The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 71
Kauri Gum
Kauri Gum.
This peculiar, but now important, industry is well worthy of note, and the following particular, from the Government Handbook, will be of interest:—
The ordinary method of searching for the gum is by first feeling for it a little below the surface with a steel-pointed piece of iron about ½ inch in diameter and 4 feet long, called a "gum-spear," and then digging it out with an ordinary spade. A skilful and industrious digger can earn as much page 42 as £3 to £4 per week at the work, and even children can make a few shillings a day at it. As, however, the gum-fields offer a refuge for all sorts and conditions of men, many who are old and infirm resort to them, and so the average earnings of those engaged in the work is reduced to £1 15s. or £2 Per week.
The gum is used principally in the manufacture of varnish, hut it is found useful for many other purposes, such as dressing "glazed" calicoes, &c. The best quality, which is scarce, is worth as much as £8 to £10 per cwt., while the poorest quality is worth only about £1 per cwt. in London.
Year. | Tons. | £. |
---|---|---|
1853 | 829 | 15,971 |
1861 | 856 | 9,888 |
1871 | 5,054 | 167,958 |
1891 | 5,460 | 253,778 |
1891 | 8,388 | 437,056 |