THE GOLDFIELDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4404, 24 December 1875, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE GOLDFIELDS.

I [PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.] ' ' Thames, Thursday. ' Al.moS-. — pomes and 'party, working the upper portion of, the Kelly section, have had ail excellent crashing at the Tramway, battery of 21 tons, from which they have realised 125 ozs. 14 dwts. melted gold. I Tookev.—James and party, tributers in the little Duffer section, crushed 18 tons at the' Tramway mill for 22 ozs. 6 dwts. 8 grs. melted gold. Messrs. Webb, after trying the face of the hill with paor results, have now sunk a shaft at the rear of the Tramway battery, and at the depth of about 30 feet have struck rock containing quartz leader shewing a little gold, which promises to pay the tributers. City of York.—The first crushing for this company took place at Ball's mill, where 25 tons were put through for the very poor return of ozs. gold. The crushing stuff has been obtained from the continuation of No. 3 City of London reef, never very profitable. The lode, however, hag slightly improved, and it has been driven on. Operations will now, however, be directed to cross-cut tho country in order to intersect other lodes. ; Abolition.—The shareholders (Harrod and party) sent in from their claim, Hape Creek, 5 tons to the Tramway mill, and obounces 12 dwts. gold.' Inverness.—The tributers (Catran and party) working the upper section of this mine realised the fair return of 101 ounces gold from 70 tons crushed at the Prince Alfred,battery. Newdick and party,, working the lower section on tribute, crushed. 30 tons at the Moanatairi battery, for 11 ozs. 10 dwts. gold.' " : Pumping Associajoon.—The new .plunger with its,'connection for the 645 feet level, has been successfully completed by Messrs. Price,.of Graliamßtown. .Aboyle (Karaka). —A trial crushing for Graham, and party resulted in the return of 1 ounce 6 dwts. retorted gold, . The return is poor, but; further crushinga will take place. Messengers. ■ —Brown and party, -tributers, crushed three loads at the Tramway mill, for I ounce 19 dwts. gold. .Beehive. —Brown and party, tributers, realised 11 ozs. '5 dwts. gold from 11 loads crushed at the Tramway battery, j Hastings (Tap it Creek), Tuesday, j Oh Saturday last the Bullion leader was cut at the' • low level, shewing gold freely. This is neorly 200 feet _'3low the mouth of the old Full Moon shaft, clearly shewing that the £old goes down. At the upper workings, the contractors 'driving for the old Hard Gash leader are progressing satisfactorily. At the Great extended, the men are getting on well with the rise.' The leader varies from 2 te 5 feet thick, with moat encouraging prospects. About 50 tpns of crushing stuff is in the paddock, but it will ba'abort twb : months before their tramways, shoots; &c., are ready for the conveyance o£ 'quartz to the battery. ; At the Bullion, 11 men are employed; at the Great Extended, 10 men; and at the Hope, 3 men; being a total of 24 men engaged in mining operations at Tapu. Last Week we bad a visit from Dr. Lethbridge, who vaccinated 22 of our little ones. ! The Public Hall is being considerably ci- ■ larged' and lined, preparatory to a grrnd concert and ball, which is to take place next week, when our local experts upon wind instruments and catgut, elocutionists, and fan-tastic-toeists will; have an opportunity of contributing to the general hilarity of the evening, as well as defraying the expenses for enlarging and lining the hall. " Matters pelitical are quiet here as yet. But it it universally to be deplored that our Auckland representatives never agree with each other, as it is sheer folly for one lot of our members to go down to Wellington and exclaim, "We are of Paul," while another equally numerous lot say, "We are of Apollos." In olden times our footpaths in Auckland used to be made of scoria-ash, .which would never stick together, but now they are asphalted, and suit admirably. Our hon. members want asphalting as badly as ever our footpaths did. OHINEMURI. —THE NEW FIND. I started for Owharoa and Waitekauri on Friday, and returned this afternoon. On my way out I met Mr. W. A. Hunt, who went to Waitekauri on Wednesday, in company with Messrs Bleazard and Corbet. He had just come from the hew rush at Owharoa, and in answer to my inquiries, he said that he thought that the prospectors had secured a very good claim and that all that was wanted, in his opinion, to make the Ohinemuri district go ahead was roads and machinery. On my arrival at Owharoa. I found that there was a regular omnium gatherum from all parts o£ the district. The distance from Mackaytown to the prospectors' claim is a little over four miles. The lucky shareholders are certainly to be congratulated, as not only have they secured a good claim,' but they have tflso got everything they require convenient to their hands. They have pegged out their ground at the foot of the spur, and between their southern boundary and the Ohinemuri River there is a beautiful lightly-timbered flat or terrace, between twenty to thirty yards wide, which is sufficiently elevated' to be free from all danger of floods. Here they have marked out a machine site, and they intend to get their water power from a creek on the opposite, or southern bank of the river. They have applied for the water-right, and, as the creek falls over a cliff, they will only require a short length of fluming across the river. There is any amount of tanekaha, totara, and other timber suitable for trestlework on the spot, and I noticed that they have already secured a few kauri trees growing adjacent to the machine-site. Tbe Waitekauri road passes within about half-a-mile of the ground, so that there will be no • difficulty in conveying machinery, and I understand that negotiations have already been initiated with a view to the erection of a battery without delay. They will be able to take out quartz in large quantities, as there are at present .no less than four reefs exposed. Mrs. Murray, of Mackaytown, put in an appearance early on Saturday afternoon. She is the first European lady on the Owharoa diggings, and was cordially welcomed by the men in the camp.—Correspondent of Thames A dvcrttier.