MINING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10571, 18 January 1896, Page 6

MINING.

; ;.-.; NOTES FROM LYELL. /.j. .(From Our Own Correspondent.)

Lyell, January 17.

•; Lycll Creek. — The mine manager reports :— "Sinco starting work after the holidays, 25ft df the mouth of the tunnel had to be retimbered, as the old timber had settled down, which made it unsafe to go in and out of the tunnel. I'had also to remove the blacksmith's shop to a safer place. Owing to the heavy rains during the holidays the dam was filled up with tailings. These have been cleared a\vajr, and I made a start in the mine yesterday." ■ '

_ Cocksparrow Dredge.—The dredgemaster reportß for the week:—"We have dredged 127 hours for. a return o£ Sfioz 4dwt o£ amalgam. Everything is^ working smoothly." - ; • :

AUCKLAND SHARE MARKET. (Per United Press Association.}

Auckland, January 17.

The following-are the quotations for shares in leading mines on the Auckland share market :— '' BUSINESS DONE. ' • • ■ : ■■ Sales. Buyers. Sellers. ■■■■■■ ■■ ■■ - . ■ s.d.. s.d. " Waihi Consols ... ... Is Id 11 1■ 4 . I Silverton-Waihi... ... 53s ftl 5S 6 60 0 Grace Darling Is 64 13 17 : Talisman ... Sa 9d 8 4 8 9 Kapai^Vermont... ,_ '.USA 9 0 9 4 Try Flukes ... ...' Ss 6d " 5 3 5 ti Waitaia 3s 7d - 3 9 Aurora -id 0 3 0 G Welcome Find ... 3s, 3ald 3 0 3 4 Bunker's Hill ... 65.3d, &i6d 6 3 0 9 BUYERS. - MayiQueen, 8s 3d; New Moanataiari, 53 Hi ; Cardigan, Is -id; Central,' 6d ; Queen of AVaihi, 2s 7d ; "St. Pat.ick, fid; Wn.iditoek, 23's;' Waverley, 6d; Owharoa, 3s fid: Young New Zealand! Is 3d; Imperial, Is; Ivanhoe, sd; Waihi Proprietary, lid; Daydawn, 3d; Hauraki *>. V, ■is2d. " ■ '

NOTES FROM WARATIPU.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

AitROWTOWN, January 11.—The Premier Christmas cake weighed lfi'2oz smelted gold from 2<M tons of quartz, a return that should be highly satisfactory to shareholders. . The questioTqf "shepherding" claims has been once more prominently brought before the public eye by,a denotation which waited upon Mr W. Eraser, M.H.R. for the Lakes. This is an evil of long standing which is provided for in the Mining Act The subject has hceu much discussed in Parliament and out. of it, the united wisdom of the colony not having been able to evolve anything better than the existing law on the point. In feet, the way matters stand it is much niors in the power, of wardens than in that of any individual member of Parliament to put the screw on monopolists. However, Mr i'raser's suggestion is deserving of all coDEideration. It is to the following effect: That tho Crown lands ranger visit l'censed holdings on surprise visits, and if not fully manned report to that effect, and that sucu defaulting holdings be forfeited as in the case of agricultural leases. • To carry such a provision into effsQt would require special legislation which is long-Winded ana uncertain, to say nothing about the " modus operandi," savouring much of the nature of the informer. It is a well-known mining fact- that as soon as a piece of ground is pegged off it assumes v sudden value, no matter bow long it may have lain abandoned and unoccupied ; but the moment h becomes private property and others are locked out from it, the .ground is at oace coveted, and a wrong i« done to those who are riot in 1 it. This phase of the question should be. taken into account when dealing with' the subject.

: The wonderfully-made new Mininjf Act Amendment Act, allowing claims nf 1920 acres, which haß already been fully' and ably discneßed in yotir columns, }3 a kindred subject to the above. It appears to be a clumsy way of introducing South African mining usages into New Zetland under very suspicious circumstances. The Mining Act already provides for special claims of unlimited area, and I believe that under the clause referred to claims have beeu granted of an extent oftwo square miles, pr about 12<Kl pcrc-s. In the face of. this fact there was no 'need for special legislation as to large areas even for prospecting purposes. The specialty in the innovation is, of course, the Dovel made of tenure. 'A holder, of a miner's right may mark off 1920 acres with the greatest impunity, as the Cust of survey is made to fall upon any one who wishes to enter on the holdiiiK, the amount being such ss to luakethe owner almost as secure in his monopoly as if his land were freehold. However, there is something to be said for large areas—th:it is, an'increase of the licensed holding limits of 30 acres, which represents to the miud's eye a large piece of groundquite a farm in fact. Gold is continuous just as little iv the alluvial as in the matrix, hut occurs only in patches or blocks Very often the physical conditions of the site of a claim are such as to break up a ruu.of gold with very extensive, intermissions nf barrenness, so that only a very small portion of a comparatively large claim is of real value to the .holder, and after all the 'size of the claim does not matter so much so Ion? as the lahour conditions are complied with. Yet with all this admitted, the innovation goes far too far both as to extent of ground and the tenure under which it is held.