Wakatipn Mining Notes.

Otago Witness, Issue 1911, 6 July 1888, Page 12

Wakatipn Mining Notes.

j (From Our Own Correspondent.) \" - • Arrow, July 3. \ The Wakalip Mail has sprung a mine on a nice little move set on foot by a few individuals v?ho intended for sundry reasons to have worked tie oracle on the sly. The following choice peqe of composition exposed the plot so cunnngly laid : —

(Lrrowfcown, June 18. 1883.— T0 the Hon. Thomas F«rgus, Minister of Justice, Wellington.— Please endeavour to stay proceedings for the recovery of long standing arrears of mining rents in Lake County. Hardly anyone can afford to pay, a ? a i ie P resenfc proceedings can only caves adversity among the people of this district. Nothing but £viei can be got, and thus poor families will greasy suffer. Little or no revenue will accrue to the aunty funds, as law costs will absorb the major portion. A. requisition is being now forwarded you as m<mbf r for district to bring in a bill for the relief of mihing knae tenants of the same nature as that before the House for the relief of other Crown tenants. Please get further action stayed. ThiLhumiliating job was signed by six names, which|>r charity's sake I suppress. As to the requeflfcontained in the letter, it may be mentioned* toat many of the parties owing rent on mininf leases never went to work ataJJ, holding the leases totally and solely for speculative purposes, /O the exclusion of working coiners who might iave set in to actual work had the ground been open to them. If ever any mining privilege or .provision has been abused it was the lease regulations, now merged into licensed holdings without the morale of the thing being in any way improved. Shepherding goes on as before, and it was only the other day that application for protection was made for a claim in which not a tap of work had been done, with the avoted object of gaining time to float a company From this it would appear that the impression is that the licensed holding clauses existed enly for the convenience of promoters, syndicates, and tho like, and that the working of the holdiugs was of quite a secondary consideration. One would think that it was nearly time this 1 misconception were dispelled. The Minister i|f Mines who would put his foot down upon thte mistaken idea which has worked so much mischief already would do more for the colony than the prospector who discovered a new goldfcld. Much as has been said and written on this sulljech, the evils of it keep continually cropping i^> in new forms. A party who monopolised nearl) a whole diggings to himself by virtue of mining leases, licensed holdings, and other mining privileges, nearly all of which are lying unworked, recently noticed a miner working in one of hiajieases. Like a true monopolist he said nothojg until there was some chance of the miner sjecteeding in striking gold, when the monopo\it jstepped in to claim the benefit of the miner's labour, telling him that the ground he worked was liis lease, and that he had a good mind to prosecute him for trespass. Now the beaufyof the,position lies in the completion the law tfivp s to the situation. The monopolist may at a trifling cost to himself proceed against the miner, and not only evict him, but also recover from him money for alleged damages to his claim (by Prospecting ib for the monopolist), together with the cost of the action, including compensation ifor the monopolist's time in bringing it. U)^ the other hand the unfortunate proipecror\lf he clpcts to defend himself against the roonopbwht,'. aii'i test his right to the ground at Ihw, hiis & deposit £20 before he can obtain a summons ag^.nst the monopolist for breaking the mining regulations. Such is the state of the present tninifj^awun New Zealand aftw repeated tinkei-iugs by a full staff of officials, whose duty it is supposed to be to watch over and rpgulate tho mining affairs of the colony.

ARROW RIVER... The Last Ch&ucfi Company has 'started pumping out the nej/ shaft, uearly all the machinery and plant hairij.g now been shifted and reereeled upon the new site. Everything, so far as tried, works Wioothly aud with satisfaction.

The wet weather is much against the progress of the work. , The Arrow River Tunnel Company has suspended operations for the winter months. So far the company has not been very successful, but hopes of better things are entertained for next summer.

MACETOWN.

I have been put in possession of the particulars of the projected company for supplying the Macetown reefs with crushing and other power for reducing the ore at the rate of 5s per ton at the very mouth of the adit or shaft, thus saving all expense for the haulage and handling the quartz after it leaves the mine. With such facilities quartz going 3dwb per ton would leave a surplus for dividends, and would be likely to work quite a revolution in lode mining. The Premier Company is about washing up, and it is expected that if the weather should be favourable the cake will be down next week. Although hands have been reduced in the mine stone raising will be continued all winter and explorations in the mine carried on at several levels. The Tipperary Company are making overtures for taking over the tf eraldine Company's * ground, which adjoins the Tipperary's lease. It is rather surprising that this has not been done long ago. The Sunrise party has now merged into a fall fledged mining company, registered under the Mining Companies Act, with a board of directors, legal manager, and all the other costly paraphernalia of such an institution.

UPPER SHOTOVER.

The Gallant Tip has taken 89oz of amalgam off the plates for the past .fortnight, representing the work of nine days' crushing. A decided improvement in the stone now being raised is noticeable.

The Londonderry Sluicing Company is inviting tenders for the construction of sections of the company's head race.

The British North American Company has not yet been able to finish the crushing on account of the frost.

Messrs J. Johnson and Broadfoot are meeting with encouraging prospects in their lode at Pleasant creek. They are engaged raising a trial crushing.