THE KAWARAU.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 21, 11 July 1863, Page 7

THE KAWARAU.

(From the Dunstan News, July 4.)

The miners at the Gentle Annie Creek rush are doing very well; some nuggets have been ; found, weighing over an ounce, and the general I aspect of affairs seems cheering, hill's track runs through the gully, and is situated about six miles from the Roaring Meg. Business at the Kawarau Junction seems very dull, but great things are expected shortly.; Messrs. Hesie, Watts, and others have got down with the Princess Alexandra shaft to a depth of i about seventy feet, and expect to bottom at j about a hundred. The working is quite dry as | yet. The novel mode of slabbing is quite origi- ' nal. New Zealand flax and short poles form! the entire fabric, and the appearance from the mouth is something like a Venetian blind reversed. The flax is knotted on to one pole, and when put into the shaft, the ends are tied on to the other, and so on all the way down, as the work proceeds. By the kindness of the party in charge, our reporter was lowered down to examine the work of the shaft, which loyalty has induced the party to name the Princess Alexandra. The skeleton of a man has been discovered on the beach of the Wanaka Lake. The only article of dress remaining is a belt which lay loosely on the ground with the bones. It is supposed to have been washed up from the lake to the place where it was discovered. An accident of a most alarming nature oc- 1 curred on the afternoon of the 2nd instant, at the Government prospecting shaft, smothering one man, and placing the lives of two others in jeopaidy, The former intention of sinking the shaft deeper was abandoned, and the original contractors proceeded to withdraw the slabs —whether in a careless manner or not it is difficult to say. The facts, as far as we can learn, are as follows The unfortunate deceased, Hugh Maher, contractor formerly for sinking the shaft, was below on the above day, removing a set of slabs, Thomas M'lntyre, his mate, and another, being above at the windlass. He had got a set of slabs out, when it is supposed he saw the shaft was about to close in, and he called out to his mates to pull him up, which | they immediately commenced to do. They had taken a few turns round the windlass, when the whole shaft collapsed, and fell in from the top. The deceased was about 35 feet from the surface at the time, and he must have died almost instantaneously. The two men at the windlass were precipitated about ten feet, one getting seriously bruised by the windlass falling on his head; the other escaped unhurt. Mr. Coates, the surveyor, was on the ground immediately , after the sad intelligence reached him, and every j effort was made to get the unfortunate man out; while there were hopes of life, but to no effect. If they had gone incautiously to work in such dangerous ground, it would only have placed other lives in jeopardy, if not consigning them to an almost certain death. Heavy timber was procured to span right across the mouth of the cavity (now about 15 feet wide) and the shaft now being sunk for the recovery of the body rests solely on these logs. It is not expected they will reach the body before to-morrow; the broken slabs and debris met with very much retards their operations. The contractors do not appear to have exercised that caution necessary in drawing the slabs, hence this unfortunate accident. The most difficult portion of the work had been accomplished—the lower forty feet — two slabs having been drawn without accident. The "Warden, J. Keddell, Esq., was, we believe, absent at the Kawarau at the time of the accident, but immediately on his return he visited the scene of the fatal accident, and did all that lay in his power to rescue the unfortunate man.