UPPER SHOTOVER.

Cromwell Argus, Volume VI, Issue 306, 22 September 1875, Page 6

UPPER SHOTOVER.

[contributed.] It is impossible to say how we shall get along in the matter of our quartz reefs ; still I am inclined to think we shall go a great way towards becoming a rival to your Bendigo. Not, of course, that we have any idea of obtaining anything which belongs to you: ours will be a generous rivalry, for the more each gets the better will it be for all parties. There exists little room to doubt that the old Shotover is still rich in the possession of the precious metal. Even that in the river has not by a very long way been all extracted yet, and the quartz reefs are comparatively untouched. There is every reason to believe that the largest proportion of the alluvial deposits must have come from the reefs, as specimens are plentiful’ everywhere, and when Skippers Creek was first worked, you could pick them up by the bush el-fnil, while to meet with blocks of gold-bearing quartz, some heavier than a man could lift, was quite common. And as the alluvial gold did not extend up beyond the reefs, it is pretty certain that it must have come out of them. It must also be borne in mind that a very great deal has been done to develop them, but unfortunately both labor and money have been injudiciously expended. One company, the Great Scandinavian, now the Phoenix, spent £30,000 upon opening the mine and the erection of machinery, which consisted of a thirty-head battery, with all the latest improvements in the amalgamating process, even including a reverberatory furnace for dealing with the pyrites. But there followed no profitable result. Since the mine has been let to tributes, they have come upon it “ heavy,” as almost everybody knows, and it is to be hoped they have found the real reef, which it is said old Peter Sorenson, the original manager and once owner of the mine, lost. Whether or not, after a shower of rain the paddocks look splendid,—almost like unto a jeweller’s shop. On Saturday last, the necessary repairs having been completed, the battery was started, but some chips of wood getting into the. turbine-wheel, crushing operations had to be suspended. Scarcely anything has been done since, as several needful alterations have been required to be made, — the tributers having apparently started before they were ready, a by-no-means uncommon occurrence in mining affairs. Southberg and Co., the adjoining claimholders, are on very good stone, and are evidently in luck’s way. They are a very enterprising party of men, and deserve all they get. Our old Queenstown friend, Mr Albert Eichardt, has taken lip the Prince of Wales, which is undoubtedly a continuation of the Scandinavian line. It is the next best speculation to Southberg’s on Skippers, and there is water power on the ground for driving the machinery. A very good reef has been opened up in Butcher’s Gully. In Mr Thomas Grace’s claim, No. 1 East, the reef was found on the surface, just below the water race of the well-known Doctor Mong Poo. Upon opening up the ground the lode was discovered to be three feet in width, and having gold all through. The prospecting claim in the gully, held by Messrs Harris and Edgar, also* looks well, and they have plenty of water power for machinery. A number of parties are out prospecting on the ranges, and gold-bearing quartz has been found in several instances. Between this and Macetown, there are said to be some good gold-bearing reefs on the dividing ridge of hills, and I can testify to the fact of a number of specimens being picked up on the surface and in the gullies. But a specimen or so does not make a reef, any more than “ one swallow makes a summer,” and many will find this out to their cost. Hope goes a long way in the first enthusiasm of quartz mining. 1 n the matter of the alluvial workings, there never was a more disastrous winter. Scarcely any of the claimholders have earned their salt. It has been nothing but flood succeeding flood. Some of the operations for working the river-bed are upon a scale of great magnitude, and must be seen to be believed. Those of the Hibernian and Cornucopia companies, between Maori Point and Pleasant Creek Terrace, are well worthy of especial mention. Everything is upon a most elaborate scale, and they are bound to secure the gold whenever the river goes down. The workings of some of the Chinese parties are also upon a very large scale, and it must be acknowledged jiy every unprejudiced person that the Celestials are a wonderful people, and with ah our boasted high state of civilisation we have much to learn from them. The affairs of the Shotover Terrace Company remain still in a state of statu quo. Under the new organisation this company should go ahead. There is plenty, of gold in their ground, but it must be worked by the svstem of ground sluicing; tunnelling is ridiculous.

The want of monthly sittings of the Warden’s and "Resident Magistrate’s Courts at Skippers Point is a sad drawback to the prosperity of the place, and it really is scandalous how we are served by the Government in this respect. Our complaints to head-quarters only appear to create ridicule. We lost a great deal by Mr Henry Manders, as he told us in July last, refusing the Goldfields Secretaryship. An enthusiastic meeting of miners was held at the Library Hall at the Point on Saturday night last in respect to this matter, when a memorial to his Honor the Superintendent was adopted. It was shown that there were 400 adult miners working on the Upper Shotover, and that of itself should demand monthly Courts, The work performed by your Warden, Mr Simpson, was instanced as what Mr Beetham might do if he chose. It was also shown that

the district lost £SOO a year through the want of monthly Courts, while the expense' of having to go to Queenstown threw people into debt. One gentleman, a Mr, Hi B. Moore, said that he lost £SOO lately, through a case in which he was interested requiring to be heard at Queenstown, instead of Skippers Point. Your member, Mr MaoKellar, obtained a severe overhauling and a vote of want of confidence in his administration of the affairs of the Goldfields. This appeared to have arisen from one party stating that when Mr MacKellar, Mr Beetham, Mr Ulrich and others visited the Upper Bhotover, Mr MacKellar seemed to be impressed with its importance, but that he must have been fascinated by the blandishments of Mr Warden Beetham when they returned to Queenstown. This was denied by a gentleman present who made one of the party referred to, and who represented, and I believe truthfully so, that Mr MacKellar never saw Mr Beetham after the party arrived back at Queenstown, nor from that time to the present. But it was of no use : the vote was passed. There is no mistake about it, the people are very indignant at not having their wishes in respect to monthly Courts complied with. I have a good deal more to say, but must leave it until another time, as I fear 1 shall be encroaching unduly on your space.