GREY VALLEY GOLD-FIELDS,

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1784, 24 April 1874, Page 2

GREY VALLEY GOLD-FIELDS,

[from our own correspondent.]

MINING. The tide has turned seemingly, for, according to the latest accounts received here, the "rushians" are quite as anxious to get away from the Palmer River, or ,rather,,frum that ominously named place, Cooktown, as the most sanguine of them were to get there. An old resident of Nelson Creek "camo marching home" on Tuesday evening in the middle of the mud and rain, thankful that he was able to march through mud and rain after his never -to- be - forgotten experiences of Northern Queensland. The tidings coining from the Palmer River rush are deplorable to put it mildly, and the latest news from Cooktown, via Brisbane, received at Sydney just before the departure of the steamer in which the latest arrival came, was, that the infuriated miners had determined to wreak their vengeance on the shipping companies, and as a commencement two large steamers had been taken possession of and headed south-about with full cargoes of returning wanderers. This is a rush of another description, and if the story be true, may result more disastrously for those concerned than even the Palmer fiasco. In our mining districts the bad effects of the stampede to Australia will be felt for many along day. It would almost seem from the present condition of affairs as if all the ready money has been taken out of the country. Between the ruah and the flood everybody and every place seems to be either cleaned out or washed out, as far as regards cash or or the probalities of getting auy. And the worst oi it i 3 most of the monied men who started for the Palmer River from the West Coast, and who did not get further than Melbourne or Sydney, are about {leaving Australia for the gold and diamond diggings of Africa, and, like the Flying Dutchman, are making for Table Bay. It will take a long time, even with the best regulated scheme of immigration and public works, to make up the loss in money and material we have suffered through neglecting to foster the only industry in this" part of the Colony worth " three pennyworth o' bad coppers." Only that there is a probability that some of the long-expected WATER RACES Will at last be commenced, the state of the goldfields at present is dismally suggestive of a universal collapse. The early starting of the Hochstetter race ia th» one light spot in the gloomy prospect now before us. A number of men will be em-. ployed at the work, and the expenditure in consequence will give immediate relief to the asthraatical tightness of the money market, if snch a thing as money will ever again find a habitation or a home in the pocket of any one in the Valley. As the making of the race progresses, the value of the undertaking: will become gradually apparent. If arrangements can be made so that the water can be brought along as the ditch is formed, the number of men who will find employment in connection with the work itself will be largely augmented by those who may find profitable use for the water. There is no doubt that even on the lower shelves of the terraces fringing the banks of the creek, payable ground will be found when shere is a sufficient quantity of water to be brought to operate upon it. The pity is that the relief has been so long a coming, for if the Hochstetter race, or any other of the main schemes of water-supply was about being completed now instead of only being commenced, it would take something more substantial than an imaginary goldfield at the other end of the world, so to speak, to give our gold fields such a mighty shaking as they have recently undergone. But we are told to be thankful for even small mercies, and that the Hochstetter race is fairly under weigh, we must turn our united energies in the direction of NAPOLEON HILL, And endeavor to get a water supply for the extensive and important district of which " old Boney" is the centre. We have, at last, an authoritative and reliable opinion as to the probabilities of getting a sufficient supply of water for the Napoleon and Noble's districts;'; Although the quantity of water to be obtained from the Randall Creek source is not so great as the public was led to believe from reports having the advantage of being both official and professional as a guarantee of their accuracy and reliability, there is plenty of water to be had from other sources almost as easily accessible as '■ RANDALL CREEK itself. With respect to this creek as a starting point for the Napoleon race, Mr Young, who is now exploring the country in search of the most permanent and abundant supply of water, has, it is said, given it as his opinion that the quantity of water runniug in the creek on an average the year round, season for season, would be between fifteen and twenty sluice heads, according to the guage of the Nelson Gold Fields Regulations. Still this would not be sufficient to justify an engineer in recommending Randall Creek as the main source of supply of such a race as the Napoleon will require to be of any practical use. Mr Young thinks he has scon the creek when the water was at its minimum guage, and then without being professionally accurate his estimate of tho quantity is nine sluice heads Nelson guage. This estimate of Mr Young's must be taken as correct, because in addition to Mr Young's acknowledged skill in the branches of his profession, he possesses undoubted ability as an hydraulic engineer, as his work in connection with the Hohonu and other large water races has shown. The persons who undertook to examine and report upon ,these races previously were not so well qualified to express an opinion; not having the advantage of professional knowledge | or experience in such matters, and it is very easy for any one not having made the study of hydraulics a specialty' to wrongly estimate the quantity of water running in a natural bed. But the question may be considered satisfactorily settled that there is an abundant supply of water to be obtained at a sufficient elevation to command the workings at Napoleon and the fifty or sixty square miles of auriferous country surrounding the Hill. The Nyanza, as some enthusiastic disciple of Livingstone christened it, or the Nancy, as the matter-of-fact and irreverent stock-drivers call it now, is a tributary of the Ahaura, and enters that river a few miles above the confluence of Randall's Creek and the main river. . It is said the water from, this river can be brought to Napoleon .; Failing this there is the Allen water, and if the worst should come there is the Robinson, both rivers

on the watershed of the Grey, and either of which, as far as is at present known can be utilised. Now is the opportunity, and the residents of all the districts likely to be benetitted by the Napoleon race, should U3e every means to push the undertaking to an actual commencement. The money is voted for the work, and will not be diverted to* any other object, if Mr Young should report.in favor of the practicability of the scheme at anything like a reasonable cost. The whole of the Upper Grey will feel the beneficial effects of such an enterprise, and it behoves the inhabitants to see that the subject does not hang fire. The matter will, no doubt, be again brought up during the next session of the General Assembly, and outside pressure cannot do any harm. With respect to the third great division of the water-supply scheme, namely, that for the district of i. * ; NO TOWN, .. There is very little doubt but that important place is in a very fair position to look after itself. The battle for water for No Town must be fought in the first place in the- Provincial Council. . When the honorable members for No Town take theic places in the Council at the ensuing session, it must be their business to remind the Superintendent of the glamor his Honor threw over, the restless spirits he had to encounter at every turn he made through the streets of the hexagonal little town during his visit as Mr Curtis the candidate. Didn't Mr Curtis promise that they would have the Teremakau brought into No Town, if it came to that? And in the wildneas of the excess of his I momentary generosity, did not hia Honor offer the Chairman of the meeting LIO.OOO on the spot to make a reservoir at Paddy's Gully? The gift was qualified certainly by a hint about the desirability of asking the consent of tho Provincial Council for the sake of appearances, as if the Council would refuse No Town anythingif asked under the present circumstances. When the Warden's departments arid the Police head-quarters are shifted to No Town, and when Judge Harvey finds it necessary to hold a sitting of the District Court there, and when other little arrangements now in course of settlement by the Town Council of No Town are completed, then the question mooted by his Honor of bringing the Teremakau or the Hurunui River to No Town can be finally disposed of. THE FARMERS. The farmers of the Grey. Valley have come to the conclusion that in these days of trade associations and consequent strikes they have as good a right to endeavor to "equalise-' matters as any other body of producers or consumers in the community. Accordingly, an effort is to be made to regulate -the' 1 tariff of prices for produce, and to definitely fix the current rates on a scale more in accordance with the laws, of supply and demand. As an instance, 'of the force of example, good or bad as the case may be, it may be stated that this movement among the farmers has been brought about by an assertion of the. carriers when giving excuses for the late rise in the rates of freight that "horse feed had greatly increased in price." The fact iB, produce — chaff especially — is lower now than it has been for a long time, and the farmers, in order to have the gain as well as the name, are going to raise the rates, so that the waggoners cannot have it to say that their statements have been contradicted. The. bringing about a combination among the agriculturists that will result in an unanimous agreement to adopt a fixed tariff of prices will be a matter of some difficulty in consequence of the facilities in the way of breaking through such compacts with impunity, no matter how carefully prohibitive the penalties may be made. Michael Savage, Esq. , the V ice-President : of the Grey Agricultural Association, will be requested to call a meeting of the members of the Association at an early date to consider the subject, and further action will de* pend upon the decision of the meeting.