DISCOVERY OF SILVER ORE AT THE HEAD OF THE LAKE.

Otago Witness, Issue 658, 9 July 1864, Page 7

DISCOVERY OF SILVER ORE AT THE HEAD OF THE LAKE.

I am indebted to Mr J. B. Bradshaw for the following csnimtnunication :—: —

" On the {-bores of tho Lake I discovered serer.il piecea of quartz rock containing a white metal. I intend to assay it to-morrow. It is either metallic silver or palladium of platinum, I am almost certain it contains the first-named meta 1 very rich, and would yield, according to this specimen, at least LSOO worth of silver to the ton of quartz. It is worth mentioning as a valuable discovery, although only a scrap, as indicating the existence of silver in the district Silver in _ its occurrence is more favorable than gold, for it invariably gets richer in penetrating the lode."

I may state that the assay alluded to having heeu effscteJ, leaves no doubt that the Specimen is silver ors cfa very riah quality. In the account of the discovery of the new gold field northward of the Lake, published in the Mail, particular mention waa made of large areas of agricultural land. Barrington, one of the party, state? that ibis is altogether a mistake — that he saw no ground altogether worth LI, for purposes of cultivation. He is firm in his opinion there is a run of god NW. from the Lake. Quartz reefs exist, hut for various reasons he does not think they cm ever be made av.uMtle, as, independently of the expense which must for years ensue in getting machinery on the ground, the rasing of the reefs is so hard as alinoat to preclude their being successfully worked. It is gratifyiug to state that Harrington is fast recovering, and that biß three mates "haye been discharged cured from the Hospital. QUEKNSTOWN PROSPECTING ASSOCIA-

TIOW. A meeting of the committee wag held in the Commercial Hotel, on Saturday evening, the 2otu instant. Present— Messrs Weaver (chair), Clements, Southit, JRobfcvtsou, liyan, Malaghan, Powell, Cawpbell. lion. '-cc.

Tne minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed.

The Secretory rea'i the tenders received for euHiug two i aces on the terrace. They were as fo.lows : — Work to be completes in J. L. Smith £160, 1 month Kathbourne and Co 150, 6 wetka t-ankey 115, no time named Prince « 110, 3 weeks Tonnount and Co 70 a mile, 15 days Bond 100, 2 weeks Tilly and Co ... .... 85, 14 days

Proposed by lip Bracken, and seconded by Mr Ryan— " That Bond's tender be accepted." Amendment proposed by Mr Malaghan, and seconded by Mr Lubecki — " That Tilly's tender be accepted 1 " Votes were taken by ballot, and the amendmpnt adopted by a majority of one. The sub-committee appointed to collect funds reported that the amount oi L 75 17s was in the bank to the credit of the association, and that fp-H^r subscriptions could without doubt tie raised.

The committee adjourned.

With reference to the above I may mention that a very fine sample of gold was shown me on Wonday, obtained with a tin dish, from a terrace iuit ths other side of the One Mile Cwek, Qiieen?town. The quality is roach, and promises well for sluicing. A company is talked of to supersede the association, ?s it is thought the necessary capital could easily be raised m the town : and certainly the work would be taken in hand in a vary different and more satisfactory way.

What is spent in the Public Houses of TjONDOn. — Pew of our readers are awaro of the immense sums spent in these places by the London workmen. An advertisement some time since appeared in-the Dispatch newspaper, for the sale of a large public house in Edsfeware road, the returns of which were L 240 a week. This is an amount equal to the whole expenditure for wine, beer, end spirits of the Athenaeum, Reform, and Conservative clubg put together, with a balance of more than a thownnd a ypav to spare. The returns of the Trevor Hall, Knight3bridg«. are said to exceed the expenditure in alcoholic liquors of the four largest olubs in St James's put together, and yet there are seventeen other public houses, nil rioine a flourishing trade, within a radius of three hundred yards of the building. .... Give every public house or beer. shop in London an averasre frontage oi twenty-one feet, and we shall find, if placed side by side, they would make a row of houses thirty-nine miles in length. To find the amount of money scent annually in these establishments, would require more time and apace than we could bestow upon the question, bui we will take one portion of it alone ; the rent, taxes, gas, and establishment charges— all of which fie customer has indirectly to pay for before he obtains the commodity he requires. Let us assume, then, the average rent, taxes, and establishment charges of the J ondon public-house to be L 125 per annum. The sum is far below the real amount, but we like always to work on minimum data. Let us find what the aargreaate amount < f tbe whole would represent in different items of' our municipal expenditure. In the first place, it would pay the maintenance of our metropolitan policecourts, including magistrates' salaries, of L 74 000 ; also the maintenance of the metropolitan police force, LliO 000. It would further maintain the 7009 beds of the metropolitan hospitals, at an average expenditure of L4O per bed. Beyond that, it would piy for the whole maintenance of the metropolitan poor, L 700.060 8 year, and then I ;ave a surplus beyond all, sufficient for national education as well. It is assumed tbat, in a public-house expenditure, the rant averages one fiflh part of the gross returns. If, then, the working- man. without becoming a teetotaller, drank only one-fifth less than he does at present, what an immense amount of domestic comfort he might obtain from his abstinence.— C'ornhill Magazine for April,

Fatal Alpine Excursion.— On Sunday morning. 28th Pebrua'x a young Russian gentleman, M. B , and and English friend, Mr Q , set out on an Alpine ascent of some difficulty. Accompanied by four guides, and well provided with all tbe necessaries for s similar excursion, they left Sion at two o'clock a.m., and proceeded to a village called Ardon. whence they commenced the ascension of tbs Dent d'4rdon. Owing to the heat of the sun, and under the influence of the warm win'l which prevailed, tha snow was exceedingly soft, and on Hearing tho summit it became aim st impossible to advance. titM persavaring, however, in their hazwdoua enterprise, the travellers waded, so to say, through the yielding snow, when suddenly the mass oa which they were trave way, and dashed down tho side of the mountain with fearful velocity. At the time of the accident al were properly attached by a new rope, made on purpose for the' ascent. In some unaccountable manner the rope snapped in two places during the ascant, so that when the avalanche reached the valley balow, alter a slide of 600 metres (or 1800 feet), the travellers were no longer ropod together. The two gentlemen and one of the guides were flatirely buried in the Hnow, another guide partly so, and the only two uninjured were the remaining guides, who were attached to the two ends of the rope. Notwithstanding the most heroic efforts of these two men, only two of the party could ha got out in time to save their lives. M. B— — was found dead in a recumbent position, with bis head downwards, and it was only after tw odays continued searoh that the missing body was found. This sad affair has thrown a gloom over the surrounding neighborhood, and those who know M. B-— will long remember the deep impression that bis untimely fate has left behind. The funeral took place on the 3rd inst, at Lausanne, in the Ouchy burial ground. It is but right to add th-it the inhabitants of the Valais took the most kindly interest in the affair, and had it not been for their prompe and eager assistance the bodies of the unfortunate sufferers would most likely still bare been where they were buried alive. — Times.

Probability op Marrying—A table inserted in a paper in the " Assurance Magazine " exhibits results of a rather startling character. In the first two quinquennial periods— 2o-25 and 25-30— the probability of .a widower marrying in. a year is nearly three times as great as that of a bachelor; at thirty it is nearly four times as great ; from thirty to forty-five, it is five times as great; and it increase^ until at sixty the chances of a widower marrying in a year is eleven times as great as that of a bachelor. It is curious to remark from this table how confirmed either class becomes in his condition of life— how little likely, after a few years, is a bachelor to break through his habits and solitary condition; and, on the other hand, how readily in proportion does a husband contract a second marriage who has been deprived prematurely of his first partner. After the age of thirty, the probability of a bachelor marrying in a year diminishes, in a most rapid ratio. Thaprobability at thlriy-Bve, ia'not much more than half that at thirty, and nearly the same proportion exists between each quinquennial Denod afterwards. ¥