TAPU CREEK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1364, 31 March 1868, Page 3

TAPU CREEK.

(JROM OUS OWN COaUESPON'DENT.) Marcli 28,18G8. I am again happy to be able to report a decided improvement in the state of affairs both mining and business. In fact the C reek has since my last assumed an air of importance which, surprises even the oldest inhabitant on it. Speculation in shares has commenced in earnest. We were this day visited by Messrs. Eeid, "Wynyard, Motrin, Jones, Capt. Harrison, and others, whose names I do not know. They were all evidently bent on " buying in." The first named gentleman concluded his purchase of a share in the Perseverance claim, for the sum of £-100 sterling, through the agency of Mr. Petrie. For a half-share in Messrs. Quinn and Cashell's £300 was offered and refused, and I should say that taking the whole of the claims now working at Tapu each and every one of them were they to offer a share for sale would readily meet a purchaser. The quantity of quartz now on the ground waiting for crushing is something enormous, and as far as I can learn is all of the first water. The Lord Nelson has about 20 tons ; Manama .Route 80, and various others about the same quantity. The great cry, however, is machinery, and until that, comes on the ground the richness of Tapu will never be known. As I have before asserted, I now again reiterate, that if proper and applicable machinery is once placed on the ground, Tapu will take its stand as the best gold-field in the Province of Auckland, and I would strongly advise those capitalists who are now buying in the different claims to see that is the case, not only for their own pockets, but for the Creek in general. There have been several rushes lately, and were I to tell the various claims I should take up too much of your space. Suffice it to say that the diggers here, taken as a body, appear to me the most contented I have ever seen. All in good spirits, and expecting to make " a pile," in many cases with a good chance of success. The various stores on the creek are doing well, but I think the palm must be accorded to Mr. Sceats, of the British hotel. This gentleman, who chartered the Enterprise on her maiden trip to the Thames, and may be looked upon as the opener of that field, is now, I think, in a fair way to reap the reward for his perseverance and trouble. J?resh stores are still going up, and in a few months we shall see a line of buildings which will astonish even the " natives."