JOTTINGS FROM THE COUNTRY

Otago Witness, Issue 1858, 1 July 1887, Page 28

JOTTINGS FROM THE COUNTRY

! '■' (iftr'OuR 1 Tbavjilling Repobtbr.) ' Tobaoco Growing at Waitahuna— The Tuapeka ' Lawrence-r-Memories of Early .- Digging ,-Days — Chinese Diggers — The 4 Blending of the Races -Mining Ojpera- ' ' tions— The Tailings Company— Mr Brown's Mission ,to' london-The W,etherstone's fleiheht Olaim-^Agricultural and Pastoral Prospects ' "' '■ - On the road from Waitahuna to Lawrence there' is nothing of interest, save where the industrious Chinaman again displays hia fertility of resource in the shape of a tobacco farm: "Just before; the to^boundaryis' reached,' on the Waitahuna side, some Chinamen have leased a piece of land,, and have put to the test the practicability of tobacco culture in the Tuapeka district. The last season being favourable a good crop' was' 'grown, 'but' before the leaf could be dried .the damp .autumn set in and damaged the, crop considerably, /Nevertheless it has ,- been demonstrated that the soil chosen is admirably suited td the growth 1 of good tobacco leaf ; the difficulty. of curing $he, leaf can ! be overcome by. the ierection of suitable drying sheds. As it is, the peculiar odour, of half-decayed tobacco leaf convinces , the passer-by that "John" has not been quite successful in' his attempt to' dry the leaf by hanging it in bunches on the adjacent wire f 6nceV ' ' ' , ! ' * ' ' ! But we'musthurry on till Lawrence— the golden ; town, the favoured of the gods (judging from the public'ni'oney lavished upon it)— -is reached. From Dunedin to Lawrence is 60 miles' by rail, and part of; the' way, on' 'the Lawrence branch line', is over what is facetiously called, , Tlie? 1 Corkscrew Railway." This railway would appear > to have beenbvriit as an engineering experiment to test the ultimate limit of ' curvature round which it is possible to drive a, luggage train, and the steepest grades practical, to ascend and descend. . It was oh this line that .the t strange driver stopped his tram on catching sight of the red light of his own guard's van apparently facing him, and that the swagger refused to take a ticket on the plea that he was in a hurry. • Nevertheless the railway is an incalculable • boon to Lawrence, which is the terminus for the up-country traffic, Some agitation has-been set on foot to. carry a light line 1 through , Lawrence on to Roxburgh, but should <that project ever be carried, out Lawrence would suffer, as the up-country traffic would then pass it by. The, survey has been made, and the engineering difficulties are not great ; still there are many more pressing needs in the country than the projected LawrenceRoxburgh railway.

', ' " ' Lawrence ; is a pretty little town,. nestling cosily on sunny slopes, and' set off, with plantations ■' of ' trees: Indeed, a peep at Lawrence down Gabriel's Gully from Blue Spur gives a vignette scarcely to be excelled' anywhere 'else, the more especially when the light 'colour of' the houses' is made to contrast moi;e vividly with the green foliage of the trees by the lingering beams of ebbing day in summer. Here we are in the metropolis of the 'goldfields, where at one time were collected from lands far ag the poles asunj der'the busy' goldseekers, and where fortunes I were often made and lost in a' single' week,' Many a one passed over the rough hills covered J with manuka scrub and white tussock, little dreaming' of the golden treasure lying in the gullies around them till Gabriel' Bead put the question' to the touch and made public his discovery. Then humdrum Otago was roused from tier 'lethargy; and all eyes were turned towards the new, El Dorado. Soon the desolate, wilds, seldom entered by the white man, became the scene of busy life, and diggers' tents by hundreds clothed the hill sides. Every gully around was fully tested, and almost' everywhere in the .vicinity of the main gully gold in payable quantities was found. The town sprang up |with that mushroom growth characteristic of many, on the goldfields, and even to this day buildings of sheet iron — sides and roof — stand as remants of the good old days. It is not easy now, however, to picture the place in the heyday of its magnificence, when men spoke of | nothing, , thought of nothing, and dreamt of ! nothing but gold. .Although the precious metal still lies in considerable quantity scattered I around over a wide area, yet the glory has de- , parted from the. celebrated 'Tuapeka, and its chief town feels the pressure of dull times quite as much as its less favoured sister towns. ' The dull times. have forced many to tempt Dame Fortune igain, and f though fortunes are things of the past, some , of them are making a good living by fossicking in the 'sides of Gabriel's Gully. , ' , The Tuapeka goldfield is still the chjeJF centr.e for the Chinaman, and one needs but look around the old workings to see how many of them the district supports. In Gabriel's Gully, at Wetherstones, and along the bed of the Tiiapeka river parties of them contrive, to unearth sufficient gold to make a living, and many of them are making a living and saving a nice ■little nest-egg to carry with them to the Flowery Land as well. It almost seems a pity that when so many of our fellow' colonists are clamouring for Government assistance that they could not take the place of the Chinamen on the goldfields, for the "amount of gold that is carried .out' of the "country yearly by the. Chinamen must be considerable.' It is only necessary to visit ' ■, ' ' ' ' ■ The Chinese Camp - when the Heathen holds high festival to become convinced of the numbers engaged in mining in and around thes'a goldfields. The camp stands outside the town boundary on the Beaumont road, its centrepiece being the Chinese Empire Hotel, a tidy brick building .recently erected/ while around are the hovels which the Celestials are content to dwell in. Many of; the Chinese have"' ■European' wives — of - a ' certain class — and it seems a travesty of the -British people to see the mongrel race here flourishing, blending with the burly features of John Bull the sleek-eyed cunning of the Mongolian. Truly extremes . have, here naet, and what the full fruition of this' small leaven of Mongolian blood on European stock may be no man can estimate. The Chinese camp is the plague spot of Lawrence, redolent ot filth and every abomination, and frequented by only those Europeans who have become oblivious of the commonest.feelings of self-respect. A good bonfire would rid Lawrenpe of one of its most undesirable surroundings. . Besides the Chinaman and the European fossicker, there are a number of

Slinking Companies

at work, chiefly at. Blue Spur. The Gabriel's 'Tailings Company is still, at work in the gully, although the venture has not turned oat bo

remunerative as wasfafc on^tameeapeoted. The tailings are there in any quantity, and the gold 'is in them, bat the conjpany -has been terribly hampered by the prior rights of the Blue ftpur claims. Local jealousies have done much to damage the cause of mining in this locality, and , with a little more of the give-and-take principle the Tailings Company might long ere, this. have been a first-class paying concern. - The tail-races .of the Blue Spur claims must not be interfered with, so that the company is debarred from working the richest part of the tailings.' After working clbse up to the boundary of the Nelson Company's claim, the Tailings Company had to shift their pipes and begin de novb further down the gully. Could thecompany get rights, to the whole ' tailings -in the gully, and begin work at the bottom (or as low down aa tho ground k likely to be payable), and leave an open tail-race behind them instead of the elosed-in arrangement they have now, perhaps the difficulty with 'the other claims might' disappear. It is scarcely reasonable to expect that the other claims should stop working while the Tailings Company mined away their* tail-races,- but if- the latter made ample provision to carry away .tho water and tailings of the former, some amicable arrangement might be arrived afc. ' The ezpe- . • rience of the 'past has, however, almost demonstrated' that such a thing as amicable arrangement- is out of the question— ±vide the ' .expensive lawsuits undertaken with the. object of settling disputes of no great moment to either litigant. What is wanted to make mining pay at Blue Spur is A Complete Amalgamation of all the ■ ' \ 'Claims > / • • ';•' both there and in the gully. At 'present the hopes of, the miners are centred in an attempt to sell their united interests to, an English syndicate of capitalists. Mr J. C. Brown,' accompanied'by a private secretary, went Homo some months ago to make the attempt, but so ' far there is no word of his success. He hag been furnished with full particulars relating to each mine from' its start to the present time; so far as it is possible to get the information from l imperfect records. ' Each mine has 3 its price stated, and deeds are signed,' so that' Mr Brown ' is fully prepared to deal with any capitalists whom he may induce to speculate "in a large mining venture. At a fair price there' should be no more sound mining venture in New Zealand than that under treaty at Blue Spur, but it has been put forward at an unfavourable time, ' just when English investors in colonial mining scrip have 'had their faith severely shaken' by bogus schemes in Queensland. As far as I cat* ' learn the price asked for the goodwill' of the claims is too high, when it is taken into account that the cream has been removed, and although much gold yet remains, it can only be obtained after a great outlay of capital. Entirely new ' methods will have to be devised, and before the best class of machinery with which to reduce the cement can be discovered muoh must be • spent in experimenting. The Nelson Company appear to have a machine in every respect adapted to the purpose of cement crushing at Blue Spur. Could the whole of the claims be thrown into one company, including Blue Spur and Munroe's and Gabriel's Gullies, several machines like the one invented by Mr M'Queen • get to work on both sides the deposit, and plant ' like that of the Tailings Company placed in both gullies, there need be little fear Gut that' the mines would pay. But why go outside the colony ? If the investment can be shown to be ■ a sound one — and at a fair price undoubtedly itis — surely a company can be' floated 'nearer' home.' 'Should Mr -Brown's mission result in failure something else will have to be tried. Besides the Blue Spur mjnes, I understand Mr Brown was commissioned to dispose of 'the Wetherstones Cement ' Company's claim' • and the Kaitangata Lake Coal Company's mine. If English capitalists cannot be persuaded to bite on to any of these ventures the credit of the i colony must be low indeed. Whatever the •upshot may be, it means to many the difference between sinking or swimming. For some time back most of the claims have been* working shorthande'd, and it will be a great pity if' any of them have to stop working altogether. When' so much depends upon the mining at Blue Spur, .it would inspire the outside capitalist with greater confidence if the business people of Lawrence showed' some reason for tho faith that is in them by subscribing a fair proportion of the amount required to buy out the interests of tbe mineowners.

The Wetherstones Cement Claim was not working at the time of my visit. For some time it has been worked on tribute, but it will no longer pay to work the mine with the battery, if indeed it will pay at all now ttiat the best ground has been taken out.' Could ground sluicing be resorted to of course.it would pay, but the dip of the cement is against that. However, there is no telling what future enterprise may do ; in the meantime there is nothing for it bat to have faith and wait, , ' , ' Although the prosperous past as a mining centre may be gone for Lawrence, still that is no reason why there should not be a prosperous future without the mining. All around there is a great stretch of good Agricultural and Pastoral Lands.

which the town must look to now for its chief ' support. Wheat of excellent quality can be grown both at Tuapeka West and Waitahuna West, and, though hilly, the laud in both these districts cannot be excelled for growing oats and green' crops.' There is a flour and 'oatmeal mill in Lawrence, which does the gristing of the farmers all around, and that is always a beginning in the way of local industries, which the people must look to in time to come for the chief support of the town. The splendid water power now employed in mining will by-and-bye be released, and it would, be a criminal waste to allow it to run by unused, or to allow, the water* races cut at a cost of thousands of pounds to fall into disrepair. The flour, mill is driven by water taken from the main tail-race in Gabriel's Gully, and the'Phcenix Water Company 'have any quantity of water over and above that which suoplies the town.

The day will come when all this water will be utilised to drive machinery, and even now it is not too soon to start industries of some kind.' Lawrence lost her opportunity to 'start a woollen mill, but there are other industries, such as starch and linseed, that might be profitably worked at present. A flax null and rope walk, using both European and New Zealand flax, could readily enough find a market for its produce in the colony. . Both plants grow to perfection in the districts surrounding Lawrence, and both will pay' better than oats at present prices. These are considerations well worthy of being kept steadily in view.