BORING v. DEEP SINKING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1191, 26 September 1874, Page 6

BORING v. DEEP SINKING.

A writer on the above subject in the Bendigo Advertiser says — It does seem strange that on the great question of deep prospecting, the idea of boring for the reefs has been so much neglected. I think a great many will bear me out when I say, had they commenced boring six or seven years ago, instead of deep sinking and long cross-cutting, Bend ; go would have been much better than it is at present. Existing reefs would have been proven at one-tenth the expense, and, if not payable, the rush of miners would have been less, and consequently not so much misery to-day. By boring from the surface, the cost of cross-cuts is nearly abolished, because a company can then sink right down on the reef, or as near as practicable, or in the lowest levels of any of our deep mines where quartz has not been found. Surely a few boreholes, say one every 20 feet of the cross-cut, if nothing be found sooner, would quickly prove the value of the ground down to 1000 feet at least. A boring apparatus and fixings may be put in working order for a very small sumEindeed, as compared with the sinking material required for proving the same amount of ground. In the coalfields of Great Britain I have known three or four holes bored down a distance over 600 feet simply to prove the best position for sinking that the same may be in the lowest part of the coal bed, making the transit of coal to the shaft cheap and easy; also proving "faults," "thickness," and quality of the coal seam. Then why not prove to us the existence and xmderlie of quartz reefs 1 I expect many will differ from these views in different forms ; the working miners may dread this as an encroachment of their sphere of labour ; but, sir, I think if the miners do suffer for a few months from it they will be benefited by it on the whole, and we had better have this system of prospecting thoroughly and quickly than the present, when contracting miners are prospecting at a rate of wages something like £1 per week, and even less, and at a rate of sinking and driving which will take a very great many years indeed to prove the same distance down as may be proven and eagerly sought for in twelve months by the simple, cheap, and safe plan of boring. The mode I think the best would be to bore from one to six holes in a direct line crossing the lode on each line of reef that has not been prospected to termination. Let holes be 50 feet apart, or less, as " borings" may indicate in the first holes. In conclusion, I hope this subject will be taken ixp by some as a question of great importance, as a deep prospecting shaft seems not only impracticable, but slow and very expensive.

Mining in the Woodstock district has been much more lively of late than for a long time past. The West Coast Times says that the whole of the tunnel and sluicing claims beyond the township are now in full work, there being plenty of water both in the company's race and dams and in those belonging to the claimholders themselves. This being the case, and the miners having, as a general rule, claims that will last for some years yet, there has been no inducement for any of the settled population to seek emj>loyment on the various public works jobs which at present absorb so many men, whose usual occupation is mining. There is at the present time plenty of work in this and the Kanieri district for the whole of the available labour, and in consequence there are no idle men. At Axe Creek and Back Creek the news is also favourable, the whole of the claims being plentifully supplied with water. The Brighton Lead, which some few years ago yielded a considerable quantity of gold, is still being worked. There are about half-a-dozen parties tunnelling, and as the allurement of obtaining steady wages on the water

races and public works have had no charms for those engaged on this terrace, it may be taken for granted that at least small wages are being made.