WEST COAST MINING NEWS. (from our own correspondent )

Otago Witness, Issue 1501, 21 August 1880, Page 10

WEST COAST MINING NEWS. (from our own correspondent )

Gretmouth, August 9 tb. Since my laot communication I have had )|ttle or nothing pf any importance to

report on in mining matters. I believe, however, that tho various fields south of Hokitika— tbat is to say, at Lake Mapourika and at the Forks, in the Okarito district, and also at the locality of the recent good find al Paringa— will show up as the spring progresses, and that in % probably a couple of months, or eveu lesn, miners will be found making their way in considerable numbers to those fields. At Mapourika several claimholders are on good payable gold, and a large field i 3 supposed to exist.

At Barry ville (Seventeen- mile) the various claims are in full working order and with really good payable results — one or two of the claims yielding extraordinary returns. The goldfield, however, it must be borne in mind, will not hold out for any length of time, unless indeed the very extensive flat now being tested prove payable. It is already stated on reliable authority that the prospecting company who are taking in a tail-race through the fUt have crossed ground which will yield L 2 10$ to L 3 per week per man. I should not like, however, to vouch for the perfect accuracy of the statement, and it has therefore to be taken cum grano sails. I hope, however, that something really good will be lighted upon in the flat, and if so it will speedily become a second Kumara, and be more easily worked and the ground less dangerous. In the Barryyille locality there are numbers of very! fine looking terraces for gold, and I understand that these will be fully prospected when the days get a little longer. This district generally is highly thought of by practical miners, and its gradual development is doiug great good to the trade of Greymouth, from which, of course, all stores, tools, &c. are taken. Barryville, I notice, has been oiled Fosfcery by tbe Government, on the recommendation of Mr Warden Mackay and the Chairman of tho County of Grey (Mr A. R. Guinnecs). Fostery, it appears, is the maiden name of the wife of Mr Richard Nancarrow, mayor of Greymoutu. But tho miners were indignant at the affair, held the usual " momter " meeting, aud Barryv e jH _ B0 named aftor the prospector— will most properly become the acknowledged name of town aud district. It is very wrong in people who have no earthly c mnection with either the place or its nomadic inhabitants, to assume to themselves the tight to give it a namej and the miners Mfc the interference, aud very properly rtst-nted it. Sluicing operations in the Nelson Creek district progress favourably, although the miners growl considerably at what they conc?iva to be too high a charge for the water of the Government race. This district maintains a pretty large population, all in steady employment, hau a good State school, very well attended, and a public reading-room aud library. In the No Town district matte r3 are in a quiei-cent state, and there i is Borne talk t>f the formation of an aided prospecting association. This portion of our auriferous territory looks well for still greater development, as many finelookiug terrace formatioos have never been in any sense tried. At Deep Creek, about seven miles from No Town in a southerly direction, there will be some little stir shortly, as it is a good field for prospecliog, and has barely been touched. No Town ;and Red Jacks combined carry a population of nearly 300 soul?, and there is a newly-erecttfd State school, well attended, and a prosperous public readingroom and library — the latter having recently been recognised by the General Government. In the Grey Valley generally, the miners who are engaged in sluicing operations would have better annual returns and more constant work were the supplies of water larger. In this matter, however, I ana convinced that the minern themselves are considerably to blame. Had they only exercised foresight enough in dry seasons and gone to work ia enlarging their various danaß into reservoirs of decent capacity, there would be no complaining now. I have known instances of men in several parts (if the coast devoting all their leisure time to tho enlargement of their dams and the onsequence now is that they srj never without sufficient water, except indeed, when thera may bappeu to be a season of summer drought. Miaers who are engaged iv sluicing, and who have no constant supply of water, would therefore act wisely and well in devoting their numerous spara days during the year either iv tbe erection of additional dams, or in the extension and enlargement of existing ones. In rainy weather the quantity of unused water going oceanward is enormous, and by the exercise of a little foresight on the part of the miners a gnod deal of it could without any serious difficulty be properly utilised for tho henefit of mining, the consequent increase cf the annual incomes of the sluicers, and the general good of the country.

In your issue of 31st ult. I have been taken to taßk in a small way by " A Gold-miner," writing from Greyinoutb, and while I think a good deal of his communication, I must still reiterate all that I stated in my correspondence of 3rd July with reference to the gold-mining industry. After an experience of 13 years on the West Coast goldfields, and after taking an active, and frequently a very prominent, part iv everything having a tendency to encourage development of new and untried goldfields, and also to lessen the State burdenß upon miners and to generally improve their condition, I am still of opinion that this generation will witness . the almost total abandonment of our alluvial field*, unless fielda of extent and moderately attractive come to the rescue. That such fields do exist, that they lie embosomed in numberless terrace formations, tbat ancient water- ' courses bearing payable gold still lie unrevealed to human eye, and that energy and indomitable perseverance will yet lay bare their riches, Ido not for one moment doubt. But unless new hands in hundreds come from where they may, men with a little money, and in ' whom the strength of youth may be seen vicing with the energy and pluck usually accompanying it — unless such men make their appearance, and that Bhortly, _ alluvial goldmining as an industry on this West Coast will wane and gradually fade away. Every^ encouragement, therefore, ought now to be given to prospecting in likely-looking localities, The General Government must step in and give substantial aid to prospecting associations formed on a sound and honest basis, if it wishes to fos'er and etill further encourage the goldmining industry ; and remembering the past, the enormous annual revenues of the first 10 years of gold-mining on the Coast, it is almost in duty bound to hold out now a most liberal hand of encouragement. I therefore repeat my statement that " the goldfields generally, in this part of the country, are gradually getting poorer, and the average weekly earnings of the mining population decreasing." ' j May I take the liberty of pleading the cause of the widows and helples3 orphan children of the two brothers, John and Denis Fhelan, miners, who were killed recently ia the Sludgechannel at Kumar a? Tbe particulars of the sad calamity are no doubt well known all over the Otago goldfields, and the case is rendered more pitiful from the fact that John's widow is an inmate of the Hokitika Lunatic ABylum, while Denis' widow|is afflicted with an incurable malady. There are seven poor children to be aided, and I doubt not the well-known generosity of the Otago miners will in this to-

stance lack nothing of its lustre, I may mention that the third brother, James Phelan, who was got out alive, now lies hovering between life and death in the Kumara Hospital, and that he has a wifeand four children. Subscriptions may be remitted to Mr P. Duggan, hon. see. " Fhelan Relief Fund," Kumara, and will be most gratefully acknowledged,