THE GOLDFIELDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4127, 4 February 1875, Page 3

THE GOLDFIELDS.

[FROM OL'Il OWN CORRESPONDENT.] ConoMANDEL, Tuesday. Tue Royal Oak specimen crushing is now completed, and the 7 cwt. of specimens have given the handsome return of 343 ounces of gold. A continuation of the same class of stone may be expected after two or three days, the gold being left shewing as richly as ever ill the face of the lode, but the manager had to leave off breaking out until a chamber had been cut and timbered, and some other necessary dead work had been done. The following was his report for last week " For the week I beg to inform von that in rising for a stope 011 Xo. 1, I came across some rich go'd, and obtained from the rise about .100 pounds specimens and picked stone, and left gold shewing freely in both ends of the rise, also in the roof. In the hangingwall of No. 1 there is a small vein of quartz which junctions with tlu' Xo. 1, and yesterday found a small pareel of specimens at the junction. t intend onening out on this level as soon as possible. (in No. 2 to-day, in breaking down the <juartz in wiuzc 1 found another run of gold, and bagged a few pounds of specimens. The reef is making larger and more delined. Contract low level was finished on Tuesday last. Tenders are callad for another one hundred feet.—A. WnviiELL." There is nothing new to report from the Tokatea. The mine manager's report for last week is as follows : —" Since my last report there is very little news to forward to von. On Saturday last we got about liO 1b.,, picked stone from the footwall leadei in the Siege of I'aris level about 170 feet in from the liismarek boundary. We have also seen gold in the stope going in from Xo. 1 rise, same level. The contraetois ill this level have, since they started, had very ditlicult ground to take out, and the consequence is that they are making very slow progress. I have commenced work on tribute leader with lour men This is as many as there is room for at tile present. We have let another contract of 'JOO feet in the Van level at 10- | per foot. The Bismarck Company are getI ting a little gold in drive going out toward the Van Company's ground in this level.— It. Kelly." List week the l'lutus obtained 31 ozs. 7 dwts. lor the week's crushing. The battery was, however, only going half time, in consequence oi the diliieulty in keeping steam up with the abominable green fuel at ! the command of the manager. It takes three hours to get up '.J.">ll>. steam pressure. The stulT crushed was taken indiscriminately from the upper level. Some attempt ill future should he made to class the stutl'. The drive is some 300 feet long along the line of reef, and it would be absurd to expect that the shut of gold had kept the whole distance The fact is, that there were, 1 believe, two or three small shots, but the stull' taken from these shots was ; mixed with that where no gold was seen. | A meeting of the Three lSrotliers share- | holders was held on Saturday night last, i when there was a very warm discussion as to the manner in which the claim had been managed. It is principally owned by the brothers McNeill, and the other shareholders were some or all of them so dissatisfied that a motion proposed by Mr. Bueklaiid, and seconded by Mr. Luks, was carried, resolving that tie claim should be sold. In the mine, the prospects of the low level have materially improve.l. Small parcels of ; rich specimens are being taken day by day from the leader, which maintains i,:s usual width. The manager should hav„* now a , very large quantity of specimen stone on hand, which has been accumulating lor mouths past. There is also a large quantity of good general s-tone in paddock awaiting the completion of the tramway. In the New < liven Ifarp, the low level has I'cell pushed forward over feet through good working country. There is, however, a distance yet of i'JO feet to be driven before the workmen will be upon the lode below where the rich stone was taken out above. Tile Native Clii- f, at tile Tiki, is likely to be >old by the bailitV After working and driving for about twelve months or more, the drive is now within a few feet of the lode. Some of the shareholders will not pay up. and so the company has fallen into arrears, and the licensee is being sued for , Work done, when the claim will be sold to liquidate tlie debt. In l'aul's Creek the Kverton having driven ' ."'JO feet, is now close upon the Three Brothers lode. Water is coming ill freely, a good sign, shewing that the lode is near and ,in soft country. It will probably be struck in the course of a week. Tin- Wangapoiia is one of those mints the working of which it is ditlicult to understand. Nearly three months ago the shareholders were informed in a letter through the Prc<s, that the reports of the newspaper correspondents were wholly erroneous, and ' that, although the starting of the battery had been deferred in consequcnce of an error in the tt ater supply, it would soon be reetitied by an expenditure of t'7 ll in bringing in a sullieieiicv t'l drive twenty stampers. Since then months have passed, and the water supply seems to be as far oil' as ever, and I have no hesitation in saying that the t7O ■ have been more than swallowed up by the wages of the stall'employed without reference at all to the timber necessary for the limning, which at the least is likely to cost JL'7<Mnore ; but the money expenditure is a small coilj sideratioii to the shareholders, compared j with the loss of the best time of the year for mining operations, and it is to be regretted that a mine which lias all the elements of prosperity in its various lodes, should have been so mismanaged.