UPPER MANUHERIKIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1123, 26 July 1865, Page 5

UPPER MANUHERIKIA.

(FROM OCR OWN CORSU3SPONDBNT )

Dunstajt Creek, 24th July,

The sharp frosts which now r nightly> prevail, are causing the supply of water brought In by the several races to be very much diminished. Every day it gradually gets less and less,, and every day some, mining party or another has to adopt the short system or suspend work altogether. This, of course, necessitates a srict economy in matters monetary on behalf of the miners, who are compelled to husband their stores of the " filthy lucre" to carry them through the winter, while those who are working short time or have been knocked off, and have no convenient little deposit in either of the Banks to fall back upon, are in rather straightened circumstances, and compelled to sock assistance from the storekeepers to tide them over their difficulties. Trade consequently languishes, and business people pull long faces and complain of. the dullness of the times, or rather that the incomings are very disproportionate to the outgoings—for although customers may bz plentiful, yet cash is remarkably scarce. A few weeks will, however, set things J right again; lengthened days will bring increased warmth, and the now ice-bound water races will contribute their full quantum of the liquid element, all will be life and activity, and once more we shall have a brisk trade and increased escort returns. Six or eight weeks' more labour will complete the great water race of the Scandinavian Company, which, with its thirty heads of water diverted over the hills and terraces of this neighborhood, will give employment to a considerable number of men, and bring about a season of prosperity n^t hitherto witnessed at this portion of the Otago Gold Fields.

The establishment of Local Courts U gradually becoming a subject of discussion among the mining community, especially in districts where the system of working is mostly confined to what is termed ground sluicing—that is, breaking down and reducing the earth by the aid of water alone, manual labor only ueing employed to direct the water or perform trivial duties, such as removing stones or any obstructing substance that it cannot readily reduce, or hasten by a few blows- from i U e pic... a fail of earth that does not come as readily as desired. It is found that the mining regulations, however applicable they miy be to one place, they are far from being so in another; in fact, ground sluicing comes but slightly within their application. Their framers appear not to have gone ahead of the old system of box sluicing, when all the stuff was thrown in with a shovel, and then stirred up with a fork to prevent the water from carrying off the gold. Now the times are altered; that, system of extracting the precious metal is almost as obsolete as the cradle, for reasons that ground which paid fo.- working by that process has become exceedingly scares ; .fm>l it is only by using a vastly improved process that the poorer ground, or where the gold is widely disseminated, can be made to pay. To achieve this, manual labour has been vastly economised, and, as I s.'d before, the agent water supplies its place. But the Government steps in ( and clogs the wheels of progress by a parcel of stupid restrictions, or equally more stupid omissions, and a digger must no more depart from the proscribed role of the mining regulations than a traveller from off a beaten track when overtaken by night.

In the first place, compelling a certain number of men to be employed when there is a certain quantity of water, may, to a great extent, prevent monopoly ; but it is an injurious provision. It is a well-known fact that the head 40 inches, as described in the mining regulations, is not sufficient for a ground sluice. In-the moat favorable cases, such as this place, where, with il-w exceptions, there is plenty of fall, and no large stones to remove, twice th;tt quantity is not too much, and the restriction employing five men to the acre—say three by day and two by night, is not objectionable. But there are cases -where men require larger areas of ground than an acre, the cost of conducting water to the ground to be operated upon may be more than the whole of the gold contained in that acre ; for large as it ia, without there is a great depth of soi!, it is soon washed away, and it may require the working of half a dozan acres before there is a profit on the original outlay. A short time since, one of our Water Companies applied for a lease of seven acres, but in deliberating upon the nature of their proposed undertaking, they found they were compelled to employ 35 men, consequently, the idea wa3 abandonee', as nothing like that number of men could be set to work upon such an area of ground, without its being excessively rich, and 30 of them cou'.d be retained as ornaments.

Secondly, defining a supply of water to be used by a given number of men is only applicable in particular localities. Oar auriferous deposits may be included under two heads—lake and river. The former is a gravelly deposit, variegated in color, and generally free from large boulders, and is understood by miners as made ground. This is found in indentations, at the base of the large terraces, in situations which would probably infer that the locality had formerly been the margin of a lake. Thi9 description of ground is particularly adapted for ground sluicing. There is generally plenty of fall, and it being free from large stones and bouldera can be readily dissolved by a small quantity of water.

The second is not ao easy operated upon, as large stones and boulders form its principal component parts; the fall is also much less, and with few exceptions, the gold does not extend any great distance from the banks of the river, excepting where the bottom or bed rock is moderately level. This deposit will require twice the quantity of water to remove, as would be the case with the other, and it must be plain to everyone, that a stream of water which would remove a stone the size of a walnut, would not do so with one nearly as big as a man's hand; consequently a much greater motive power is required, and four heads of water can be profitably employed in dissolving a river deposit,

STUART STREET JET rT,

where half that quantity would do tnfe same for a lake deposit. But the mining Regulations acknowledge no such difference. The full complement of men, under pain of forfeiture, must be employed, and where the miner -working the Lake deposit, need only employ labor to the extent of four men. his brother doing the same on the river, is compelled to have ten; consequently, one description of workings is carried on with a small expense, and of course prospers, while the other languishes and dies out of existence.

Lastly comes the tail race question, and a most vexatious one it is: it is very indifferently provided for by the Mining Regulations. In river workings there is no difficulty about tail races, as the gold not extending far back into the bamcs, rear claims are but seldom occupied. But in the Lake deposits the thing is quite different. Rear claims, three and four deep, are taken up and worked; and half the disputes heard in the Warden's Courts are connected with tail races. And head races, which conduct water to the claims, are of course objects of much expense and solicitude; but when once the liquid element is laid on to the claim, there is an e:il to the difficulty. But having brought the water to where its services are required, after having performed them, it must be got rid of, especially as it takes with it the debris from the havoc it has made. This necessitates the formation of long, narrow channels, sometimej cut deep in the rock or earth, or are built up, to suit the inequalities of the ground through which it passes. Before commencing sluicing operations a tail race must be provided, and while a deep earth cutting is in course of making, as the stuff is loosened by the pick, the water is applied by a ho.se, and runs off the debris without b;ing touched with the shovel. In cutting up one of these tail races it frequently happens that a quantity ' of gold is accumulated, and disputes arise as to its ownership where the cutting is through occupied ground. The gold, of course, belongs to the occunier ; but where it is not occupied, the party constructing the tail race deems it his property. But his calculations ?re often upset. Vigilant eyc3 find there is gold in the newlyformed channel, a claim is marked out on its course, and the gold then becomes the propei^y of the person t'/king up the c'sim, iilt'iaugli he never pciforme 1 '.'. minutes' labor to obtain it, and he also asserts his right toall gold that may be subsequently accumulated. The difference between a tail race and a ground sluice requires defining; where one begins aud the other ends h a disputed pomt. Some argue that when once the race carrying off the debris from a claim leaves its boundary, it ceases to become a ground sluice; others, that the tail race is a ground sluice so long as it is paved, or there are any obstructions or appliances fixed purposely for saving gold. Protection to tail-races is another source of grievance, as it often enables the parties to monopolise large areas of ground, much to the prejudice of others. It is customary to protect these races to'the extent of a width along their course of from 10 to .'s') feet; and such, l>y permission of the Warden, may bs carried through a claim already in occupation. jSTow, a party having a protected tail-race where its course is along a narrow gulley, has all the gulley to himself, no one being allowed to encroach upon the protected space; or where there is width to take up ground, the protected area must be left intact, or pay the penalty of an action in the Warden's Court. Now, although it is highly necessary that tail-races should be protected, the privilege should not become a monopoly ; and as long as their < ffhiency is preserved, it should be enough ior all parties, let their original course or construction be altered to any extent. These are only a portion of existing grievances ; and as local knowledge can only adjust them, a Mining Board is the proper tribunal.