KAURI GUM MINING IN NEW. ZEALAND 43 
that it is peculiarly fitted for those operating without capital. A 
long pointed iron or steel rod, or spear, is used to explore the soil, 
and is stuck into the ground from spot to spot, until a lump of 
gum is located, which is then dug out by a spade. In swampy 
land, where the gum is in soft mud, a hook is sometimes used to 
pick it out. Where gum is very abundant the whole ground is 
sometimes dug up without “‘spearing”’ or “‘ hooking.” 
Fic. 3.—Preparing kauri gum in New Zealand 
] 
Kauri gum mining began about 1847 and has continued ever 
since with varying annual productions. The production in 1856 
was 1,440 tons; in 1893 it was 8,317 tons;’ in 1903 it was 9,357 
tons, and in 1910 it was 8,693? tons. Up to the end of 1906 the 
total product of kauri gum in New Zealand has been estimated at 
275,319 tons, valued at £13,443,017.3 The price of the gum has had 
t New Zealand Official Yearbook, tgoo. 
2 Statistics of the Dominion of New Zealand, 1910. 
3 J. M. Bell and E. deC. Clarke, ‘‘The Geology of the Whangaroa Subdivision, 
Hokianga Division,” New Zealand Geol. Survey (1909), p. 96. 
