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New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1445, 6 July 1868, Page 4

Our correßuonaence columns being open [to all, we do noj hold ourselves responsible for any opinions expressed therein. Correspondents are requested to write only on one side of the paper, and, to prevent mistakes, they Bhould write as legibly •as possible To the Editor of tho Herald. r _Siß, —As an old Californian quartz miner I naturally take some interest in the Thames Q-old-and in consequence waa inducod last week to pay it a visit. In going up the several creeks I saw moi-e gold bearing quartz than I ev.jr remember seeing in any one locality before. Some of the mills I also visited, which, although stnnll, were neat and well built, and reflect great credit on those who erected them. The great cry of the mill-owners however appeared to be how can I .save my quicksilver ? ,It will eocape in spite of all I caD do. My answer to this query is you must change your present ojodo of using it. Why adopt a modo that was discarded fifteen years ago in California ? Blankets and quicksilver were never intended to be used together. A Brazilian or Mexican would laugh at the idea. During four and a-half years' experience inquartz mining I never saw quicksilver, put into the battery—■which plan appears to be universally XVv ' *i..

practised at the Thames, and as long as it is so we shall have nothing but complaints. 1 n California we never used quicksilver until a te the "dirt" had passed over the blankets, and 90 per cent of the gold saved was_ taKen from the battery, and off the first six feet of the blankets without any qutcksilvor being used. If quicksilver is put into the battery, a good deal of it is knooked into the smallest partioles, passes through the acroen, is worthless for amalgamating purposes, refuses to stop anywhere, and is carried away by the water. Blankets are also worthless where quicksilver is ussd. _ If you tntnK these few remarks will be of nny se. sto the community at large, pray inßert them in your column.. —Yours, sc. „ Gbasb Valley. Auckland, July 4th, 1868.