NORTHERN TERRITORY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Otago Witness, Issue 1585, 8 April 1882, Page 11

NORTHERN TERRITORY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Nearly three .years ( have passed since I troubled you with any hews from this outlandish part of the world. I had two reasons for not writing— firstly, I had # given up reefing ; and secondly^ there was little or nothing to report, everything being at a standstill, except a small Chinese rush to, the Margaret, and another, called Sanders rush, 35 miles east of the Union. No European has done any good on either of these fields.. At the present time there are over 500 Chinese on Sanders rash, but not many are making much more than tucker, and there 'arc only foiir whites mining and two butchering at t,he same place. It's a large block 'of shallow ground, and; the gold is very scattered. ' A few colours can be get anywhere for miles round— in factj it extends, as far as I can see, to the old diggings on the Ddtfield. A reef was found thero last week by a party of Chinese, but I have not seen any of the stone, therefore I can give you no idea ■of its richness. I hear there are about 200 Chinese ' on the Margaret rush, some doing very , well. 'One party working on tribute got ( a sijone 281b weight, which yielded 22$ pound [? ounces] weight ot gold, and they have had several smaller piefces. The claim is the ' property ' of Mr' W., K. Griffiths, who 2006z of gold' out of a brandy case" of fetone last year, and close to this .Mr Ping Que' rose two ton of stone which gave ! 2160z of gold. Nearly, all the {jold obtained on this field has been mixed with soft stone, and is of a very coarse nature. ; No European ,'has done any good, and there' is not a wliite- ' man 'on the field at tho present time. > ,The"",'Stapleton' reef, the, t nearest reef-to Palmerkon P. IK, has been purchased by .'the ,E. y. and A. C. Bank, who are working it . under tho management' of Mr Jas. Devin;»but ,as they lceep' matters very. .quiet, I am in the •' dark as to what they are doing. , „, The! John Bull (Howley), has , now been in work for over three , years, paying. its wayi yielding from 3oz. to 18dwt to the. ton, but I hoar it is going to be placed in the market for I the. purpose of^working, it, on a., larger .scale, tho machinery, now on the .ground, being too light for the, work required. This claim .is managed, by, Mr .James Snaddon. •The. John Bull claim is twp 20-acre and, one ■10-acre block leased, ground. Several .other - claims have just been, taken up on this line of reef, and the old Britannia Reet has been taken up by a Mr Harry • for some party in Ade-' laide. i ' ■ ■ ■ The Beatson Brothers, on the old Howley, have just got their shaft finished,_ and their .battery commences operating on their stone this week. This claim is four miles east of' the John Bull. The reef is very mullocky, but very rich. There are about 200, Chinese working here at alluvial and mullocky leaders, some doing remarkably well. It is my opinion there are plenty of payable leaders here,' but we want a larger population, with capital, to thoroughly prospect the district. . At Yam, Creek east a great many of the old claims, including the Western lease, have been re-pegged, and- are going to be floated in AdeI laide.- .The Grove Hill Company's battery here has been idle for ovor four years now, but there I is every prospect of it and others being tit work before long; Mr W. K' Griffiths has two 40acre blocks.ioased on the Margaret, eight miles from Yam Creek, and he has gone to Adelaide himself to try and float Yam Creek and Margaret claims.'. People, in Adelaide have great confidence in Mr, W. K. G. , and no doubt he will succeed. There is not the slightest doubt, if largo capital and machinery are put at work in the Northern- Territory swill .be the largest gold-yielding country in the Colonies. At Pine Creek, 30 miles from Yam Creek, Mr O. J ansen is getting his 15-head battery in order, and commences to crush next week. He has o\er 300 tons of surface stacked at the mill, and about 200 tons of stone on tho claim. Manning and Ingham have 60 tons at grass expected to go pretty wejl. ' Lander, Mariott, and party have started to work on the Edie, Maria, and Kapunda block. About 50 Chinese are working alluvial ; all doing pretty fairly. Augl. Henderson has about 20 tons like 2ozstone, and another party has about 40 tons of the same kind of stone.

The Union, eight miles north of Pine Creek, lias only .a population of ,five white men and 250 Chinese. No European store,, no post-office, no battery, the battery (Sanders and John's) having been shifted to the Twelve-mile (12 miles north of Union). , J. W. Tennant, Goodall, aud Ewart, with four Chinese wagesnipn, are getting good stone out of No. 1 north,' No. 1 south, and No. 2 north Lady Alice. They have about CO tons of 3oz-stone at tfiw.s. I hear thoy have had an oft'ar to put their claim in the market. This is a fine block of country, offering great facility for tunnelling ; the atone is very large, and there are four reefs all carrying gold, running all through the three claims. The previous yields from these claims have been from sozs. to 18dwts to tho ton. I believe there will soon be a large mill put up here — at least, report says so— and several parties down south are making inquiries about what claims we idle, &c. lam confident that al-

though there' ie no mill here at present, that the 'Union" wiirthTlarprest reefing field" in 'the Norohoiii Territory. Mr DouguJd AL'Lean is tho only other European raibing quartz, _ and a [tarty of four Chinese on No. 1 South Union hue. There is no European working alluvial, but nvcv 150 Chiupso on the Lady Alice- Creek doing very well. U( .,, . I will be taking a turn round the M'Kinl«y and Extended Union and Twelvc-nulc soon, and uill send you a report before long. Our wet season has set in properly at last ; we have had four days' continuous rain. ' Jamie thk Rkeb-nr.