MINING NOTES.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 777, 16 August 1900, Page 2

MINING NOTES.

Messrs Outten Bros, report as follows as to the progress of the Lady Oharlton dredge : — " Machinery contract : The Southland Implement Company are making very good progress with this. The work, being now three parts finished, shows every prospect of being completed within contract time, which expires on 18th October of this year. Pontoons : The timber for these was ordered by the contractor at the beginning of last month, and the delivery on the claim is expected to start immediately. On the arrival of the hardwood for framing the work of building will go on. The oon tract time is up on the 22nd November, by which time there should be no difficulty in getting the machinery on the claim ready for erection. The engine and boiler were ordered by cable early in April, and eaa be expected to arriv6 here before the time for completion of pontoons is up, and should cause ao delay with the ereotion of machinery on the dredge." ' ■"An unsophisticated and confiding public usually ascribes to the average sharebroker qualities which tend always to the obtain- . ment of the fat things of this We. Dredges may come with a flourish of trumpets and go out of current history with a damp, depressing fizzle and splutter ; shares may sink to the deepest depth of slumpdom ; and the bottom, sides, hinges and lid may fall out of the dredging market generally, but the sharebroker is popularly supposed to evolve sufficient out the ohaotio oataclysm wherewithal to deck him as the lily and feed him as the proverbial pugilistic roos.ter. Therefore news that the sharebroker (and in this case, two of him) has both literally and figuratively "fallen in" will come as a general surprise and be accepted with befitting fortitude. One local representative of the interesting species under notice, visited a district dredge a few days since, and, presuming upon the miraculous powers popular superstition has woven about his calling endeavored to walk on thin Spring air. The experiment lackod something, for the sharebroker and an excellent suit of olothes were precipitated into the dam, containing a goodly depth of muddy water. A boathook, deftly wielded by one, of the dredge hands, rescued the clothes and their contents in the nick of time, and the sharebrqker's garments having been carefully panned off, the owner, girt in dry dungares and a damp'gmile, trekked for his lair per the baok streets* Nor was the experience of the other sharebroker more pleasant, or less surprising. Proceeding briskly from his residence to the railway station "a couple of nights ago, he vainly endeavored to cross Ardwick street ditch (a municipal monstrosity of the width of a decent creek and the perfume of a full blown glue factory' with the cork extracted) on a fragile bridge of evening atmosphere. He fell. Arriving at the bot torn (a drop of some six feet) he mused awhile on the pitfalls with which the path of life is beset, and Jistened pensively to the drowsy murmur of the tinkling sewage as it filled his ear and matoh-pooket. Then he arose. Dogs in the vicinity barked, fow.ls stirred uneasily on their perches, and the neighbors shook the family 'carbolio tin all round the house, and sealed the keyholes and door' bracks with fragments .of the local Press./ ,-" j