MISCELLANEOUS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2120, 11 October 1894, Page 16

MISCELLANEOUS.

An experienced miner (says the Post) who recently left Wellington for Coolgardie, writing' - . to a friend, says he has not a high opinion of th«* field. It is only good for reefing. There are■only half a dozen good claims, and a great?, many duffers. The Londonderry is just a shodof gold, very rich ; but six feet away from where ' they are getting the gold you cannot, see the* J colour. The writer warns his correspondent*- ; against investing in the field, and says hecannot advise people to leave New Zealand tm- , go there. j Th« Thames Weekly Dispatch has tho follow- . ing with reference to the recent theft of amalgam* from the Komata battery, Waitekauri : — "Some- ' time between midnight on Saturday (15th ult) 1 and 3 30 a.m. on the Monday following tho Komata battery was entered by some person or persons' unknown, and amalgam to the value of about£lso was abstracted from the safe. As- theE remises are easy of access the thief or thievesad no difficulty in gaining admission, which,, from traceu left behind, they evidently did from the door on the eastern side. The safe is situated, about the middle of the battery, and is the one? that has been in use ever since the battery started operations, a period of about 16 years. It isabout 3ft high by 2ft deep. The sides, bottom, 1 and top are made of solid kauri 3in thick. In--side this is a casing of iron strongly rivetted. There is a double door, one-half of which ia? secured by shooting bolts top and bottom. The1 other half contains the lock. Owing to the thick--ness of the wood of which the door is made thereis an opening of about half an inch. Over this,, when The safe is closed, fits a band of iron about2in wide. From the traces on the woodwork it isr evident that the thief or thieves first inserted thspoinfcd end of a file or some other sharp instrument in the top of the iron band, and i hen used it as a lever. This leverage caused one-half of the door to bend in and the other half to bung out. Another instrument must have been inserted between the iron band and the *econd half in front of the door. This evidently gave tho | power required, the result being that, with the-: increased power, the door waß burst open, onehalf of it acting as a lever for the second." The following items are from the TuapekaTimes : — The dredge owned by Messrs M'Clellandand party is working away steadily on the Cluthariver in the vicinity of the old punt site at the Beaumont. The returns are understood to be* giving every satisfaction, having been uniformly steady ever since work was commenced by tho* dredge at the Beaumont. The owners hold a prospecting area of two miles on the river.— Gold is now being found on the Green vale estate (lateLogan's) in payable quantities.- I was told by an, old miner who is working a claim there that he< thinks there is a large tract of auriferous country' between Kelso and Waikaia. Mr David Garret, an old Wetherstones miner, and two other men' went up on the 29th ult. Garret told me they were getting good gold. The miners have to pay a small rental for the right, of mining on the; estate. — Mr David Weir, manager of the Island Block Extended Company, received instructions on Saturday, the 29th ult., from the board of' directors, in terms of a resolution passed at themeeting of shareholders in Dunedin on the previous evening, authorising him to commence work' in the claim. He intends working the roadlina against the claim, and is now engaged making anew road, the necessary authority having been granted by the county council a few weeks ago. Mr Weir is satisfied that the existing roadline,. which will take three or four months to work,, will yield a large quantity of the precious metal —sufficient indeed to clear off the company'apresent liabilities. At the same time, in working' The roadline the company will be in a position to prove whether the run of gold worked along tba' J present boundary extends into the adjoining freehold or in the direction of the flat at the upper, end of the present workings. It will be about 10 days or a fortnight before elevating is again com--menced, as the pipe line for several chains has to.' be altered and all the plant, which was gatheredtogether and stacked on the claim, placed in, ■position. It is to be hoped the expectations af the company may be realised. Considering tHS* disappointments and reverses the company have suffered, they have shown wonderful pluck ittonce more in such a prompt and practical manner facing the realities of their position. This may be described as the la*t cast of the die, and we trust it may turn up with big numbers. The Nevis correspondent of the Cromwell Argus -writes :—" The Partolus Company Btarted again ■ last week, and in most of the other claims work has been resumed. J. Robertson and party are shifting their pipes, and Thomas and party are busy laying the elevating plant which they recently bought from the Fraser River Company, and Mr E. M'Nulty is at present busy carting their pipes, <kc, to Nevis. It is to be hoped that water will bo plentiful and that a good wash u»

Jjill reward the enterprising diggers of Neyis. - Tfcere •«$ now four cUirns here washing with

"Thtu lollowlnr .extract fronm letter from Coolgaraie, received in Oamaru, has, been kindly placed at our (North Otago Times) disposal :— I arnvea 5n CoolgHrdie all right after a jolly pttßsage, and then came on straight for arete. Tiungß Kre not quite so bright as tbe J>apcrß pftint them, but for all that they are not Tery bod. Iliave done as well as anyone for-the "time I have 'been here, and got an ounce oT gold "the 'first hour I was in the place. Of all the 'bxrren countries on the face of the earth I think ■this iB about the worat — nothing but gum trees And sand, and <bo water to -be >seen for hundreds .of miles. If you look at the maps of Western Australia jou 'will notice that there are numerous lakes, but when .you come to the country of ■Western Australia itself you will find, instead of lakes, a s*W bed a few feet in thickness, with a well and a condenser for turning the salt slush Suto -water. In Hannan's water is 6d per g*llon, sad everything in proportion, and I never felt 4he want of it so much .before. Fancy paying 6d xora wash 1 I need hardly say that there is very little of it done except when your face becomes .so thickly coated that it is impossible to see .out -of Soxa eyes without taking off some of the dirt. The "place is full of blacks, who go about quite ■»akea, and there *re -some very -amusing scenes when >they come into the township. Some of them get* necktie, and some a pair of bpots or iqegiogSj and -come stalking about *a if the place "belonged to them. You will please -excuse the linger marks on the paper, as there is no water until after dinner to-day, it oeing -Sunday, and - .consequently 1 "have teen unable to wasn my hands since breakfast time."

A i,yell *ele*:tam etatss that in tbe iy ell Creek Company's mine the contractors for the water race and air bl*st are expected to finish early next week, when operations will be recommenced in ■the tunnel immediately. Two extra men will be 3>ut on to drive south on the reef already struck, •when it is hoped shareholders will receive some

(encouragement for their long - suffering and patience.

A mine manager, late of Queerutown and NcnJhorn, writing to a relative in Otago from Coolfaraie, under date September 7, states in reference "to fhe reefs at Codlgardie that there are only three that areanygood— viz.,theLonaonderry, Bayley's, 4rad Dunne. The company 'he is with pays over .£IOOO a month in wages. They have 12 blocks, &ut have received no gold yet. He saysthat, sa\ c the three mines already mentioned, he does not think there are any more within 40 milej of Coolffardie. Before he got his present job he had Keen '200 miles above CoolKardie. What th« ■*«Tty «uff«rea it -would be difficult to describe. -They .had of money, but could -get .-neither food nor water. For 13 months he ihae not rain water.

The Dunatan Times reports j — "Hyde and nirtyTs dredge obtained 181oz of gold last week hear on good -authority that the Dphir Dredging Company, who are working just below the Blacks triage, struck -very rich gold on Wedneslday test." The Waipori Deep Lead Company ba-ve received aiotiee .from the Berwick farmers of their intention te apply for au injunction to restrain them .from working their claim. It is understood, "however, that the claim owners have requested the farmers to hold their hand and not issue the injunction until sufficient money lias been won to 3»y tbe men esgaged in the 'claim the wages owing them.— Tuapeka Times. The Auckland Star Jays tbat if one-tenth of the .men and money now leaving New Zealand for Coolgardie were to be spread overihe Coromanael - 'Peninsula and other similar aistricts It has no ncßitation in saying that the results would be of ■very great advantage to tha colony. The Government ought -at once to -obtain a. substantial vote for prospecting purposes.