Notes from Reefton. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Otago Witness, Volume 01, Issue 2123, 1 November 1894, Page 21

Notes from Reefton. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Reefton, October 28. Saturday's midday quotations :— Big River, 12s 13s ; Cumberland, 3s 6d to 3s 9d : Cocksparrow dredge, 2s to 2s 6d ; Dillon, 5d to 7d ; Globe, 3a te 4s ; Herculeß, Is 6d to 1b 9d ; Kcepit-Dark, 6d to fid ; Progress, 13s to 14s ; Sir Charles Russell, Is 8d to 2s ; Alpine, 9s to 10s. Battery returns :— Alpine, 4060z of amalgam from 245 tons ; Cocksparrow dredge, 481oz for 144 hours' work ; Globe, 160oz from 220 tons ; Hercules, 128oz from 67 tons (clean up) ; Hercules tributers, 29ioz gold from 181 tons.

THE PREMIER CONSOLIDATED GOLD COMPANY (LIMITED). Mr \V. J. Stanford, the manager, reports under date October 22:— On receipt of written inatructionß from London, dated September 7, ordering all hands to be dismissed and expenses to be teduced to JEIOO a month, work was suspended on Wednesday, Ootober 17, pending further .orders. Four men are temporarily employed Completing the connection between the two levels, for ventilation, which work will probably occupy ioxne 10 or 14 days, after which the isanae number pi hands will be employed mining a block of good btone immediately below the rails of the low level adit by means of an underhand stope. There is a ] ;ood body of f»ir stone opened up ready for stoping >clow the low level adit, but before It can be >rofttably mined the new incline will have to be iompleted and hauling gear erected. Since the brmation of the present company a total amount ;if £14,206 16s has been provided w& working sapital and remitted to the mine, and during this >eriod— June 1890 to October 1894^-7742 tons of [uartz have been crushed, yielding 36670 a 9dwt »gr, of a net value to the company of £14,504 Is 4d, besides 62 tons of concentrates, yielding «y the cyanide process, with 10 per cent, royalty educted, £410 4s sd. The whole of the gold mtput baa been used in work at the mine and tonneoted with it t . Thua. with the working

capital provided in London (of which £5000 ii a loan on first mortgage), a total sum of £29,121 has been paid for work done in New Zealand This sum includes the purchase of the Sun rise mine and mill, the purchase of the Homeward Bound mill and its removal and re-erection at the Premier mine, erection of cyanide plant, aßsay offices and plant, manager's dwellings, stable, and other offices ; also, the purchase and erection of Peiton wheel and some 2500 ft of hydraulic piping with concrete Bervice reservoir at intake ; also, connecting mine with mill by pteam tramway, erection of paddock to hold 300 tons, as well as the driving of low level adit 2100 ft. The mine is now fully equipped and in flrst-claBS working order, and when money ie raised to continue driving the high level and low level adits, and to erect gear to continue sinking profitably on the original main shoot, work should go ahead quickly and prosperously. AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY. Grbtmouth, October 29. A very important gold reef has been discovered at Langdon's, nine miles from Greymouth. The reef, which was unearthed at a lower level than was ever tested before, is 3ft thick, carrying heavy gold visible throughout. A rush has set In, and leases are being taken up in all directions. MINING ENTERPRISE IN CENTRAL OTAGO: ITS EXTENSION.— A SUGGESTION. TO THE EDITOR. BiR, — If the administrator! of the Mining department of the Government have not yet deoided where and how to expend the capital recently allotted to their department of the public service, might I suggest through the medium of your columns, which may perhaps be perused by some ef them, that Central Otago has by no means an insignificant claim to tbsir attention P There are industries here and there in that locality capable of very considerable extension, affording profitable employment to many who are on the look-out for a more satisfactory means of expending their energies. Take, for instance, that followed by the supplemented of the large scheme brought before the public some years ago for conveying water from the Manuherikia river, along the many gold-bearing spars and gullies of the Blackstone Hill range, on to Blaoks, its destination. Although this original scheme failed in attempt at execution, a company of looal men, with headquarters at Blacks (Ophir), having •eoured the water rights of the originally designed company, have, with considerable effort and perseverance, according to their ability, constructed a good water race, capable of conveying some 12 heads or more of water, for several miles on to ground, being a gully of Blaokstone Hill, which is proving payable. Other good ground is known to exist capable of being wsrked by extension of the race some miles farther on ; Indeed it would be difficult to say where payable ground might not be found aloDg We original survey oonrse if thoroughly prospected. It is evidently, as there is so large and unfailing a water supply further available, an industry capable of very considerable extension, and one which would probably commend itself to the Government officials us offering a good proßpeot of profitable extension and permanency, as is the opinion of practical miners. Permit me therefore to suggest that the attention of those officials be direoted to the locality, especially as in the case alluded to it is not improbable that the existing company would part with ihoir rights on equitable terms.— l am, &c , October 22. _ Auitom. MINING IN OTAGO. TO THE EDITOR. Bib,—l have read Mrs A. D. Silk's letter of the 19th inst;., and endorse her sentiments. But after past experience in subsidising prospecting parties in various colonies on a small scale I cannot say they proved a success. No. If the mining industry is to be assisted by the Government, it should be somewhat In the same way as banking and farming. Let us have prospecting done on a system of payment by results— every day's work measured up and paid for according to work done. The first thing to be done is to organise a band of trained borers, who know how to work their maohinea at the least cost with efficiency. The Government expect officials who are paid to know where to look for payable fields, should point out where to bore, or else what is the use of all these scientists, and why kept under pay ? When the bores have proved the probable existence of payable leads, gutters, or lodes, then shaft sinking or deep levels — so far, unsatisfactory in Otago — may be ventured upon. California, West Africa, and Australia adopted boring first, sinking after. Let us follow their experience. — I am, &c., October 2*. Pbospectok.