THE FUTURE OF GOLDMINING IN OTAGO.

Otago Witness, Issue 1432, 3 May 1879, Page 8

THE FUTURE OF GOLDMINING IN OTAGO.

Schedule E. — Gbodnd - Sluicing in Sec. tions. Sir,— Ground-sluicing, as it is carried on in Otago, presents a petty, contracted appearance when contrasted with sluicing operations in California. How much of this is due to the deficiency in the yield of gold, or how much to want of enterprise, it is not for me to say. Here in Otago it is mostly miners themselves who carry on operations and bear the brunt of expense. True, business people, of necessity, for their own sake, sometimes assist to the extent of giving credit for provisions, &c., but nowhere in Otago is to be seen anything approaching to the scale of operations as seen in America. A freat deal of the reason why minera are left as well as they can to battle it out themselves is, I think, to be attributed to the insufficiency of information obtainable atLong other thsn miner*, and the difference in the scale of operations as between Otago and California may safely ba attributed to the difference between the restless, go-ahead style, make or break, of the American, and the cautious, plodding style of the Briton. As we all know, mining is risky, and nowhere is that known better than iv America. Here, in the Colonies, things must be spiced pretty high to induce capitalists to inve&t._ Men who go into assurance companies, banking specs., &c,,100k merely for the usual returns— B, lo, 15, or 20 per cent., as may be. The same men, when a little excilement arises in mining circles through some new find, leave alt commercial rules and principles behind them, and rush into specs, that the go-ahead American would not look at. The simple fact is, that Americans go into minim* specs, like going into any other business, while the Englishman goes into mining with the wild, generally delußive, hope of obtaining [ enormous profits from a ludicrously disproportionate expenditure. Want of adequate informatiou I leaves them at the mercy of the sharks who infest KoldfieWs, and, once bitten, twice shy, &c. The American, on the contrary, has all the information that science, experience, and his own r atnrally keen, shrewd powers of observation give him. He weighs well all the' risks, calculates the hoped-for profits, measures hi* own purae, and goes iuto it without any delusive hopes, JJe goes into it, ia fact, as he

course if only for one minute. A very small thing checks water, and diminishes) the fflow. So well is this known in America that mining instruments are kept to hand ; the volume, velocity, &c, being so well known, the slightest diminution in pressure or supply is invent) gated. The style of forming dams in the Colonies is, as a rule, very faulty. In heavy rains, snowfalls, &c, the dam banks often give way through the pressure upon them, as there is generally no means bßyond a bye-wash to diminish the quantity of water in the dam, and the dams are generally mere clay or loose soil banks, which, weakened and melted away through the water everywhere present, can hatdly be expected to stand bad weather. The very time at which dams are most useful in rains or snow time is the very time they run most risk of giving way. Having the trap or sluice gate in the face of the dam by no means tends to strengthen it. Dams in America are generally formed as under : — A solid clay bank i it firat formed, in which no opening whatever is ' left. It is generally mixed with small scrub, and trampled down as hard as possible. The ■width of base depends on the size of the proposed clam. Inside the clay bank, if available, a wall of Jrock or boulders is built, filled in the crevices with clay, or something as near mortar as can be got. A number of heavy beams, well sunk to the bed rock, if possible, reach from the bottom of the dam to the top of the rock wall. They would be vertical but for resting on ' the face fof the wall, which is always built with a little incline. Acroßß these beams are spiked a number of hewn or sawn planks running diagonally, not horizontally, across the beams. Inch or inch and half boarding is nailed across the planks horizontally. These boards are tongued and grooved, and fitted with great care. A tunnel is driven under the dam, carefully timbered. It reaches the furthest end of the dam, where all the ground is # solid. The floor of the dam is sloped towards it. An inclineor jump-up reaches from the end of the drive through the solid ground to the back part of the dam. This jump-up, like the drive, is carefully timbered, and if the dam is large and built with a view to permanency, not only' are drive and jump-up closely slabbed at sides and top, but the timber is closely planked up as well and plauking laid down on the ground sills or sole pieces. The well or top I of the jump up is ctoed by a trap or slide^door. This door, in small dams, is formed something like the coyer of an ordinary well, and is lifted up by chains attached to it, which are fastened to a strong chain or rope running through a gin block on a scaffolding or poppet head, and worked by a mule, or else driven by a band windlass. In large dams the trap-door is lifted in much the same way, but the door works on a slide, at an^ angle of 45 or 40 degrees ; so, of course, th/re is not so much preesure on the door while lifting it up. SECTION I.— IJIPKOVED METHODS OF SAVINGGOLD. The methods of saving gold are, as before stated, very numerous iv America, almost every company having ideas of their own, which they follow up and thoroughly test. The system of under-currenti enters largely into sluicing operations in California. 0 wing to the doubt before spoken of I shall not dwell much upon them. At a considerable distance down the race, in a place where a good fall can be obtained, a tunnel is driven up to the race, being as near parallel to the race as possible, and immediately und*r it, if it can be done, for tbe la«t few hrmdml feet or yards. A jump-up, of various depths, from 6 up to 15 or 1G feet, rises through the ditch or race ; it is, of course, well secured. Strong iron bars, fovmiup :v grating of a size to exclude all largo rocks, defend the opening ; they are sunk into the Bidea, below the level of the rac§, JJoavy

silver, and plenty of it, is indispensable in sluicing operation?. ! SEOHON 2.— UTILISING SHOBT SUPPLY OP "WATIE. The methods of saving water in California are various, They are, as a rule, too complex and intricate to be acceptable to colonials. They are, besides, more acceptable to the Australian water supply than to that of Otago, so I shall merely speak of one plan. It is, of coursp, expensive, and is only used when the deficiency of water, and excellent prospects in the claim, warrant the outlay. Below all the gold-saving apparatus one or two large dams are formed, into which all the water and sludge run. At a certain distance above the face operated upon in the claim, as far off as possible, a shaft is sunk. Levels are taken from the dams or dam, and tbe depth required to be sunk is knowr.. It may be 400 or 500 feet, or more, or less. An adit is driven irom the shaft to the dam, with incline sufficient to draw the water from the dam. Pumps run down tbe shaft and drain it. They are worked by a large water-wheel. The wheel is worked by water jjfrom the race, to be returned to the race lower down. The water, to be used over again, is pumped up from tbe shaft and returned to the race, to run into the dam again, and so on. When the sludge accumulates to an inconvenient extent it is cleared out by strong iron harrows, like in a puddling machine. A whim is built close to the dam. The whim is worked by mules. A whim is also built in the dam itself, to which the harrows are attached. A strong rope is wound round the dam whim, and is carried to the mule whim. When tbe sludge is sufficiently stirred up it is flushed by clean water from the race, and is ready for use again. Sometimes valuable deposits are found by sinking shafts for this purpose. SECTION 3.— WATER SQBATTEBS, SHEEP SQUAT [TEBS, AND SIPABIAN EIGHTS. I In discussing this subject it is absolutely necessary for a person to cast clasß feeling or prejudice on one side. It must be remembered that those who purchase land in the vicinity of sluicing claims do so on the strength of the vendor, the Government, securing them against everything in the shape of wilful damage. For anything in the shape of accident the vendor, of course, is not responsible. Floods, however, bsing out of man's power to prevent, may be clußßed under the bead of accident. Sludge being brought down by floods, and deposited on private property, the puzzled question then arises, is it wilful damage or mere accident ? Miners pay the Government heavy fees, for, in too many cases, permission to starve. Like the sheep-squatter or farmer, they, too, are secured against wilful damage. Taking into account the land covered by sludge, the , question arises, who is responsible for the damage ? The Government allows the miner to discharge his tailings into the natural watercourse. Water being precious, and bringing a rental to the Government, all water in the vicinity of gold-fields, running in either natural or artifical channels, is well mapppd out and defined. The Government sells the land to the farmer or squatter ; they also indirectly sell to the miner permission to deposit his sludge upon the same ground. The only remedy for such a state of things, in my humble opinion, would be to sell no land liable to be flooded by sludge. The Government in their anxiety to raise revenue bell anything, anywhere, to anybody. In my humble opinion the Government iB the responsible party. Miners go sometimes to great expense in bringing in wilier ; years' work may be. required to recoup them for their outlay," and interruption to their lawful industry may mean utter ruin to them and their familiea. It is, no doubt, very hard for a man to ceo Ma laud covered by

sludge ; it is, also, equally hard for a man to be deprived of the rights he has dearly paid for. The pollution of rivers is a serious question. Many industries, in the present state of mechanical knowledge, cannot be carried on without polluting the natural water-coursea. To think of an elaborate system of sewers ai_d pipes discharging into the sea, unless very close to the seaboard, is, in a young country, preposterous. A great deal of angry, bitter class feeling has arisen through this question. The Government cares not who suffersso long as the taxes are paid ; and this question will or>ly be settled by miners and landowners combining, and forcing their claims to effective aad definite legislation upon the powers that be. If both vartie3, instead of nuwing bad feeling, were to hold the Govtrnment responsible for damage done to land, or interruption to their lawful industries, I think the Government would find it to their interest to settle the question for good and all. The Government selJs to miners and landowners rights which are found in the course of time to be incompatible and conflicting. The Government come the double shuffle, and gets to windward of both. So, I think, the Government is the I party to whom both miner and landowner must look for relief. SECTION 4. — THE FOSSICKER. I arranged the order of my papers between your isaue of March Ist and the previous one. In yours of March Ist your corespondent, M'Sbane, defines the fossicker. As my definition agrees, to a certain extent, with his, I may incur the risk of being accused of plagiarism were I to pass over in eilence his of March Ist. His definition of the fossicker is that he is a happy-go-lucky person, careless of the future, his highest ambition only reaching to tucker, and a liquor-up now and then. So far I follow him. A good many of them are hatters, no doubt. But I submit that the impression conveyed by his description of their reading tendencies ia a false one. His account would lead anyone to suppose that the fossick* r above described, whom I shall call No. 1, is a very intelligent, well-informed, well educated man. My expeiii nee leads me to draw a totally different conclusion from the above premises. Sometimes a well educated man may be found under the head of No. 1 ; but, to mv mind, they are the exceptions that prove the rule. The reading tendencies of the fossicker I admit. But what does he rtad? In bow many huts or tents of genus fossicke r No. lis to be found any part or portion of the works of tbe great poets, philosophers, scientists, travellers, navigators, inventors, &c, ? How many of the gefcus fossicker No. 1 know anything of the history of their own country even? How many can give you an intelligent answer to the questions of the day, Evolution, Capital v. Labour, &c. ? Is not his scanty library composed rather of the blood ard thunder eort of books— "Aurora Floyd," " The Woman in White," &c. : Tales of murder, seduction, piratical adventures, and all the improbabilities and impossibilities to be found in tbe modern sensatioual trash, called novels, are, as a rule, his mental pabulum. True, he reads the papers, but it iB only tbe general news that interests him ; the questions of the day, cf necessity, present themselves in an incomplete form in any paper. They require previc us study and application to enable the readers to digest them. He may have the memory sufficient to recite, word for word, a great trial, or Sir George Grey's last speeches it or they appear in the paper, but can he give you a correct impression of the one, after readiog it, or tell you whether the other is humbug or genius ? M'Shane's definition of fossicker No. 2 I agree with, to a certain extent. But when he asserts that the fosßicker No. 2 wants everything to remain stationary until he is ready to go into some spec that he had got his eye on, I fail to follow him. The question arises, When, will No. 2be ready to go into this spec ? Sup. posing he requires one, two, or 300 poundsfor this spec, will fossicking for a half-pennyweight or a pennyweight a day give it to him ? I submit that M'Shane \ contradicts himßelf. # I quote one sentence :— " They want everything to remain stationary until they are ready to take advantage of any chance that may take place to encourage enterprise." How can things remain stationary and chances be cropping up at the same time? Chances cropping up means a bit of a stir ; remaining stationary means stagnation. The only hope that fossicker No. 2 has of bettering himßelf is in emerging from the stagnation of foseickdom. The active, enterprising man, such as No. 2 is described by M'Shane is more at home in the excitement and uproar of a great rush than on a partially deseited gold-field. He likes to see the gold-fields' towns at night swarming with diggers. He likes to hear of new finds j the heavier the better. The wild hurrah of a great gold-field, with its ten or fifteen thousand j diggers, the crash and roar of multitudes of men, are far sweeter music to him than the tinkle of his own solitary tin-dish. Stagnation or fossicking is his horror ; a rush is his glory. There are chances on a new rush ; there ar9 none in the fossicking business. There are other things in his letter that I shall speak of further on, cs they do not come under this head. Some I follow him in ; some Ido not. End of Schedule E.— l am, &c, D. H. OSBOBNE. I . Eiverton, March 14th.