DUNSTAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 658, 9 July 1864, Page 10

DUNSTAN.

(frost the daily times correspondent.) Dunstan, 4th July.

The rivfr is now as low again ayS ever, and appearances fully indicate that the level this season will be the same, if not considerably lower, than when Hartley and fiiley fin.t prospected its banks. Claims have, within the last few days, h een very generally taken np by the few people that are on tha spot ; but if we do not shortly have a large accession to our population, many rich claims will go a begging, as the quantity of known auriferous ground cannot find occupants for one-half irs extent; and if the miners who arc now living at a distance do not avail themselves of the advantages of reaping during the next three months, the golden harvest at preseit lying ready for th'm on the banks and beaches of the Molyneux, it miy perhaps be a long time before such an opportunity as the present may again occur. A la' ere number of men have perhaps become disgusted with tie vazariei of the river, which Iks always been promising to go down, but has never permanently done so ; but as the present fall his taken place at the only favorable season for such an event since 18 >2 there is no reason to suppose anything to the contrary than that an opportunity now presents itself to parlies obtaining gold euch as they never before po^essed. There is no gainsaying the enormous quantity of the pr2cious metal in the bed of the river. The most disappointed of the disappointed do not deny its existence, the only difficulty is in reaching it; and although the time for working the beaches will not probably extend beyond tbe end of September, those few short months of labor in ground where, I may without hesitation say, " gold may hi almost had for the picking up," will amply compensate for alo )g period of unproductiveness, and to persons whose time is not profitably or agreeably employed, they cannot possibly no better than pay a visit to the banks of the Molyneux.

Flour, horse feed, potatoes, and other heavy and bulky articles, are becoming very scarce and dear, stocks being exceeding low. in fact, if we Jo uot have some large arrivals within the npxt few days many of the necessaries of life will reach something nigh to fami'-e prices. The increased demand for machinery consequent unon go ra^ny stupendous mitring operations now being carried on has given such a deraaud for the labor of our workers in mttals that they are uot ablp to meet the demand, and prices are exorbitantly hig;h, almost equally fo as in the time of the first rush. With the dredging companies and other parrie* using appliancps other than manual labor, this evil is felt to a pretty considerable extent, while many undertakings, on account of the enormous expenses of making and repairing machinery are in abeyance mainly from this ciu^e alone. For instance, for the commonest piece ot iron wo r k, when the i-hape of the raw mattrriil has not considerably to be altered to adapt it to its intended uae the charge is something like two shilling? per pound, for shoeing a draught horse it is thirty eishfc shillings, and for a hack thirty shillings, which amounts to a positive prohibition to the carrying on of many branches of industry, and retarding to a considerable extent the development of the mineral resources of thp district. Now that the era of mining by machinery is dawning upon us, it becomes imperative that our local disciples of"Tubal Cain," like other tradesmen, bow to the exigencies otthetimps.

Mr Brown, the inventor of the new current wheel for which a patent is to be procured, <rot his machine successfully iuto the water, opposite the Manuherikia Junction on Friday last. The trial proved a great success, every expectation being satisfactorily fulfilled. The wheel is working about 50 feet from the shore, and although only Jnlf immersed, and by no means in the full force of the current, its power is calculated equal to that of two horses. The pumps will be attached in the course ot to-day, and by the next coach, I shall be able to send a more detailed description of its merits.

the remains of the unfortunate rain Peat, who died on the " Old Man," on Friday, the 24th June, through the exposure of cold, were int"rrei by Police Constable O'Neil, from the Teviot, on the succeeding Monday, near the 311 th s-ugw pole.. The coffin was mad? from sorae timber procure 1 from Mr Whisker's Store, Potter's Gully, Campbell's diggings. The deecased, with some three other men, had been engaged cutting i track through the snow, so as to allow a Mr Browi, a storekeeper at the Waikea, to exHcate his horses, which had been snowed in for about eiebt days They successfully accomplishel their work, and reached the Gorge with the hordes about midnight on the Thursday. Wishing to procsed home with as Jittle delay as possible they scarcely took any rest after their arduous task, and started back again over the "Old Man" at daybreak the following morning. On the top of the bill the deceased, who is an old man, was very much exhausted and complained of cold, and when near the 309 th snow pole, which is near Potter's Gully, he laid down unable to proceed further ; his mates left him ami went dowi; into the gully for the purpose of making him tome warm tea; upon their return he had drajrsed himself to the 311 th snow-pole, a distance of 100 yards, and was quite dead. The sluicing operations at Sandy Point are turning out remarkably well, many of the claims yielding better than ever. In consequence of the rivsr being so low, those portions of the claims previously covered with water are now being wrought and with very great success. One party divided, as the proceeds of their last forlnight'3 labor, the handsome sum of L4B 183 per man. The gravelly beach in this claim will average three pennyweights to the shovelful, and every day as the river keeps falling the area of workable ground becomes more extensive There are now six larce races of about five miles in length, each bringing i.i collectively from the. Praser River between forty and fifty hea-is of water, and were three times that quantity to be brought it could be nil profitably employed. \ The new dredging company, Knight and party, are getting on very satisfactorily with their novel undertaking, and although there have been great delays consequent upon the breakage of new machinery, they have under all disadvantages succeeded in making wages. The Alert Corapauy had amWiap on Thursday last with their punt. At the earh part of the afternoon one of the strand wires, through a fault in the manufacture, became parted, and which caused a slight kink in the rope. The punt was detached, and the rope hauled to the shore for the purpose of being repaired; while the owners were' employed making good tho damage, some

evil-disposed person Jet go the rope which fastened the punt to its moorings, and away it went down the river. Chas» %vas instantly given in a whale boat, and one of tbe proprietors-. forhmatPly jumped on lioard, and attache 1 a rope to the r-ither unwieldy looking ship, and --uceeeile'l, with ths assistance of the men in the boat, in headline the punt in a little shallow bay at tho Half-mils Beach. It was most fortunate that they did so, for had the punt only have pone Hown the river one hundred }flrds further it would have gone to nieces on the rocks. The cext morning about 100 men lent their assistance, and the ruraway, by means of three powerful warps, was towed up to its old position, and fcbs traffic across the river was quick'y resumed.