COROMANDEL. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) March 2nd.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIX, Issue 1782, 6 April 1863, Page 8

COROMANDEL. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) March 2nd.

If the waverers, sceptics, and rovilers of Coromnndol, and especially the ridieulers of Coromandol believers, could Jmve seeu tho sight that met a visitqi''s eyo to clay at My. Woodin's oflicc, ou reef claim No. 5, I think they would not have, objected to have their noses rubbed against the " masses of gold " there from slicor enthusiasm, such. as is developed in' human breasts at ihe sight of hemps, of the all-coveted metal. "Tn half-an-hour, to-day, 103 lbs. of the richest stone yet seen was taken out; in the following tw o hours 113 lbs. weight. Yet a,ll this is nothing compared to the , importance of " tho aizo " of some of, these stones; there is no mistako in that stone being ," reef-slone," moaBurin{p9i inches in. thickness, "with bars of gold of a hand's width running right across" it. In a few days that claim maj' bring to light from 500 to COO pounds weight of such stone, and thus wo will see whether instead of the " iron " that now has entered many a shrinking soul, tho pi'coious metal will not penetrate deep enough into Auckland souls to stir them from their childish despondency. A grent deal moio might be said on tins .subject, but such "a triumph " makes people generous, and we. will not harrow any human being's feelings at an hour when everybody ought to be simply thankful for suwi splendid results, the fore-, shadowing of p, gvand future for this country. The mill at the junction will now also be at work soon, and events A\ill follow thick aud fast —events that will speak for themselves. — " Daily Southern Cross," March 5. March 6. I think it was a most fortunate circumstance that his Honor the Superintendent was here, as an eye-witness to tho riches got from No. 5 ; also that ho descended the shaft, and saw and felt with his own eyes and hands, the rock-bed in which tho fortune of No. 5 lies cradled, or else the whole thing might again bo treated as an outflow of an overwrought imagination, or the result of some cunning fionti-pociis invented for the benefit of Auckland gulK. Next Tuesday, lion ever, some pretty substantial and circumstantial exideneo will come to town to relievo even his Honor of the responsibility of standing as sole witness to tho north and solvency of our prospects. From 10 to 50 pound'weight of gold will probably be sent to town —the result of 2681b. of specimens now on hand. Another leader in the same claim hn-s been tested —72lb. of quart/ yielding lib. weight of gold. This is too poor for handerushing, Iml would pay splendidly in a mill. Our junction mill has been crushing tliis week some quart/, and mullock of No. 1 Junction claim, of E. Wood and T. .Robinson Though gold was nowhere \*>iblo to the eye in the stone, it is now visible throughout the crushed pulp, and will paj' well. Some difficulties are experienced in the amalgamation process, the reasons of which arc not ascertained yet. The mill crushes splendidly. The water regulation alone is not perfect yet on account of the impossibilitj' of procuring in Auckland tho right size of cocks, but this will be remediedshortly; there isno fear of this mill losing gold. Mr. Itelly got this w eek from 40 to 50 lb. weight of beautiful specimens, and as the rich formation of No. 5 runs into Mr. Kellys claim, this latter claim, No. 'I, will probably turn out one of the best claims on the creek. Mr. Murphy crushed this week a few of his specimeus, about 50 lb. weight, and obtained 5 lb. & ounces and 15 pennyweights. The gold is a splendid sample and w ill probably fetch a high price in an unprejudiced market. The Victoria, claim, in tunnelling from the creek towards their shaft, has struck a fine solid leader of five to six inches in thickness ; gold is not visible yet, and no stone has been crushed, but as all leaders here arc very uneven m the distribution of gold, tho company may be expected to comi) upon the richest patches shortly. Thus Coromandel stands a fair chance of revenging itself upon those small in faith. CoronuunM has gone back only in the opinion of rash people in town, who at one time sawgolden neaps before them "with their eyes shut," and subsequently kept those same eyes shut to tho actual condition of things here, which have gonc ] on gradually improving from the day that opened Paul's land. —" Daily Southern Cross," March 10. March 9. 1301b. weight of specimens from No. 5 have yielded <10 odd pounds w eight of gold. This gojd will go to town to-morrow, aud it is to be hoped will ro-establHi the "equilibrium" between caution that tempers enterprise, and ardour that pushes things ahead —wherein a deficiency of lieal has been felt lately. 1501b. of the, same class of specimens are not crushed as yet, and their result will not reach town till the end of the week probably. A leader has been struck in the lower drive of Kcven's J?ccf Claim iv which gold is visible to the naked eye, though the formation itsolf is nothing as yet to work upon. Still it is a very satisfactory symptom to encourage continuance of work. Before that claim is fully proved for good or bad a great deal of more work will have to be done. Those who will be ablo to hold out till that time, will then reap the benefit of the outlay in machinery, which was certainly disproportionate to tho outlay on opening up the claims —a discrepancy that lias occurred with more than one pioneer quart/- company. A claim south of Mr. Murphy's, belonging to J. Jones and others) has struck gold in a leader in their main shaft. This clnim mny shortly be expected now to show some of its promising elements whose existence has been predicted for some time past. The leader inlhoYictona tunnel hasincrcusedconsidcrablyinsize; no goldis,however, visible yet, and the company seems disinclined to crush till the gold can be seen with tho naked eye. The Albion Company of No. 0 No. 16 have succeeded in slopping their heavy leakage by clay dams and boxing up the > creek, and wo may shortly hear again of their continuance of good prospects. The difficulties of amalgamation of the crushings of Mr. E. Wood's and Mr. T. Robinson's qyartz of No. 1 Jiuietion Claim, in the' Junction Mill, have been successfully overcome. ,It appears that the burning of the quartz removes all such difficulties, and wo will liear of! the yield of that quartz hi a day or two. "A great' obstacle to tho steady continuance of crushings in tho same mill is tlic absence of all facility of communication. A meeting of diggers and shareholders in the mil] was hold on Saturday last,, for the purpose of considering the best means to remove this difficulty, but no satisfactory result was arrived at. , s . The old claim of Murphy's, on Cbolahan's gully, has struck gold.-" Daily Southern Cross,' March 12. ,

March 12th, 1863. The claim east of J. Jones, of Messrs. G-ribble and Patrick Cuddy, has, struck gold; a 'fine quartz formation was cpnuMipon in, the vicinity of their tunnel by a shaft. .-Ton, pounds of quartz yielded nearly ten penny weights'of gold —an, excellent prp^pect^ Thus ,our( gold discoveries are spreading now morp.and'more over' an extensive area, llie gaps or (l 'blanks, i' i thorcfqre, may, be expected, to be filled/jjp/shortly as well, rlt would" seep thus jalmos.tLsupernuous to point to, \tjho pulse of the,times ,nere/"to', jthpitoady inorcaso, of he^th^u^'vitality festing jts,elf in our affairs in "sp'tye of ,li^ndrod draw^aqk's, yeji the* superfluity of such'references jiß .prhujipally based ppon the ho-peless blindness see in the seedling the ,comingiree i.,' i _ Th|e old and to-a&yt-Zov this afternoon^ rather,''several' pounds weight of splendid specimens were

'taken oab.."'tf.'iii a"' great pity to 'soft ho 1 many 'valuable specimens for geological ( museums'as those thai have come already' from that same shaft,' crushed 'like common quartz,' yielding thus only the,absolute value of the gold contained*; the" beauty of the roses of quartz and gold,,crystals' in, thetfe specimens is such that even in, Melbpurnp they would fetch a high price, independent of their intrinsic-valuo. The shaft of No. 13 Creok Claim, contiguous to Mr. Kellys shaft has also been worked again this week, and the old lode of specimens has been touched by Mr. Henry Macade; another little harvest of gold may therefore be expected shortly from tins, claim. It appears that at last the right to a tramway has been granted by Pita's tribe for a consideration, of course There were many ditliculties in the way to, this desirable consummation, and it is duo W the'perseverance and zeal of his Honor, our new superintendent, and the able and statesmanlike manipulation of Mr. If. Munroe, the interpreter, that wo stand now a chance of a safe winter transit from the hills to the beach., A great many fine points were made out by our native lawyers in' their views of the Government bargain for this gold-field. In their interpretation of the treaty, firewood " for machine* was not to be given free —a point which will yet bo productive of much litigation and wrangling. Thus, on a first view, it appears almost as if the nholo treaty was made in 100 great a hurry; but if ire remember how difficult it was to got " any " concessions whatever from the natives at the time, and thai if we did get the right to the gold, the rest could bo paid for, our good sense must reconcile us to minor evils, and keep fresh that thankfulness due to the diplomacy that managed to insert the thin cud of the wedge into the knotted fibres of native difficulties in Coromandel.

March 13th. Mr. Jlenry Mncado of No. 13, is getting today some fine specimens.; the formation looks continuous. More specimens also from the tunnel and shaft of Messrs. Kelly and Co. Mr. J. Robinson of No. 1 Junction claim, had, this' afternoon, from (3 to 8 pounds of beautiful specimens from the leader iiv his tunnel; these specimens seem thoroughly charged with gold.—" Daily Soul horn Cross,"* March 17.

March 10. No. 1, Junction Claim, of Messrs. E. Wood and J. "Robinson, is still yielding those fine specimens that came to light last week ; in the drive the gold U visible yet everywhere in the stone, and a rich harvest may bo expected this week. The stone which was crushed from this claim in the Junction Mill yielded, to about half a ton, three ounces; this was stone in which no gold was visible, and as the amalgamating process is still very imperfectly arranged, it may bo surmised that all of the gold has not boon extracted from that stone. Bat oven as it is. if such stone yields sik ounces to the ton—the general yield of our Driving Creek qiuvrtz now on hand, will throw a good deal of gold into the market so soon as 1 evpi 1 it can be crushed. The *[uart7, claim of Mr. George Hanson, tailing on to Mr. Brackonbury's claim on the beach, has brought to light n most, important discovery. It is reported that the roof formerly struck by a shaft, has been struck now at a greater depth by a tunnel, finding that reef there "-five feet thick." The formation on the top was proved auriferous by small tests ; if the same should be the ca&c w ith the lower part of it, the Eleven's llecf Company stands a fair chance of retrieving its losses by striking the same formation, -which must necessarily pass through their claim, and by raising an immediate return from crushing for Mr, George Hanson's claim. Such arc the present prospects for our winter, and as the Government also is now dealing by us fairly with energetic help, we stand a fair chance of developing after all the rosources of this gold-field, without undergoing once more a'ibalcful period of stagnation —" Daily Southern Cross." March 18.

( March 20. A Mosr important discovery \\ as made yosterdny. The Victoria claim, the head of all western claims, has struck gold. Though the quantity of gold seen is unimportant, '" tl*c fact" of that lino quartz formation, in their new shaft and drive, being auriferous—that fact is well worth the arduous labour and unflinching perseverance evinced by ihat brave ooiupany of miners under Mr. E. Morgan's leadership. Mr. Kellys shaft, close to the boundary of No. 5 and No. 13, has brought to light another leader, yielding in a couple of days .about 101b. weight of fine specimens. The gold in those specimens is as yellow looking gold as over Victoria yielded; and Victoria would bo har^d set to show a space of ground of the same diminutive ovtent as the ouo on which tho three shafts of No. 4<, 5, ant} 13, are congregated within a few feet of each other, having yielded in the same short period of working, such an ] amount of gold as those three shafts have yielded already. "What an honest little pile that bit of ground would be to one man as sole possessor! No. 3 has been getting this week a valuable lot of specimens, betweon 251 b. to 801b. weight. Amongst thorn a new gold-formation has turned up —a thickly granulated/batch of gold imbedded in the hardest kind of solid quartz., These specimens will crush exceedingly well, as regards the yield'at least. > Tho same may be, said of the specimens that are continuing to turn up in tho junction claims of Mr. E., Wood and Mr. .James Eobinson. These specimens will probably yield 50 per cent., being thus porhaps the richest yet found in the' Driving Crook. There is a rumour current of a now discovery in this neighbourhood—place and circumstances unknown. Tho whole thing is kept dark as yet. Tho men aro said to work at night, and tho specimens aro said to bo richer than "any" yet seen in the Driving Creek. En a few days the discovery will be made public, and deal thus another' blow against the revilora of Coromandel. Kevon'u JJecf Claim has struck anotherloader of fine stone, similar in its nature, in fact identical, with the quart/ of tho Driving Greek. The size of tho stone is good—about four inches thick—the grain and to\ture very solid. 3 have just inspected the reef of Mr. George Hanson. The roof as struck now in tho tunnel, is of exceeding holulilj 1-, Tho thickness, including casing, is five feet, tho thoroughly solid part is three feefc. Gold is visible in one stone, and a little crushing, contemplated soon, may be cipoolod to give a satisfactory verdict. This discovery is of the utmost importance to 'the. shareholders in the Seven's Beef Claim. If such quantities of stone as maybe had handy jfrpm •this, reef are proved to contain payable gold, nihl (lefpcvqnawm should be adopted as the present watchword o.l' that .company. — " Daily Southern Cross," March 24

• March 22. It is'just about a year ago that a party of two, working iiv Coohihan's Gully, having attracted general attention through thoir continuous work, wer6 visited by the resident magistrate for the purpose of eliciting information oiiithe results of their work. This visit was followed by others,—of diggers from tho main encampment at the Tiki, of his honor the late Superintendent, and gradually the " oight" diggers, solo occupants of Pita's land, with Mr. Murphy tho vctoVan leader of the fiivsfc pioneer rcoiing party, were reinforced by deserters from the Tiki interest. What was tho condition of this rogion'thenl? It required groat '■'interest "to 'prtfourd' provision at all, lovo as well 'as»inorioy 'was n6cossary to induce people to part with the' 'necessaries of life—for Auckland, though'at the samo'dis^anco from us'then as it is now, was virtually very far off, 'through the precariousn'ess'of cutterl'comin'unication, and consequently nulde supplied uneortain. About that time some prediction's() wore' made -, about i Cdromandel's capabilities'ili general, and those of'the Driving Crock in particular; these prcdictionWfou'nd the '■greatest'i^vilers'ancbd^p'oflentsiin the diggers then at the Tiki. The public of Auokland re-

ceived thorn more' fay6urabtyV for they desired them to bo trite.' Itf'Juljr.'nino monthsago, thfl Driving Creek was rushed; and tlie diggers found those predictions?trite, that creek "was "' seamed with loaders, as-had been told them ; and they believed. " tfhe-towhs people then' t«dk an opposite position,' most pi tlieir outlays 'on Coromandel not liavth'g received that prompt return to which thcy'wero acens'tomed. This now stylo of investment, requiring a patient spirit of perseverance was A roted a humbug, and a snare. Now lot us look around and see what nine months of humbugging lias done for us. There evtends now for nearly two miles a succession of buildings, stores, private dwellings, hotels, workshops,' &c. —the gaps in this line becoming wi th every now mori Mi fowor and shorter. AMeaincr,thegrcatestboonofall, links us closely to our emporium. And all this exists and " increases " in spite of the repeated announcements of the moribund condition of Coromandel, and in spite of a continuous drain of our mining population. It must be admit ted that much of this advancement is due to an '• apparently" mistaken idea of the velocity of our probable progress. But if the pioneers can hold out, they will reap a proportionate harvest to tho anxiety and uncertainty a changeful 1 season brings along with it. Who can doubt, i\hen " a week's work " will give, from one shaft, 1001b. weight of specimens —as Mr. Kellys shaft did this week. No. 5 shaft is contiguously taking out specimens from the same leader, up to tho imaginary line that forms the boundary when " the wall" is divided. When one shaft can yield from 600 to 800 pounds worth of gold in specimens alone, the quarterly average, when *all the quartz can be crushed, will convince the greatest stickler for figures that there are paying claims in Coromandel. If a jury of the " severest" quartz miners tvero to sit on the doings of Coromandel since its fh'st beginning ,of general activity, nine months ago, they would pronounce its results as past all praise, and recommend an action of defamation of character against all those who aver that Coromandel obtained money under false pretences.

March 23. Mr. Keliy got, this forenoon, 301b. weight of specimens. Tho sum total of his proceeds of the last two weeks are considerably above 20011). weight—-probably C2.00U worth of (phi. No. 1 Junction Claim of R. Wood and James Robinson are continuing to take out fine .specimens. Mr. Gribblo has .struck gold m No. 2 Junction Claim. Mr. Colo is within four foot of Ins auriferous loader got in the tunnel. Thus Coromandel is not asleep !