THE OWEN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXI, Issue 323, 21 December 1887, Page 3

THE OWEN.

(From our own Correspondent.) Thero is very" little to report fiom here since my last. _he Wakatu crushing is a poor ono. The gold is to bo retorted tomorrow, so you will have the result in town as soon as this almost. And poor as the stone is, there is not enough of that even to keep the battery at work, bo I fully expect the Btamps will be- hung up till Bulmer Creek gets to work, which, with all diligence, will be the middle of February before stone is ready. Meantime the uprise from the Flat Sheet reef in the Wakatu will be put up on what looks like a strong body of stone ; and No. 3 level will go on all through the holidays. This at present is going through very hard stuff, a mixture of quartz, limestone, and goodness knows what, and everybody is wishing "they were through it, and in easier and more promising country. At the Enterprise, Mr Harris expects to start crushing early in the month, and here at any rate there is stone enough, and let us [hope it will turn out as good as is anticipated ■by the manager. The plant is a. fac simile of the public battery, and copper plates are to be used, so there will be some indication of the value of the stone as the crushing proceeds. Everything about the mine and battery is very complete, and nothing is wanting but a sufficiency of the right kind of metal to make this claim restore confidence in the field. At the Zealandia tbe same kind of dilatory grubbing is going on 'as has been all the year.

The two men employed on this 65 aores £ now devoting their energies to putting do^ a shaft on the upper reef. Tbis shows stro gold visible in the stone, but why more m are not put on, or some reasonable kind work done on such a large extent of count! containing four different reefs, out of any which a good prospect can be obtained, is mystery only known to the Directors wl carefully keep it to themselves. Mr Inspect Gordon is due hero shortly, and he w; probably use his authority in the direction c unravelling the mystery. One man has been scratching about on tl Better Times ; I heard yesterday ho ha found something, but I am getting ratb< dubious about these one man leases. The Great Eastern was in Court at Mmoh son last week, and the ownership of this leae was threshed out with the result that M Matty Byrne had to disgorge one-half c it to Mr R. Boyd. Tho former had a week before, put one man on, but o; the verdict of the Court being given h at onoe instructed tbe manager (i.e. the on man), (o discharg-p himself, so nothing i doing ihere now. Whilst thernanager was a work he found that ihrre was a largo wel dt fined leef iv solid country with a propped in it worth following. Aftrr tho New Yeai it ra-iy be probable, if the jantown rsegree bat (hey will put two small boys to work providing the aforesaid Inspector does nol Otrj'Ot. At the Golden Crown tbo manager h driving towards tho Great Extern in verj promising slate. Oi the Daisy two men aro cn*raged prospecting. They got soma good Btone ont of a leadfr whioh I understand they are follow ing with a view of catohiug tho main r ef. The o her 30 losses on ti-is field are s ill : des late, aB I expect tbe whole fisld will be unless more^energy iB shown. **MMT-M-i -■! IMlll 111 l III! Ill—lll— -11-l IP II *^.**H_--n3IJaU*Jt^*JJB*A-**t^lM-nn^