THE CHAMPION COPPER MINE.D

The welcome news reached town last night that the smelting operations at ibis mine bad at last proved successful. Determined, to make another trial as soon as possible; after the failure reported on Saturday, "tbe manager bad the furnace heated 'on tha*. night, and yesterday morning at 11 'o'clock every i hing was ready and the furnace was 'packed with ore from both the Champion and United Mines and the necessary proportion of coke. The blast was set going, and in a short time the molten metal began to pour forth in a steady stream, the barrows made to contain the ingots, each weighing about 4cwt, being filled at the rate of about one every half-h- ur, and everything I was going on most satisfactorily up to 3 I o'clock, when our informant left. There is a large quantity of ore already calciued so that tbe furnace will now be kept in full blast without being allowed to cool. Two men were kept steadily at work during the four hours referred to shovelling in the coke and ore while two more were employed in removing the metal. That the difficulty which attended the smelting has been overcome is a matter for sincere congratulation, and we earnestly hope that the venture will soon be indisputably proved a remunerative one, for the successful working of the mine is a matter in which not the shareholders alone are interested. They most certainly deserve success for they have done all in their power to command it, but while it is they who will reap the direct profits, it is difficult to say who in Nelson is nob concerned in the development of an industry that will employ a large amount of- labor and in which so large an amount of local capital has been sunk. A very anxions time indeed must tbe shareholders have had during the last few months, but we sincerely trust that the time is nob far distant when their patience, perseverence, and pluck, upon which so l:irge a demand has betn nude, are about to reap their well earned reward.