GARIBALDI H.S. CO., LTD.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XVIII, Issue 983, 6 October 1888, Page 3

GARIBALDI H.S. CO., LTD.

The following ia the report of the manager (Mr W. ff. Smith) of the above company for the past two months : " I commenced sluicing on B'h August with a fall supply of water, which continued till the end of the mon'h. During September I have not had a full supply, but have made the beat possible use of what I had. At the present time, I am sorry to Bay, the water is very scarce. lam looking for a lot of water yet, as since the breaking-up of the winter very little rain has fallen here.

I have Bluiced away a considerable quantity of (ground since the ffost broke up, with fair prospects, and,"as X stated in a former report, it ouglit to pay. I otili repeat that the ground will pay well if we can only increase our water-supply bo as to carry on sluicing operations continuously for six or seven months in the year. Whatever may be the result of this year's operations, it must not be taken as a sample of what the company's returns will be from this onward, <is I have not had any benefit from the new dams. The contraot, on account of the bad weather, wag not completed till 12th September, since when there has been no flush of water to sprak of. I had a little trouble during the heavy rains of 11th and 12th August by a landslip breaking some of the piping. The damage was not very serious as I was able to repair the piping again, which is now all in good order and repair. The new dam in Speddari's Gully settled down about at the same time. I attribute this to the dam*bank being bnilt on too aoft a bottom, as it settled bodily without any break or bulging of the sod work. I hare had it brought up to the proper level again, and it should be all the better for the settling. This being the only damage caused by the flood, we may consider ourselves lucky, considering the amount of damage done to mining property in other parts ot the district.

In a former report, I believe, I stated that the tail-race would not require deepening for some time. This, X find from my experience during the short time I hare been sluicing,"is slightly incorrect and apt to be misleading to shareholders. Allhoagh the tail race la deep enough, it is much too flat and does not work well without a large quantity of water, which we can ill afford to spare. This is a matter that can be remedied by bringing in a few moro feet of fall from the creek and distributing it over the whole length of the tailrace, so as to give an uniform fall of Jin. to the foot, or even more, if it can be got without going to too much expense. I think my two men and myself could do this during the dry summer months, and when this is done the olaim can be worked fo greater advantage. It will be seen from this report that the want of water, and not the want of gold, is the only drawback here, oo that shareholders have it in their own hands to make the companya success."