SERPENTINE QUARTZ REEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 1427, 29 March 1879, Page 8

SERPENTINE QUARTZ REEF.

-■ TO THE EDITOB. Sir — Will you be good enough to allow me a small Bpace in your valuable paper, the Witness, to answer a paragraph written by your Own Correspondent, Naseby, in your impression of the Bth iusfc., wherein he has referred to the apparent great difficulty, the sufficient and correct knowledge of extracting the precious metal from the quartz, and the enormous loss of gold after the stone has passed the ordeal of the stampers. It appears that your own correspondent has jumped at conclusions from being shown a few specimens of stone with gold visible, carried fifty miles in a man's pocket, and information given by a prejudiced party from the Serpertine who visits Naaeby occasionally, instead of coming on the ground himself and obtaining ocular and tangible proof before putting on paper what he know little or nothing about. If all the quartz in the reef were so rich as the specimens he referred to, the shareholders would reap a rapid fortune, but when a ton of stone worth three ounces of gold per ton is found mixed up with twenty tons of quartz only worth three pennyweights per ton, what is the result. If your own correspondent jnmps at conclusions thus, by seeing a few good specimens, and listening to mal-information fifty miles from the place alluded to, I would advise him to never enter into any mining speculations, if he does, he'll surely find his fortune taking the wrong course. I have had twenty years' experience in gold mining and have never yet seen the mine that would not produce some good specimens of stone, when the average has been very poor. I have also found beautiful specimens of stone in tin and copper mines, when they would not half pay working expenses. If your own correspondent at Naseby will only give himself the trouble to come over to the Serpentine before writing again about the gold being chere, and that in good quantity, of which ' there ia no denying (which I take to be rather strong language for one who has never examined the reef) ; and of the great difficulty and the sufficient and" correct kuowledge of the party in charge in extracting the precious metal from the quartz, when he has never examinedthe machine, or tail race ; and last, but not least, the enormous loas of gold, of which he says there can be no doubt, the meaning of which I take to be a fact, I will receive him like a gentleman^ give him all information respecting the reef, and every facility to examine the cmshing machine, tables, tail race, &c.,andif he can find a quarter of an ounce of the enormous quantity of gold which, he has said is lost, I'll give him twenty pounds for it. I send you this for insertion to vindicate my character and abilities from the indirect slander of a man writing at random, careless, without thought, just what he has heard, without taking the least trouble to ascertain the truth, even in important cases, where he may often put to the stake, and in many a case blast the character and abilities of the party alluded to, and doom him to grapple in the dust during the remainder of his life. I would advise all such writers to look before they leap, or someday they may find themselves heels over head in the bottom of a prospecting pit. So much for correspondents' writing, without examining what they know little or nothing about. — I am, &c., Wm. Quick Eoach, Manager Serpentine Quartz Reef. P.S. — Let him shine forth with his name and not write behind a mask.