MISCELLANEOUS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1910, 29 June 1888, Page 13

MISCELLANEOUS.

Thefollowingis from the Manawatu Herald:—* "At..various, times the question t of.'smelting quartz, with a view of obtaining gold, has been tried in this colony, but'hither to unsuccessfully. It. will be remembered that great things were hoped from the La Monte process, which was tried at Auckland last year, but the experiment, although no! expense was spared to make it a success, resulted in a failure. Mr' William Macandrew, formerly a resident of Onehunga, but now residing at Foxtbn, who has had 60 years of furnace work, has given much time and thought to this matter, and believes he has solved the problem. His method is founded on what is known to those interested in metallurgy as the "Dr Siemens' principle," and Mr Macandrew has also" invented a method for forming a fusible base, in order that the gold will, by its specific gravity, pass through the' fluid base as a stone passes through water. , In this' ,of course, lies Mr Macandrew's secret. The inventor has shown his proposed furnace in fwo working drawings, with all details. The furnace is similar to the one erected at the Newtown Heath Steel Works, in Manchester, where Mr' Maoandrew was at one time manager.' It is heated by gas, which is the fuel employed in all the leading manufacturing towas where steel and iron is made in Scotland; England, France, Germany, America, and even Russia. In presenting these improvements on 'the late Dr Siemens' principle, Mr Macandrew claims that by his system all volatile metals assume a gaseous form; and are collected and precipitated, and may be examined at intervals while ,the furnace is at work, and do not interfere with the working of the furnace. In the La Monte process it is stated that 14 tons of lead could not be accounted for, simply because the lost lead was converted into carbonate and blown iDto the atmosphere —a deadly poison floating in the air. Mr Maoandrew, who has supplied us with .the particulars of his invention, contends that by his system this cannot occur, as all volatile metals are collected, and .cannot be sent into the atmosphere on any account. • Besides l, there >is no necessity for stampers, batteries, berdans, and such like. As shown in Mr' Macandrew's drawing the melted .base can be run into cast-iron mould?, and' used •by builders, thus turning the waste into serviceable material, which would be a source of profit to the smelter, and thug assist in reducing the price of extracting the precious metal, besides making a good ana 1 serviceable building material. , These are the leading features of Mr Macandrew's plan, and he will be pleased, to explain his ideas at greater length to anyone interested in the matter. We can only add that if the inventor's ideas are practicable, it will cause a revolution in the goldmining industry of this colony."

Oub Undeveloped Resoubces—The Old Man Range and the Umbrellas—APbomising Locality—-The Fdttjhe of the Range. - Editob WiTNES>J,~Sir : As the people of Otago are apparently awakening to the fact | that there is still gold in the country) and that it maybe worth their while to devote a little of j their surplus cash to extract., it from its native earth, perhaps* it may not be out jof place to offer a few remarks on the goWmhung industry for your acceptance; ' ■ ' That the industry has been crushed (instead of being encouraged) by the New Zealand Legislature all goldminers know too well. It is un- j necessary for me" to speak here of the special taxation imposed on miners. What I wish to show is that THERE 18 STILi PLENTY OF OOLD IN OTAGO, and to mention localities in which it may be \ found. And here -allow me to premise that I do not write as a theorist, but as a practical miner, having followed the peenpation and 'experienced the bitters,and sweets of a goldminer's life since the early days of j have spent the last 20 years in the locality I write of—viz., the, .Old Man Range, situated north of Roxburgh; and with which I may in- j dude the whole of tho Umbrella Ranges, em- | bracing an area of fully 31 miles square. Therange has been proved to be auriferous from, its base to its summit. The large extent of country it embraces has been prospected, but'very little worked. True, there ate places where mining has been carried on since the first of the diggings, and large quantities of gold, have been and are still being obtained. The place'" alluded to are the Upper Waikaia and Pomahaka riverj, and Campbell's, with many other gullies, the* auriferous source- of' all being the Old Man Range. Speaking generally, and to use an old metaphor, mining on the Old Man Range is still in its infancy, aud I am confident that^when the writer of this with the present generation, of miners has passed away the Old Man Range will' he ringing. with machinery, and gold wjlj be ex*

tracted in far greater quantities than has ;been or is being done. I will, now speak of facto within my own knowledge, and leave any pr'aci i tical miner, to draw his own .conclusion. Speaking generally of the Otagb goldfieldc, -- - . -THE BEST DEPOSITS OF GOLD , ' are found in high country," and this fact' certainly applies, to the Old, Man Range. It will .be remembered by old Victorian miners that in that colony flats at the foot of ranges were the favourite places to look for gold, while.in Otago it is -the: opposite.' , Ranges (not flats) have' hitherto been found to yield the most gold, and so far as my experience goes, while it is possible to be too low for gold, even though there is whac we miners call a good wash, it is absolutely impossible to be too high even if the wash is very limited. White's Reef is situated on the eastern side of the Old Man Range, and the adjacent gullies are auriferous, while near the summit of the range the Alpine Reef is located, and the gullies on the eastern, slope have paid and are still paying exceedingly well in alluvial gold. On thernortheru side Campbell's Gully takes its rise, as does also Potter's, Nu'ggetty, and many other'highly, payable gullies, as well as the -Waikaia and Pomahaka rivers before mentioned. I will now; speak of a few of the ; . . WELL AUTHENTICATED GOOD FINDS. When I.first crossed the head of the Ppmahaka a spur was pointed out to me where 50oz of gold had been washed out of a dish of dirt, and a 19oz nugget was got in a gully running into the - Pomahaka. At the Whitecombe a party of two who were working old ground were, agreeably. surprised when cleaning out -their box at.night after the day's washing to* ■find 50oz of gold in it. < In the Anglo-Swiss claim, on the Upper Waikaia, the owners when cleaning up paddocks frequently washed from loz'to upwards of lib weight to the dish of: dirt. I could mention many other oases in addition*to the above of rich finds, but I consider the repetition would be <tedious, and as my object in writing is simply to draw the attention of those who have tho means and' are desirous of developing the hitherto neglected resources of what I consider an extensive and highly payable goldfield, both quartz and alluvial, I will conclude with the remark that the localities mentioned only require capital to prove of immense value to the country. —l am, &c., B. J. V. June 16. i ' - [We have to thank our correspondent for his interesting letter, and,, trust this is by no means the last time we shall hear from him on this and kindred topics. We trust that fields like that described by him will not be allowed to lie undeveloped so long as he prophesies, but that they will receive immediate attention, and will prove the loadstone which will draw back those ■who appear at present so fain to succumb to the attractions of' distant fields in deathly climes, utterly regardless of the nature of the country to which they are tempted to migrate. —Ed.] A Gold Duty. Editor Witness. —Sir:"l notice a terrific howl in the Witness of the Bth inst. from a Wyndhatn correspondent signing himself "AntiHumbug," about the selfishness of gold miners. It is as piercing as the yell of a lost Indian The writer is evidently in a very bad state of mind, and his case requires attending to. . . . . . I will give him a little information on the subject he deals with so cavalierly. In the Grey county the gold miners contribute £3 per head per year to the county revenue; the rest of the population in tho county only contribute 2s 6|d per head per year to county revenue. All goldfields counties contribute at pretty near the same ratio. These figures show that there is something to howl about. Without a doubt the gold duty is a tax' on labour, and pure and simple* an income tax. If the Wyndham correspondent had stated that the gold miners for their numbers-were the greatest wealth-producing class in the country, instead.of the' most selfish class, he would have been nearer the truth., Instead of the- Wyndham humbug (without the "Anti") slandering a olass of men he knows nothing about, he should first, try,his hand at teaching his grandmother to suck eggß.—l am, &c, Grey Valley* June 18. Andrew G. Nicol. [The mant calls on pur space at the present time compel us to omit portion of Mr Nicola letter in order to squeeze it into this issue. However, the argument on the miners' side is so well put in the portion printed that we fancy that the omission is a gain rather than a loss.-—-Ed.] ;

AThames min6r, who has just returned from a six months', sojurn on the Australian goldfields, says that he*would' sooner-work for £1 a week on the Auckland' goldfields than for three times 'the amount on the Australian goldfields. He states that many-of the much-lauded reefing districts in Australia, such as Tetulpa and others, are far inferior to the Thames or Ceromandel. A battery erected at Tetulpa proved this, the average yield being only a few pennyweights, and ounces we're expected. The battery reduced tho population as well as the quartz, there being only, a few hundred miners left out of several thousands who were there six months ago. After leaving Tetulpa he visited Broken Hill, and counted 15 funerals in one day, all victims of the typhoid scourge. He fled.— Auckland Star. A pamphlet issued by the New Zealand Antimony Company in London, received by last mail, has attached' to it a memorandum in which the following important paragraph occurs:—"The slowness of production up' to this time is due to the fact that from the date of agreement' to the purchase (August 10) till formally taking over of the property by Sir William Fitzberbert in February last, a period of six months, the mine was virtually at a standstill, although, by the terms of the contract the vendors were bound to keep the works in full and effectual operations for the benefit of the new company, charging all expenses to the purchasers. The directors are advised that for this breach of contract, and consequent loss to the shareholders in diminution of dividend, the vendors cannot be held accountable, and they-have accordingly instructed the company's solicitors in New Zealand to contest an unpaid balance of £4000, and to lodgeaclaimagainstthevendor company, now in liquidation, for £8000 damages, attaching in the meantime-the purbbase money which is still in the hands of the official liquidator." ' • -It cannot be said (remarks the Western Star of the. 23rd) that any great success-has- so far atfa nded quart/ reefing'iu these parts, but if all the stone from PrintzVreef would only yield in .similar proportions to a small parcel'sent a few 'months ago to_Mes.r3;Kislop and Co., Dunedin, a big boom would set in hero.- - s?rom Hdwt of stone—clean washed htone, picked promiscuously from the reef—there was the splendid yield of 23 grains of gold. We yesterday saw tne receipt for the stone received and the metal pea, representing the yield from samei so there can be no doubt as to the genuineness of the return. The reef from which the stone wa3 taken is in the claim which is being offered to the public by the Longwood Sluicing Company. The output of gold from South Africa for the year 1887 was nearly a quarter of a million; and considering the short time that most of the companies have, been at work, this may be ooted.upon ss satisfactory, The yield for the

present -year will,' it'*'!s '"eßtimate^l^ reach «lippO;dOO, bat many' talk I ' of double that, quantity. It may be as %'eU to jpdint'but, to persons who contemplate rushing 1 off to these, newly-discovered fields, that alluvial gold in payable Quantities hw not yet been discovered. " tfold Digger" writes as follows in the Lake Cour\ty Press :— I happen to have a copy of the Cromwell Argus of March 2,- 1870, containing a • report of the crushing, which I reproduce as under ; "We informed our. readers in a recent J issue of this journal that; the shareholders, in the Royal* Standard claim, Pipeclay Gully, Bannock* burn', had despatched a quantity of stone to the Cromwell Quartz Company's battery at Bendigo fpr a trial crushing. The stone (amounting to, 5| tons) was put through the : machine yesterday, and from information supplied to üß.by, two of the Royal Standard shareholders lastinight, we at« enabled to inform our. readers that! the splendid return of 420z of gold, or nearly'Boz to ' the ton,' was the result of the. crushing. • We may state .that the stone was not picked, -but taken promiscuously from the. claim in, order that a fair idea as to the general yield to be ex- . pected from it might- ba obtained. 7 ' Subsequent . workings have not proved bo satisfactory as an- j ticipated ; nor have succeeding crushings turned ont as well as the first. Perhaps a little faith is j necessary on the part of ithe public when .trial orushings are concerned. Be thdt as it may,; Ido not think that any stone has since* been'iraised on the Carrick as rich as the trial crushing're- ' f erred to. ■ Still there may be many millions of I tons of quartz in the entrails of the Carrick that would pay for raising. A better system of [ working and management would, however, be necessary than, has heretofore been adopted.'^ - 1 think it will be admitted by all who. are acquainted with past reefing matters, that, under I the old order, of things, the managers appointed ! were not always efficient and competent. Personal and business considerations have bad uuch to do in bringing abont a decline in quartz mining. I have known a man to be appointed as ! underground manager who had one qualification — he was what is known as a good-working man, | just the sort of man who would be paid an extra wage by a labour contractor for acting' as a runner. An "industriously stupid" man, peri haps, and in a state of premature* decrepitude through over-work before reaching the age of 45. A man with no knowledge of underground, workings, but a slogger, and a firm believer- in the "sweating" system as applied to manual labour. Machine managers, too, were not always competent. Ignorance of machinery or of crushing operations was no bar to a man' anxious to obtain such a billet, provided always he was a handicraftsman, and a handy man generally.

T M there in ibdtou% moveable ibdnb the trap f to; get tasty or unworkable from any cause whatever

.(or to frighten the rabbit about to enter), there is absolutely no , cosf ; in maintaining the yard once, purchased, as the rabbit when inside is still unable to consume bait. The rabbit is, not killed er injured, brills simply trapped, Its, carcass being available for food or. for', 'any purpose riEquired/and.its skin being free from injury and of. a higher^valiie l ;per lb than those .trapped in the ordinal; j way, where skips are often injured ,by the struggles of the rabbit to free itself, Ito natural enemies meanwhile are neither killed nor injured, being smaller in size' and free to enter and 'escape, through the trap itself or the mesh of the wire. ~„ ~ . , ; TBjAM HT^owra Australia: . ' Mr Wright^ C.E.ySvdney, through whose advice a firnx of squatters in South Australia erected one of these yards as an experiment, writes that they have caught as many as 1500 rabbits in one yard in one night, and that they' are highly pleased wi.thHts working. Official reports from the Mining Department of South Australia will be published in an early issue of this journal. In Australia no food baits have been employed, water holes', being the favourite resort of the rabbit having proved sufficiently attractive to render rhodium, aniseed, turnips, parsley, or other baits,uanecessary.\lrithis colony, however, it will be necessary to lay down an attractive bait, which may be protected by fencing, and aeed no further attention until that portion of the holding is cleared. , ' ' , ..TOIAXS IN N^W SOUTH WALES. At the late Centennial Exhibition in l Sydney, the'special/silver-joaedal of the society was awarded for the' invention. Exhaustive trials were heldjat the' Stock Quarantine Station, -Randwiok, the official report of which runs. as follows :*— • '