A Mining Suggestion. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1759, 8 August 1885, Page 4

A Mining Suggestion. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — Every miner who has wished to put Jiimself en rapport with the mining community of Hew Zealand generally upon matters- touching their common welfare must have felt the want of a universal medium circulating in sufficiently large mim"bers upon the different golilftelds of the Colony to reach at least a tair majority of the miners. The advantages and use of such a paper are forciblyshown in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, and to come nearer home, in Otago the Witness furnishes a means of information and inter-eonununi-cation amongst the miners, which has had a highly Iwneficial influence upon the mining industry gener■ally, and leads one to desire that it might stand in the same relation to the miners of the whole Colony as it does to tliose of Otngo. Nor has the Otago Witness acquired this position without an effort. Any one who will take the trouble to examine the weekly budget of mining news must admit that a very oon•sidevable amount of attention and expense is devoted to provide reliable and late information from the^ different fields of the Colony, and to keep the miners' ■ posted up in the latest improvements effected in mining appliances, and in new inventions. • But not only have the mining columns of the Otago Witness been of practical use to the mining industry and the miners individually ; the iuforma'tion they have from time to time contained must liave proved of the greatest importance to the Mining Department at Wellington, and this importance must receive a considerable increase in the immediate future, as more than usual attention is now being bestowed upon mining affairs by the Government. So apparent has the want complained of made itself, that in times past more than one attempt has •been made to establish a mining journal for the Colony to supply the want. However, the scattered nature of the goldlields, and consequent difficulty of bringing the new papers under the notice of 'the miners, has invariably led to failures more or lessdisastrous ; and on the principle of " Once bit, twice shy," it is not to be expected that these attempts will be repeated now when the mines are at a much lower ebb, and the number of miners has much decreased when compared with the times the abovementioned failures took place. -Uut it would be ■wrong to suppose that' with these altered circumstances the want of a mining paper had disappeared. On the contrary, there was no time when such a medium was more required than at the present, and the only possibility to "have such a paper established is through some one of the large weekly papers now in existence being appointed by the Government as the mining gazette of New Zealand. It will be readily admitted that a thoroughly efficient and reliable mining journal must prove of the greatest benefit to the Sliiiing Department at "Wellingtou, as well as to the miners themselves, and ifc would therefore not be at all out of place were the Government to appoint the Otago Witness as the mining gazette of the Colony, in which to be advertised all mining notices, such as half-yearly financial statements, notices of calls and of meetings, &c. of mining companies, applications for leases. &c. ; also all Government notices referring to mining, such .as the holding of Wardens' Courts. Most of these matters are at present, by compulsion, inserted in the Government Gazette, and it may safely be slated that for any practical purposes they may as well be preserved in 'hermetically-sealed boxes, and placed on the summit of Mount Cook. Doth the purposes of the Government and those of the public would be immeasurably better served by having all such notices advertised'ina paper which circulates amongst those ■whom the notices concern. It would be useless to go further info details, but I would, with your permission. Sir, invite the discussion of miners of the subject, or of the rival claims of any of the other Colonial weekly papers than the Otago Witness, to be appointed a Government mining gazette as above suggested. — 1 am, &c, Joiix A. Mlllgk. Arrowtown, August 1. \ We (Mount Benger Mail) are informed that Messrs Mervyn and Gavan, of Bald Hill Plat, who Jiave been prospecting for many months for a reef in that part, have been successiFul in striking, some excellent stone, a sample of which was brought to Itoxburgh this week, which is thickly impregnated with gold. The party have a very large quantity ot -etuff to " grass," and a portion of it is said, to be very rich, averaging at the rate of 20oz to the ton. This is indeed cheering new 3, and the enterprising shareholders will have the best wishes of every peiv son who desires to see the gold-mining industry advance. The party are at present in treaty for a battery, their prospects fully warranting them taking this step. It is expected tliat very handsome results ■will be obtained, as the reef so far has proved to be of a very rich character. This will-be the first battery erected in that vicinity, and should be the means of encouraging the various claimholders in that locality. Mr B. Bei-ndfson is engaged in the preparation of a model of a Round Hill mining claim Cor Hie Wellington Exhibition. From an outline of the design .shown to us, we have no hesitation in saving that the model will form a very attractive object at the Exhibition, and will be the means of drawing attention to the gold workings of this district. Tho model will be accurately constructed to a scale, and will show the claim in 'full working order, with miniature miners and water supply engaged in the process ot •washing away a 50ft face. The natural features of the bush on top and the tail-races, &c, on bottom will also he shewn. Mr Berndtson experienced considerable difficulty at first in devising a plan to show the natural features of the different kinds of strata on the face of the claim, but the idiM. of mixing a quantity of the natural strata with Portland cement occurred to him, and this proved an entire success. By this means he is able to show an exact representation of the different kinds of strata, their variegated colours, and the uneven surface of the face of the claim. The work will require a considerable amount ot ingenuity and patience 1 , but Mr Berndtson will be equal to the occasion in both ' respects. It is contemplated to spnd the model to the Colonial and Indian Exhibitions, which opensin London next year.— Western Star.

The Bank of New Zealand shipped by the Ttotomahnna from Auckland four boxes of gold for transhipment to the Rimutaka, for London. They contained 37350z, valued at £15,000. The death is announced in the Anglo-New Zealander of Mr Theophilus Heale, aged 68, at Orpington, Kent. Mr Heale was chief surveyor under the Southland Provincial Government for some years, and afterwards held a similar position in Auckland. Accbrding to a paper read before the Philosophical Society of Glasgow by Mr A. Williamson, the total area of the coalfields of China proper is about 400,000 square miles. Both the Shansi and Heenan coalfields are greater than that of the aggregate of the principal coal-pro-ducing countries of Europe, and in other dis--fcricts of North China the coalfields are said to be seven times larger than all those of Great Britain. The coal is of various descriptions, and it is said that iron ores are found in all parts in close proximity to the coal. You Can" be Happy ff you will stop all your doctoring yourself and families with expensive doctors or cure-alls t'lafc do only harm, and use Nature's uimple remedies for all your ailments, you -will be well and happy iMid save great expense. The greatest remedy for fch'e, the great, wise, and good wilJ tell you, is American Co.'s Hop Bifcters.