UP-RIVER DIGGINGS.

Grey River Argus, Issue 625, 20 January 1870, Page 3

UP-RIVER DIGGINGS.

• • MINING LEASES. AND LAND SALES. ' (fbom oca own correspondent.) Napoleon, Jan. 17. Faler and party's application tor a special grant of five acres of ground on the supposed continuation of the Mosquito Lead has been withdrawn, and the party have made a fresh application for 13 ordinary claims, with permission to amalgamate. This application will also be opposed. The original application was abandoned in consequence of Faler and Co. haying received official intimation to the effect that the system of giving special grants would be discontinued, in accordance with instructions from headquarters. The other application, by Clarke and Co., for a portion of the bed of Orwell Creek, has been adjourned to Cobden for adjudication. The opposition which has been made to the granting of these claims, in my opinion, partakes a good deal of the " dog in the manger" principle, especially in the case of Clarke and Co. at Orwell Creek. If the Warden gave an unconditional grant in every case in which an application for an extended area of ground was applied for, it would be a different matter ; but he does nothing of the kind. He has a discretionary power ' —which, be it remembered, is invariably exercised by Mr Lowe — which enables him to impose such stipulations and conditions as he may consider necessary to ensure the bonafide working of the ground, and effectually prevent monopoly for speculative purposes, and in the event of these conditions not being complied with the power of cancelling the grant is always reserved by the Warden. It is admitted on all sides that the claims on the Napoleon and other leads of a like description are too small, and the granting of these large claims is one of the remedies by which the evil can be met. We see the injurious effect of limiting the proportions of ordinary claims to such small dimen sions every day. The claims on the Wellington and Napoleon Leads are becoming gradually worked out, and how much better off are the majority of the share* j holders now than they were when they started ? The facts are, it takes such a length of time to reach the gold, even under favorable circumstances, and it re- ' quires such a heavy outlay in money, labor, and time to be made, before an ounce of gold is actually obtained, that the shareholders in the different claims are in most instances in debt by the time they have the first washing. This indebtedness has to be cleared off, and by the time this is done the small area of ground allowed

by the bye-laws is worked out. But this is taking a comparatively favorable view of the matter. In numberless instances men, otherwise inclined to act honestly, seeing the time they had spent, and the liabilities they had incurred, and knowing that by the time those liabilities were liquidated — not to take into consideration any remuneralion. for their own labor — the claims they had would be finished, they have become disheartened and have left the district in disgust, thus throwing away the fruits of their hard labor, and laying themselves open to the imputation of having acted in a dishonorable manner towards their creditors. There is no remedy for this state of things but the granting of larger areas of ground, and the introduction of the system of co-operative labor to work them. Let these areas be called by any name — leaseholds, special grants, or extended areas— but size, and an indefeasible tenure and title, as long as the condition under which they are granted is observed, are the considerations which should be first taken iuto account when they are granted. Great consternation has been caused by the announcement which has been made that the land on Totara Flat has been sold in Nelson without any notice being given to intending purchasers in this part of the country. It appears the upset price of the land has been reduced to LI per acre, and that it has all been bought up by speculators at Nelson. About six weeks ago we were honored by a visit from two " swells" from the North, one of whom is or was a member of the General Assembly, and the other a rich merchant in that direction, who is frightfully addicted to taking cold water as a beverage. People wondered why or how these magnates come to wander in this direction, but now we know all about it. They came to see "how the land lay." One of them, our temperance friend, has purchased 500 acres in the very best part of the flat, and the other has become possessed, it is said, of a larger area. If this land had been offered for sale two years ago at LI per acre, and proper publicity of the fact given in this district, every inch of it would be under cultivation to-day. The " Cockatoos" are furious, and those who were intending to become such are in a worse state. One individual applied fora certain area of land on this flat, and paid the requisite deposit some months ago, but it appears his application has been disregarded. It is also rumored that the town lots in the Ahaura township are to be sold by auction on the sly in Nelson this week, but this is too absurd to be noticed. The townspeople, much as they are attaohed to the Nelson Government, could not swallow that. Still what right have they to complain ? Would it not be the doings of their favorite Government, and have they not time and a^nin at public meetings and otherwise proclaimed the confidence they had in the Nelson Government, to the utter discomfiture of the "adventurers" who dared to raise a voice in favor of separation or annexation to Westland, or any change which would better our condition, for it cannot be worse than it' is. Another claim has driven on to the lead at Mosquito, the owners, Luken and Co., report favorably of their prospects. Another claim has also struck gold at the Canadian rush, but I have not heard the particulars. At Brandy Jack's, the lower part of the lead has been deserted by the original shareholders, but the ground has been taken up again by new hands. The parties who occupied the ground at first did not abandon it because they lost faith in it, but because in a great many instances their funds and credit became exhausted — another example of the fallacy of miners undertaking works of this expensive nature without having sufficient means to carry them throngh, and another argument in favor of co-operation. If one-half of the ; miners who were working on this lead had been fossicking or working for wages elsewhere, or doing anything whereby they could find the other half in tucker, such a spectacle as the abandonment of an admittedly good lead for want of means would not have been witnessed. A party of prospectors, who went out some time ago to explore the country between Moonlight and the Big River for quartz reefs, have returned. They have not succeeded in meeting with auriferous quartz, and they describe the country as being not at all likely to contain alluvial deposits of material value. The Avash in the creeks and terraces is composed of angular granite boulders, with here and there a lump of hungry-looking quartz, while the granite bottom crops out in all directions. They travelled and prospected one large creek to its source, a distance of nearly twenty miles, and barely raised the color of gold. The country becomes flat and swampy at the head of this creek, and travelling through it is a matter of difficulty. Although there is not much probability of a gold field being discovered in this locality one of the party told me confidentially that it would be a fine place to make-whiskey in. At Slatey Creek, which was the scene of a large rush about three years ago, a few parties are working, with what success I have been unable to learn. This creek appears to be the boundary of the gold-bearing country until the workings in the neighborhood of the saddle are reached. The intervening belt is composed entirely of granite with scarcely a trace of the precious metal. The diggings above the Junction still maintain the average yield of gold. The population at Mossy Creek, Red Jack's, the Blackwater, Black Sand, Little R«d Jack's, Cariboo, Smith's, Adam's Town, and the»Couht's Gullies, may be estimated at ahout 100, including the residents at the Junction Township. ! Antonio's Flat and Maori Gully No. 1 with the workings in the vicinity support about 150. Over the Saddle, Murray's and Sodier's Creek are almost deserted, in consequence of the rush to Boatman's Creek. This creek was opened during the great rush to the Little Grey country, about four years ago, by a party of boatmen who were on their way with a cargo of goods from the Buller to Fern Flat. They were detained at the bottom of this creek by a flood, and they employed their spare time in prospecting. It created some excitement when it was first rushed, but it was abandoned, owing to Avhat was at that time considered the heavy nature of the workings, and in consequence of the rushes to Charleston and Brighton which took place immediately afterwards, and which depopulated the whole of the upper diggings. Boatman's Creek is a tributary of the Lower Inangahua, and it can be reached from the site of the old township (Kynuersley) at Fern Flat, near

the junction of the main forks of the Inongahua river, in about three hours. The track from Fern Flat crosses Redman's, French's, and other creeks, but it is not available for horses. There is every probability of an extensive .i^old field being opened up in this locality ;it some future time. When the Inangsihua was first rushed the celebrated Bill Fox and his party spent some months prospecting the country lying between that river and the head waters of the Marui river ; they obtained prospects in several creeks which would be considered payable now, but at that time provisions were scarce and dear, besides, the superior attractions of places more easy of access gradually drew the population away. Mr Theophilis Mabille, late Government Mining Surveyor at Brighton and Wakamarina, also spent a considerable time prospecting between the Wa'ngapeka country and this river, and it is his opin on, publicly expressed more than four years ago, that payable quartz reefs exist in abundance. At the present time there are rumors of a rash on the Marui Plains, but from the state of our roads, it will concern and will be more accessible to the people of Nelson than it will be to us, although in point of distance we are nearer to it than they are.