tui the mostly Maori miners working there seemed to be having better results. Unskilled miners who drove incompetent and even dangerous adits wasted their efforts, while others were accused of shepherding their ground. Two companies formed during January attracted many small investors, but experienced miners started leaving for newer finds, and non-miners abandoned their attempts at mining after discovering that gold was not easy to find. But others remained hopeful, and waited for the erection of a local battery to prove the value of what they had found.