MINING NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 12163, 6 April 1904, Page 6

MINING NEWS.

Au Auckland wire states that the return from the Kumata Reefs for the month is £2,200 worth of gold from 1,250 tons of stone.

The Cromwell No. 2 dredge stopped on Monday for repairs. The Cairntrodlie Company have now cleared off the debt with which they have been encumbered

There was no wash up last week on the Mystery Flat dredge. The top plates were lifted last week, but the boxes .are being cleaned up this week, and the return should he available in a few days. The dredge has not been working since Saturday, having been shut down for want of water. The drainage water which had been used to supply the paddock was cut off last week by a party of Chinamen who had a prior right to it, but the company are constructing a race to give a permanent snpply. Until this is finished the dredge will not he put into commission, unless heavy rain intervenes sufficient _to supply the paddock. The construction of the race is expected to occupy about a fortnight. The Hesscy’s dredge last week only worked ninety-four hours on the wash, as forty hours were taken up in removing silt and opening out. The water level in the creek has been raised by a fairly substantial dam constructed at a very small outlay. The dredge-master of Bignell’s No Town dredge wires that more beater bars are required for the centrifugal elevator. The Golden Bed dredge is working the deep run m Miller’s Flat, which is believed to have been the old bed of the Molynenx, run being between two banks of high reef. The cub Is nearly 100 yds wide, and the dredge-master estimates that it will take nine or ten years to work it up to the top of the daim. This ground is immediately above that on which the Golden Treasure made her name. With £4OO as a nucleus of a reserve ftmd, and the likelihood of an improvement in the ground further ahead, the company’s prospects are excellent. RETURNS. Hcsscy’s: 250z Udwt, hours. Cromwell No. 2 : 290z ISdwt, 162 hours. Enfield: 270z Idwt, week. Taniwha: 16oz, week. Paterson’s Freehold No. 2; 13oz ITdirt, week. Waikaka: Boz Sdwt, week. wicsr coast. Greenstone Creek: 250z 17dwt, week. Reeves’s Proprietary No. 1: 9oz, 88 hours. QUABTZ. Sibo lover; 88oz 13dwt, 216 tons; broken month. THE SHARE MARKET. DUSUDIU KXCKAXCS. This_ morning’s sales:—Unity, 6/6, 6/6. Quotations: — Alpine No. 2—Buy 27/. Bignell’s No Town—Boy 20/, sel 20/6. Charlton Creek—Sel 9/.' Dunstan Lead—Buy 10/, sd 12/. Electric—Buy 56/6” sol 38/. First Chance—Sel 11/5 New Fourteen-mile Beach—Buy 1/9 p. Golden Bed (ex div.) —Buy 12/6. Golden Run—Buy'27/6, sel 28/6. Hartley and Rilev—Bny 74/. Hesse Jr’s —Sel 28f. Junction Electric—Buy 4/3, sel 5/. ManuherHda—Buy 45/, sol 47/. Nelson Creek—Buy 55/, sel 41/, New Alpine Con sob—Bny 13/6, 'sel 14/6. No Town Creek—Buy 22/. No Town No. 2—Bny 4/9. Sailors Bend—Buy 23/, sel 24/6. Unity—Buy 6/3, scl 6/9. Waikaka Queen (ord.)—Sel 15/. Bank of N.Z.—Buy 87. National Insurance—Sel 22/9.

STOCK EXCHANGE NOTES,

The river has for the past few days been oscillating about the 6ft mark at Alexandra, its height this morning being sft lOin, and the weather fine.

As is usual after holidays, tho share market opened very quiet At this morning’s call the only stock in which any business was brought oft was Unity, in which values remained unaltered. In many other stocks the market showed an upward tendency, for last week many dredges were on splendid gold. Electrics and Nelson Greeks were very strongly sought, the resuscitated demand for the latter a week or more ago being explained by last week’s return. Alpine No. 2 and Golden Beds had strong inquiry without response, and in no case did any of the stocks quoted show anything but a firm market. The No Town Creek ventures were all in strong request, and Bignell’s improved to the extent of being unobtainable. at £l. During the call it was announced that a 1/ dividend had been declared in the Earnscleugh Company, and the chairman also read a letter from the Lady Roxburgh directorate in which any present intention of calling up the balance of tie uncalled contributing capital was disclaimed. A DREDGE WRECKED. Though the shifting of dredges about the Molyneux and especially the floating of them down-stream without lines appears at first sight a perilous undertaking, it has often been done, and has been attended by singularly few mishaps. On Monday, however, the operation proved disastrous to the dredge which formerly belonged to the Fourteen-mile Beach Company. As she had proved too small to work the claim, she was sold to'Mr F. W. Payne for £2OO, and a larger machine procured. An agreement between Mr Payne and Stewart and party, of Waifcaia, was entered into by which the dredge was to be removed and placed latter company’s claim on the Winding' Creek, below the Argyle shoeing claim. It was intended to float the dredge down to Miller’s Plat, where she was to be dismantled, and a start was made on Monday. Before an hour had passed since the journey was undertaken the dredge struck a rock at Shingle Creek, which, according to the plan, is at the foot of the Fourteenmile Beach claim. The river there runs through a gorge, and the strength of the current washed away the housing and some of the framing, the pontoons, which had sank, remaining fast on the rock. The crew succeeded in getting safe ashore. The general opinion is that the passage was attempted when the river was too low.