MINING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1762, 29 August 1885, Page 15

MINING.

Referring to the impetus given to mining in the Thames district by the La Moute process, a local paper says :-^-All the ground for miles iupon every side of the auriferous aud;argen[tiferous belt of country in the district'tas been marked off, and floating is the order of \mie day. In fact, we have had .men here lately wWo boast of their ability to float anything from a bald bluff to a flax bush, reef or no reef. But the time when ground could be held for speculative purposes has gone by, and men who buy promoters' shares in new ground, no matter how the position of the same may be, should insist -upon the proceeds being devoted to the development of -the mine instead of going into the pockets of the floaters, as has been the case rather tpo 'often upon this field. The Waikaia correspondent of the Southland Times writes : — I have great pleasure in announcing a really valuable discovery. I have several tunes mentioned the claim of Messrs Collie and Co., at Piano' Flat. I am glad to be able to say that Messrs Longshaw, O'Shannessy, andp M'lvor .have bottomed on the adjoining ground at 45ft with 9ft of wash and six grains toHhe dish prospect. For my own part lam thoroughly persuaded a run of gold goes right through the Waikaia Bush,' and this discovery corroborates an opinion I have often been ridfculed for entertaining. There is a very pleasing feature in connection with this discovery, and that is the fact of one of the prospectors being a young Colonial. Our boys shows a great deal too little push in the way of prospecting, and it is to be hoped others will now pluck up courage to follow in the footsteps of their sires encouraged by the success of Albert M'lvor. Up the Waikaia the winter has been favourable to the river workers, and good returns from all the claims are reported, Messrs M'Leod and M'Kinnon have picked up the lost lead in the Great Britain and are fairly possesssed of a " homeward-bound." . . . From the Pomahaka, where William Kemp has just got a payable prospect, to the dividing range there are thousands of acres of auriferous land just waiting for development.