THE MACETOWN REEFS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1374, 30 March 1878, Page 4

THE MACETOWN REEFS.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — I see in your issue of March 9th, a letter bearing the signature of J. H. Phillips, Mining Manager, asserted to have arrived lately from Ballarat. But from the remarks contained in the letter, the writer has not seen Ballarat for some time, and one need not travel far from Skippers to find him.

In the first place, he speaks of the Phoenix mine as the best worked mine in the province. How he arrived at that conclusion, having just come from Ballarat, lamat a loss to understand. If he had said, there had been more money spent in the mine than in any other in the province, it would have been nearer the mark. As to the writer seeing at a glance "the work had been done by Cornish miners," is laying it on rather too thick. Cornish miners are no better, and in the opinion of many not so good, as men who have gained their experience 'in the colonies in reefing ; and it is a well-known fact that they require as much (if not more) looking after. The orthodox copperplates spoken of are extensively 1 used in California, and there can be no doubt the Americans are far in advance of us in gold-saving appliances,

The Otago Company is next spoken of as not being worked in such a systematic manner as the Phoenix. If the writer had said that money had not been so recklessly spent, it would be nearer the truth. The owners of the Otago Company are quite as competent to work their mine as the manager of the Phoenix. But they have only their own money to spend, With regard to the pyrites spoken so much of in connection with the Phoenix, if I remember rightly the manager of the Otago Company took 10 dwt. per ton more out of pyrites (from the same heap) than the manager of the Phoenix Company did with all his appliances.

Next comes the New Nugget and Cornish Company, on which the writer (to use a colonial term) seems to have a particular down. The mine, bo far as I understand, is not well ventilated, as there has not been yet time to put up a rise to the old workings. The men employed, to my knowledge, are equal to any in the district ; and, had the manager the money at his command that has been spent in the Phoenix mine during the last ten months, the difficulties he is at present labouring under, I think, would be overcome. It is well known, that' the manager of the mine, for perseverance and economy, has few equals, and such a scurrilous attack on manager and men as that contained in the above-mentioned letter, is, to say the best of it, most unjustifiable. With regard to the Macetown reefs, I know very little about them. If the manager (or properly speaking, as far as I canascertain, the ex-Phoenix blacksmith) of the Homeward Bound, is bo well up in battery and mining work, he has hitherto hid his light under a bushel.

In conclusion, allow me say that the remarks of the writer are plain. As to being well meant, I must beg to differ from him. Such fulsome lauding of two people and depreciating others shows the motive of the writer. — I am, &c, Fairplay.

Skippers, March 19th, 1878.