DUNSTAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 770, 1 September 1866, Page 14

DUNSTAN.

(PROK THE DAILY TTMES CORRESPONDENT,

27th August. Mining matters have assumed a lively tone these last few weeks ; the weather is now highly favorable for all descriptions of work, and whether the scene of operation? be on the banks of the river, or away back in the ranges, the miner can pursue bis labors with success. In the course of a month, the bij;h ground in the neighborhood of Campbell's Gully will be workable, and judging from discoveries mai J e late last season, a hrge amount of i»old will be obtained there during the ensuing summer. Wages men are very scarce, in fact they are almost unattainable ; and should you have many unemployed hands about Dun edin, who are not above hard work, they will readily find employment up here. At Alexandra there is great activity in the beach claims. Frenchman's Point is turning out remarkably well. The paddocks lately bottomed in the Frenchman'?, the Hit or Miss, and Enterprise Company's claims are of the most promising character, 60 or 80 ouuces of gold being no uncommon yield during a shift of eight hours. The Frenchmen have already taken 250 ounces o( gold out of a paddock not yet half exhausted. Some of the parties on this beach contemplate the erection of a steam engine for drainage purposes, the motive power at present being quite insufficient to drive the machinery required for working the claims in i this extraordinary auriferous locality. !No ff that we have plenty of good and

cheap fuel at command, in the shape of lignite, it is thought by competent judges that steam would, ia numerous cases, be cheaper and handier than water power. Farming operations are being prosecuted most energetically in all parts of the district. On the Manuherikia River and at Coil Creek patches of ground are being tak^n up and put under cultivation, and where, in the eady days of the gold discoveries, nothing approaching to signs of civilization was to be seen, there are now comfortable homesteads formed by people whose apparent intention is to make Otago their homes. Tne growing of the vine is likely to be attempted on an extensive scale, and this time solely by means of private enterprise. An enterprising acq'laintan c of mine from Victoria last season got OVB r 3000 cuttings of Chipalus, Black Gloucesttr, and Guas. He planted them on a sunny bank of the Molyneux, some six miles below Alexandnt, and was luck? in striking; very nearly the who'e of the lot. He intends planting them out, and trying the experiment of growing grapes on a large scale. The vine— those 3 >rts that come quickly to maturity — will doubtless be successfully grown on many of the sheltered and sunny banks of the Molyntux, especially when the situation is protected from high winds. Between Alexandra and the Teviot the immediate locality of the river is peculiarly adapted for vineyards, and the culture of the vine may yet become an important branch of industry in this district. _ Butcher's Gully and Point, and the adjoining gullies, are busy scenes of labor.