MISCELLANEOUS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1970, 22 August 1889, Page 12

MISCELLANEOUS.

Apropos of Mr Witheford's proposal to utilise the unemployed on our goldfields, the Lyttelton Times, after dealing with Hartley and Reilly'a discoveries on the Molyneux, recalls the story told by the veteran Hochstetter, when he was sent by the Nelson Government to report on the goldfields of that province in the later sixties. The great savant began by giving the history of this neglected goldfield, and ended by giving its measurement and estimating its value. From information which he had, after the laboriously minute method of the German school, collected, he was able to tell the world that for years before the great Otago discoveries the Nelson people had been in the habit of making considerable sums out of the Aorere field. Almost every man who had worked there in any capacity did well, and employers of labour on a large scale had always found a fair profit after paying their men as high a rate of wages as 10s a day. When tho Southern Xl Dorado was opened at Gabriel's, all tbe goldseekers travelled South with a rush, and when the various fields of the South were exbaustrd, more attractive fiuds elsewhere prevented the loyal ones — if any were left after the various hkiruiishes—from turning tbeir steps towards tho Aorere. Yet, according to Hochhttitt< r, the field of tho Aorere is mot>t rich. Wit bin the compass of the valley of that river, anil of tho plain adjoining, there is a deposit, according to Hocbstetter, of gold, to be had for the abking, and easily as miners nowadays understand tho meaning of the word, amounting in the aggregate to a value of two and twenty millions sterling. Why do we not bend our energies to the unearthing of this splendid fortune ? The Government Printing Office has forwarded us a publication entitled "A Miners' Guide" by Mr Heury Gordon, in-pecting engineer of the Mines department, which gives a great deal of information likely to be of use to miners, and is specially designed for the instruction of mine managers desirous of passing the examination for a certificate of competency prescribed under the Mines Act. The Caledonian battery at the Thames was entered on the night of the 14th and 40oz o amalgam stolen. In regard to the appeal case, Hoskings v. Caledonian Gold Mining Company, the Chief Justice, Sir J. Prendergast, has decided that a tributor is a person employed in a mine within the meaning of the act. This being the point raised at the outset, the further hearing of the appeal has been fixed for Wednesday week. A Nelson telegram states that 418oz of gold have been leceived from Collingwood, of which 160oz are from Johnston's United mine. Tyro claims of 60 aores each have been pegged out on the Barewood Estate, near Nenthorn and a company is being floated to work them. Very fair indications of gold have been obtained, and the claims are favourably situated iv respect of a supply of water. Protection licenses have been granted by the University Council, to which body the land belongs. The estate is leased to Mr Pogsori. but the right of prospecting for minerals is specially reserved in the lease to the University Council. A Nenthorn correspondent writes; "I have Mr John Cogan's authority for the statement that the Eureka reef is from 15into 20in in width, and moreover, that any person who may be a shareholder in thn company can at any time inspect the mine and see for himself. There is one thing in connection with this claim which leads me to think that it is a genuine affair, and that is the fact that Mr Gill, who was one of the prospectors, still holds all his interest in the company. Golden Crystal.-Part of the plant for this mine is on the ground. The township is growing apace, and whatever doubts may exist in the minds of speculators ns to the permanency of Nenthorn, there are evidently none in the minds of the people here, We are informed that 5000 shares in the Talisman Dredging Company, Shotover river, out of the 7000 offered to the public, have been applied for. A Press Association telegram of Saturday Bays :— " Another mining boom is on at Reefton to"-day. Nil Desperandums being the favoured stock. Shares have risen from 2s 9d yesterday to 7s 3d to-day in consequence of the reported striking of a rich block of stone in the mine." The following items are from the Lake Wakatlp Mail: -" Considerable excitement in mining matters is prevailing at the head of the lake just now, and pegging o»'t the Darfi and other well known gold bearing streams is the order of the day, with a view to putting dredges on to work tliem. If all accounts be true, there should be a fine fleld for this kind of work, as no other means could possibly win the gold from tha enormous tiver beds up here. The Bucklerburn Creek has been taken up, and a very large number of the residents applied for an interest in the spec, presumably knowing the value of the ground. Operations at the big beach were suddenly stopped on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning owing t-j tho crank shaft of the dredge breaking. The broken part left here by steamer on Wednesday for Dunedin, with a view to procuring a new casting, or repairs of the old one.—Splendid prospects are being obtained from the boring rods now at work on the property of Mr Blair (Evening Star Beach), Arthur's Point. It is also stated that the company propose building, without delay, a powerful dredge, some 94ft long and 18ft beam, to be provided with buckets and a 70ft ladder, capable, we hear, of working to a depth of about 30ft.' Mr Pritohard Morgau^s gold mine in Wales seems 1 o have tulfilled the s-inguine hopes of its promoter, for during the pait year no less than £36,000 worth of the precious metal has been extracted from it. in addition to a mass of quartz which awaSts crushing, and which, if the yield should continue the same, must contain half a million's worth of metal. The average yield gives a profit of £5 12s per ton, which is about £1 per ton more than the richest goldfields of Australia over brought to their owners. Improved machinery, facilities of transport, and other circumstances will of course contribute to thU result. A Jcorrespondent in tie Mount Ida Chronicle ad-via-a residents of thnt district to turn their attention to their own goldfield. No other field in Otago (lie writes) deserveß a good word from miners more than the Hogburn. Although it is true that very few large pileß have been made, still it cannot be considered merely a poor man's diggings. When we J take into consideration the fact that we are able -to i work little more than half time, for want of a I regular supply of water, owing to the Government '

head race not being able to serve us all at the same tims >andthat,'too,withaßmallerheadandatab.igher price than exists, on any other field' in Otago, the truth of my statement will be apparent. With few. exceptions, mining in this district is carried on in the same old style as it was 10 years ago; while in other plaoes tbe miners have advanced with the times. Take for instance our neighbours at St. Bathans, who leave no stone unturned to increase the yield of gold by adopting machinery of the latest principle. One of the most prominent in this respect is Mr John Swing, and many others are also now obtaining good returns from ground that a few years ago was considered unworkable and of no value.'. Similar ground exists on the Hogburn, but no attempt is made to win the gold from it. nor will there be, I suppose, until some outsider comes forward and shows us our folly. "Engineer" writes as follows in the Southland Times :—" Your Waikaia correspondent ovidently made a mistake in his paragraph of the 2nd inst., in which he says that one man with Mr Oockerell's pumps had easily raised water 70ft at the rate of 7500 gal per hour; that is 87,5001b raised lft per minute, or equal to the work of 2| horse - power. No one can get more out of a maohine than the power he applies to it. One man cannot do the work of three horses, so that unless there it an error in your correspondent's figures his paragraph is apt to mislead. The Riverfcon correspondent of the Southland News supplies the following items:—"At Rouudhill there is plenty of water available now, which means good buttons of gold.—Wakaputu, if once the Sludge Channel Company goes ahead, will be one of our busiest places, as there is no doubt, that there is a fortune in the enterprise if pushed forward." The Fortrose correspondent of the Southland Times writes :—"The various parties working at Waikawa are making more than a living and would do better with more expeditious methods of working. Coming nearer Fortrose, Butler and party are doing very well since they bought in their water-race; this being a private venture the returns are not made public. There are also three or four private parties along the beach in that locality—l.eigh, M'Guire, Dobson, and Bennett, and all are on gold. From the Walpapapa Company I have heard of no returns since the 360z obtained a week or so back. They were off the run of gold for a short time, but they are now on the lead again, aud I hear it is better tban ever. There has been a change of management, Mr F. Brunton being now in charge. This claim is giving a lot of work. There are three shifts of eight hours eaoh, which gives employment to a good number of men, and there are several cutting firewood, about five cords being burned per day. Rata is the kind principally used, as it is found the best for steaming purposes. M'Gill and party, near Lake Bunton, ara doing well and are making good wages. The Thwaifces party are negotiating for a dredge. This will eventually be a flrst-rate claim; their prospects are second to none on the beach. Another venture nearer Fortrose has-been launched. The site of operations in on the Mataura river about three miles from tho :townnhlp. This is also a dredging claim, and work will be commenced at once. I hear the dredge is bought and will be on the ground immediately. This will bo, let us hope, another of the golden links in' the chain that no doubt will ere long reach along tlie beach toward Bluff Harbour, for no doubt there are golden sands in that locality equal in value to the sands at Waipapapa and other places along our coast. All that is required is capital and energy. Taking it altogether this kind ol raining is rapidly going ahead and bids fair to bd successful." The draining of the Elwood Swamp, St. Kllda, has been the means of introducing to the colonies a dredger which may yet prove au important factor in securing the gold from some of our New Zealand rivers. The contract for the filling up of 131 acres of theßwamp, still the propnrtyof the Crown, hnsbeou taken by Mr George Hijjgins, the contract price being JBtO.OOO. Immediately after he had entered iuf.o .the contract, Mr Higgins went to the United States of America, for the purpose of purchasing a Yon Schmidt suction dredging maohine. He found that he could have one made and shipped at San Francisco in 90 days, but ultimately he made arrangements for having the maohine made in Melbourne. He returned to Victoria in August 1888, aocompanied by Captain Yon Schmidt, the proprietor of the patent dredge, and ones gave an order for the construction of a dredging machine. 1 be dredge will cost £15,C00, exclusive of royalties for patent rights. Captain Yon Schmidt and Mr HiKgins are the proprietors of the patent rights for Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. The order for the machine is said to have been creditably carried out by the Melbourne firms. The material is stated to be excellent and the workmanship admirable. With this machine Mr Higgins expects to complete his contract with the Government in six months. The Yon Schmidt dredging machine is quite new to Australia. Roughly speaking, it is said to be 2f) times as effective as the bucket ladder dredge, such as is used by the Melbourne Harbour Trust. That body is now importing from Great Britain two dredges at a cost of £60,000 each, which, with sets of hopper barges, will reach the aggregate cost of £120,000. Thus, one of the Harbour Trust dredges, complete, will co»t eight times as much, imported, as Mr Higgins' machine made in the colony, while the latter will be three or four times as effective as the former. With the aid of his Yon Schmidt machine and suitable pipes the contractor will pump water charged with sand and clay on to the land to be filled up. The machine will bo placed on the land and spread it, and the water will be run back by means of "shoots " into the bay. In some parts of the Elwood Swamp as much as 3ft 6in of filling will have to be done, and. with the means at the disposal of the contractor, it will, it is claimed, be done with facility. Our Arrowtown correspondent telegraphs that the dredge on the Big Beach Company's claim was stopped for four hours only by the slight breakage. The dredge is now working all right.