MISCELLANEOUS.

The Dunstan Times states that a half interest in a mining claim at Bald Hill Fiat has been sold for £400, Mr Mitchell having disposed of his interest to his partner, Mr George Wilkinson. Seven years since Mr Mitchell bought into the claim and gave £500 and as the claim has been working ever since it may be assumed that the income derived from it, though little or nothing bas ever been heard, must have been very handsome for the half interest still to be worth £400. The claim is situated immediately at the foot of the gully or rather valley in which White's reef and White and Crossan's (late Wookey and Gavin's) reef, with many others, are situated. This gully or valley is of peculiar formation and runs as near as possible east and west. On the south side of the country it is all solid ground and the schist rock lining it by nearly perpendicular cliffs. On the northern side, however, it is, as it were, a quaking shifting mass with the bed rock twisted and contorted and shook about in every direction. On the north side and at the head is where the reefs, or rather the indications of them exist, and to the fact of the unsettled state of the ground it is that the reefs have no pertnanance. Well, towards the foot of the valley there is formed a natural basin covering some 10 or 12 acres of land, and into which the whole scourings of the valley must originally have passed. The whole of the basin itself has been occupied by somj of the older residents, in the neighbourhood for some year 3 past' and been under cultivation. Of lat#, however, some of the miners who were drawn into the locality by the reef discoveries had been working on the creek or southern side of the basin, and from what we can learn with varying results, sometimes being rewarded with a rich patch, at others making bare wages. Perseverance has at last, however, rewarded to seekers, and they have to all appearance dropped upon a deposit of more than ordinary richness. , The result is that 6ome 20 claims have during the week been marked out, and the' hitherto quiet spot is now a busy scene. It ie early yet to say whether there will be permanency in the find, but such is the impression of the men on. the ground. From White's reef little is heard, saving that about a dozen hands aj» now employed in and about the mine and workings. - Since the fresh supply of water has been- brought in from Butcher's Gully the battery has been kept going night and day, and the month of April should turn out a good sized cake. The cost of cutting in the Butcher's Gully race was about £70, and that of completing a lot of other necessary work on the surface will in all cost a lot of money ; consequently much of a dividend (if any) cannot be expected this month. A correspondent writing to the Wakatip Mail from the Head of the Lake, under date J^arpb 29, says .— " Having recently visited the

Invincible mine, and owing to adverse reports being circulated to the effect that the mine wgs exhausted, I wish to .these adverse rumo.ur's an Unqualnied 'denial. 1 was, under the cirsujn¥tarices> agreeably surprised to find the rains looking very promising indeed, feti^' returning the usual monthly average q! gold. ,It .is true the old backs ara nearly exhausted, but there is as much payable quartz lode going under foot as the mine ever contained, and it only needs sinking upon arid properly developing. If the directory still persevere and, carry on the work by opening up more backs", the old mine will again give a good account of itself, and its future will be assured. This v reef, with its. shoot *df stone, will extend to untold oeptns"j and most likely improve as it is sunk oh, this feature being peculiar to sotilte of the best mines in the colonies, t reiterate the mine is not one half exhausted yet." ..-:;• The following items are from the Lake County Press:— "We hear several persons have 6truek small patches in the alluvial at the Suckhsburn*, head of Lake Wakatipu.— The prompter's of the Melbourne company for Wotkihg t3arl~Hein's claim at Arrow river have, is is reported, paid a' deposit to bind this bargain. As we stated some time ago-, the 'claim was put under offer at a price. — At Macetown the .want of water has.suspended crushing operations. There was a fall of snow on the ranges on Tuesday, night,' which should replenish the supply. — The Premier Company have put on two extra hands during- the week, making 10 in all who%re engaged getting out stone. The reef has improved considerably during the past 10 days; it has widened, and the stone is much better in quality again; —The contractors who ate putting in J the tunnel at the Sunrise are n^w in betteV ground, they having broken through, the hard block of stone. - The funnel is' now in about 130 ft) and work will be continued as late in the season as the weather will permit. The party expect that it will be necessary to drive 90ft further before, cutting the reef. This party is evidently bent on genuine work-. — Mr Hyndman, Government, prospector, was in Queenstown last week from Big Bay. He showed some fine specimens of rough gold with quartz adhering to it. From information he received from an expert quartz reefer in Queenstown, he believes that there must be a quartz reef near the vicinity where he found the gold. — Mr W. Duncan (who, we are informed, is connected with a Melbourne company) is about to commence driving a tunnel at a point about half-a-mile above Cromwell to recover a iea'd which is believed to run through the Cfromwell flat. Mr Green-, at Opbir, oh his half reef, half mullock bank, is working away when the supply of water is sufficient and is making it pay. This is a most extraordinary discovery, and sets aside all scientific theories as to the location of gold, but brings into prominence the theory laid down by the Cornish miners in the early days of the Australian goldfields, who on being asked, as they frequently were by nonminers who were trying their luck on the fields, where gold was to be found, would invariably reply—" Where it is, there it is ; where it isn't, there it isn't. Throw your pick in the air and sink a hole where it falls."— Dunßtan Times. Messrs HaUghton and party, of East Roxburgh, have commenced working the deep ground at that place. A party of miners being about to proceed to the West Coast, Mr James Gore, M.H.R., communicated with the Mines department as to whether any information had been officially received from thejparties at present on the Coast, and yesterday received the following reply :— " In Minister's absence I reply to your telegram re prospecting at Milford Sound. No reliable report has been received on the discoveries by Sutherland or other parties in that locality.— F. H. Hambr." Over three tons of the auriferous stone from the Harbour Cone mine was sent to Ballarat on Friday by the s.s. Mararoa. Mr Shelmerdine, «ne of the owners, alsd went across, withthe intention of having the stone thoroughly tested. Captain Hodge, representing a number of English mining investors at Coroznandel, waited upon the Minister of Mines in reference to the Government giving a bonus as an additional aid to capital introduced to carry on mining operations. The bonus suggested. was to be at the rate of £1000 for every £20,000 actual working capital, and payable at the rate of £230 for every £5000 as expended, thus ensuring the actual expenditure of the capital on the ground before the bonus is given. Captain Hodge desired to know if it was Mr Larnach's intention to give special bontisies of, say, £1000 for each £20,000 so raised, and Mr Larnach said he could not agree to anything of the kind, as the Government should not be looked to to support such matters. Captain Hodge explained that what he had in view was an exceptional case where expensive machinery was required to provide for mining as deep as 2000 ft. He only made these inquiries to ascertain if this was the in ton tion of the Mining department, as he had been given to understand that such an arrangement would be approved of. < Mr Larnach said the public must disabuse their minds of being able to get any bonuses, of this kind. However, after listening to further arguments he said if the Auckland mepabers would support him in the matter he would be willing person* ally to grant loans. Mining affairs at the Thames are likely to . receive a great impetus owing to the very favourable reports received here lately of the treatment of refraotory Thames ores in Germany by a new German process. The experimental parcel of quartz sent to Freiberg yielded results which the most sanguine never hoped to see realised. While the Hon. Mr Larnach was in Auckland he was interviewed by members of the Chamber of Commerce and others interested in mining with, a view of getting a Government subsidy towards the cost of erecting an experimental plant at the Thames, which it is expected will cost some £1200; Owing to the loss sustained by the community over the La Monte experiments, it was felt that it was little use appealing again to commercial men* unless Government would aid. The Minister of Mines did not seem to be over-favourable to the scheme, remarking that from what he knew of this process it was very doubtfuL whether it would be applicable to all ores, and in that case it would be rather hard on the colony to provide plant to test certain kinds of ore which would be .useless for others. Ultimately he agreed tb give favourable consideration to a contribution of pound for pound, but frankly told the deputationists that if they expected the Government to do the whole work he would be only misleading them if he said such a proposal had his sympathy. INTERCOLONIAL. The Queenslander says that the- February returns for Gympie show the portion, of th.c.

faeld to be. most satisfactory, i Several mines .which for years. ,naye. been absorbing capital in .the, process >of opening put $he reefs <haye;come into tbfe dividend-paying list, and jt is worthy of note that in many cases the gold-bearing reefs have been struck at levels which on. Gym pie are at a depth hitherto unprecedented. During February 10,595 tons of stone were reduced, giving a yield of 12,9260z7dwt, being an average per ton of loz 4dwt and a fraction; Not only has the aggregate yield been much greater than in the corresponding pfcrloU of last year, but the average has been considerably higher. In February 1886, 8771 tons of stone gave 78486z of gold, the average being 18dwt per ton. The increase in stone -raised is therefore 1824 tons, and the increased yield 50780z 7dwt 12gr. The •calls for the month amounted to £6759 14s Id, and the dividends to £27,473.' During the month of January S'OO tons of stone were, tedufced at Croydon, Queensland, for a. return of 29080z 3dwt 12gr gold, or the splendid average of 3oz 12dwt 6gr per ton. At Charters Towers in February 6169 tons yielded 9456|0z, or ah average of a fraction over, l£oz to* the ton. :■ ' ' ' -' The Teetulpa correspondent of the Adelaide Observer writes: — For the first .three weeks \ in December, when the fever was at its height, and every inch of ground being worked, the average weekly yield here was, roughly, 7140z ; whilst for the three weeks ending February 19 the purchases were474o2 per week on the average. Estimating ' that there'" *erb in December 7500 men hew, ana that there are now 2s>o9 fa fttli ngiire)", it- will at once be once be Seen that those who have stayed and worked steadily on have done much better than those who first had a look for a few pennyweights and then left. A trifle under 4dwt a week per head is certainly not much to support our .present population on, and it is a poor weekly wage for a man's work, without considering the hardships he has to undergo here 5 but still it is enough where the necessaries of life are so cheap to keep body and soul fairly well t together on, and there are many men who are doing this, hoping for better times. It must also be remembered that the ' number of ' men reefing is now considerable, and fortunately becoming more so day by day, and the wages of these men are of course independent altogether of the gold now produced. The Sydney Weekly Tribune has beßn shown about 2000 diamon.d6 Obtained in the Sydney Otyftohd Crimp 1 any 's claim. The stones generally appear of excellent quality, and some of them are so true in form as to need very, little cutting. Accompanying the diamonds in the drift are large numbers of amethysts, sapphires, zircons, &c, Tinstone and gold are also found in small quantities. Several samples of smelted gold are being exhibited in the window of Messrs T. T. Jones and Son, 330 George street. The gold, we (Tribune) understand, has been extracted from iron pyrites and auriferous iron ores, treated at the Parn'ell Pyrites Company's works, Pyrmont; results from nine parcels of such ores being an average yield of 290z 19dwt 7£gr of gold per ton of ore treated. It is stated that none of this gold could have been saved by the ordinary mode of treatment, as, with the exception of one sample of uncrusbed quartz, the free gold had already been extracted. The treatment is said to be equally well adapted for auriferous antimony and dry silver ores, and the average loss of gold as compared with fire assays taken before and after treatment is put down as under 3|dwt gold per ton of ore. FOREIGN, The Stockton Mail (California) makes a short mention of a machine conducted on an entirely new principle, centrifugal force being applied for use, on a gravel cfaim near Campo Seco, in Calaveras County. - The machine was started a few days ago and exceeds the expectations of the owners. Four tons of gravel were run through in 10 minutes. It will require the labour of 30 men to supply the material from the claim to keep the machine going. Boulders 6in or Bin in diameter, iron, cement, and other hard substances are in a flash reduced to powder, and when the machine is in good running order, it will reduce a ton in three minutes. In the estimation of miners the new machine will create a revolution in gravel mining. A machine that knocks iron and boulders into powder in a flash must be built of some, new sort of material to stand the wear. The thing that wears such substance must get worn. The Mail's story reminds us of the man .who discovered a universal solvent, but was not able to use it because he could get no vessel to hold it.