THE WEST CANTERBURY GOLDFIELDS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 1785, 6 September 1866, Page 3

THE WEST CANTERBURY GOLDFIELDS.

OKARITA. ln£?? °" r fi v S t0 September I. The folZl g xt !"i l ? t V lisclose tlie state of mining matters m this locality. b Bu C C S C o?H En r We ! ,Gar 0f the »»ti™ed J S ! ( thef « ff Parties at work here. One ffiiri. I tur r dtl,erive ''. and in the ground Wlnch they have tried they got good sold CKJ™? 1 * of the river bed which upfreSsum2 f tC,W '. Th eylmye taken Bruce EayJsnZ^fSr^J meron ß ]y populated as hat there are not more tlmn aoo ; p T eo the ground, and of that number Ray be au.dthatthereare our equal division S digging storekepping, r hanging about." The number of storewas in excess of the requirements of the pop! t l »ff ve ™l?f them are now cosd. II se who have claims are, in general, doing well, and there is a considerable ex ent of ground winch will yet be wrought, but the de : >riiess of provisions, consequent upon the leng hy carnage of goods, has alway been a disadvantage of Gillespie's, from which th SS-/S. t,ie other bead,es have not

The Five Mile.-Two new pieces of ground at the Eive Mile Beach are now being actively wrought by parties who, by the prospects hey have obtained, are encouraged , 0 undertake a much greater amount of labour and expense than have usually been incurred. On the new lead, at the south eni of the beach, son* parties have amalgamated so as to overcome the heavy stripping, and the Work of Slabbing their paddocks with grea ease and tn several instances it is expected tat they will be able to bottom this week Hie stripping is not less than from twentyfive to thirty feet, and as the water comes upon them when about twenty-two feet down it is necessary to slab the remaining f uw feet' and to do so most thoroughly, the pressure of the waterbemg very great. In one of the first or the claims opened, the working was inter rupted by the strongslabbinggivmg way under the extreme pressure to which it was subjected. The other new claims are at the mirth end of the beach, and partially below ugh water mark. Tlie same ground had been tested by several parties, and from eighty to ninety ounces were in some instances obtained in small paddocks of no great depth, but the proximity of the claims to the sea prevented them from being otherwise than imperfectly wrought. The new claimholders have, however, erected substantial breakwaters, by driving into the sand rows of heavy logs, which they have interlaced with branches, the whole being constructed so thoroughly as to resist the force of the surf, and effectually to prevent any damage to the claims. The construction of these is a considerable item in the cost of working the claim, but the ground is believed to be sufficiently good to justify its being undertaken, and there is no doubt that there are many parts on the same beach and on others where the same plan will yet be adopted.— lbid.

GKEYMOUTH. Our files are to September l. We take the following extracts from the Grey River Arms of that date:— Pish and Wii.DiWL.-The fishing season has now fairly commenced, and some good hauls have, within the last few days, been obtained in the river and lagoon. Whitebait is unusually plentiful, and can be bought in bushels off the quay at the proper time of tide. Some fine patiki, or flat fish, have been captured in the river, some of them of considerable size. Mullet have been seen, and a stray herring or two have heralded the arrival of this excellent fish in our waters. There has been some capital sport for the gun, pigeons andkakas being very plentiful. Wildfowl, however, appear to have been scarce, but very few have been seen in the places that used formerly to be frequented by widgeon and teal. The delightful weather that has now set in makes a shooting excursion in the bush most enjoyable, and as the birds are both plentiful and in capital condition, there should be no luck of sportsmen. New Rush to the Arnold.-A correspondent of the Mgus states, that a rush took place last week at the junction of the New Hiver and Liverpool Gully, on a very high terrace, forming at the extreme point the shape of the letter V. The cause of this rush has been the tunnelling operations carried on by different parties working from Liverpool Gully on the one side, and New River on the other, and it is anticipated that a new lead will be struck. One party in the gully have been working constantly from the very commencement, and the ground they have driven out is propped by a very foreßt of timber. Several shafts are being sunk, but none have as yet been bottomed. The lead appears to run north and south, and if it does prove to be a lead, this, in the opinion of many, may be considered the best portion of the whole Arnold district. The modus operandi at present is by taking tunnels in the face of the rock below the washdirt, which is then driven out and carried in harrows to the face of the bank, thrown down, and washed in the creek. The banks of the creek are quite perpendicular, and in most places between sixty and seventy feet in height, though in some places lower. It is very much to be regretted that no race has been brought in, as it would materially facilitate the workings. A considerable number of diggers have found their way here from Saltwater Creek and elsewhere, but I would not recommend any to come at present until the lead has been proved. In other portions of the district the miners are making good average wages, and in some cases more than wages. The mode in which provisions arrive at the rush is by the New Hiver, in canoes, and thence by pack horses, an unsatisfactory mode of transit at any time, owing to the constant change in the weather and the rough nature of the ground.