THE PRESERVATION INLET GOLDFIELDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2151, 16 May 1895, Page 20

THE PRESERVATION INLET GOLDFIELDS.

The correspondent of the Southland Times supplies the following items :— The alluvial gold is virtually a thing of the past as regards Wilson river aud Preservation Inlet. On Coal Island Payne and Wilson are still workin;:, but the claim I fancy i 3 not a3 good as of yore. For nearly six years thU claim has been working and hss yielded slightly be- tor than wages all the time. Campbell is still workiug in No. 2 creek, and so also is Ramsay and party. Cullen and Clark have Moonlight to themselves ; Saudilaods and party have just got a pump down for the purpose of doing some sluicing on the north-east corner of the island. What a pily it is tbat scarcity of water should be the cau6e of so much payiug ground beiug left unworked. On C»y fun Kenuedy and Anderson are going over the old workinga on the noi th-eastern coiner, making slightly better than tucker. Quite an exodus of old experienced diprgers and new chuuia took place last week from the greatly over-estimated Te Whera ; the men being simply unable to make tucker. Hven iv Glennie's clrtim four men divided ljoz of gold for a fortnight's work, and out of this had to co'uo dynamite, &c. "What ha 3 become of the flloz, &c so much talked of? You can get " colours" everywhere you try, but that is all. In the Wilson, Gobbetti' party are doing ftirly well, but that w the only claim really worth h.-vvii g in the river. Gunn and party, Kmnard and M'Fadyen, Mulvillc aud Cork, Parker and paity, aud a few others are battling away for very little. The party of Auckland miners brought down to drive 300 ft on the Monte Cbristo claim, Crayfiih Island, fiuLhed their contract and went out by last steamer. They have put in two drives, one 158 ft and the other 142 ft, but without any success. MrAlf. Trent, who has been supeiintendiug this job, is very sanguine of success, and intends returning after the winter has passed and continuing the north drive another 100 ft at all eveuts. , The sensational Nugget claim seems to be hanging fire. Should a reef exist there such as is said to be the case, it is a pity that it should remain covered up ro long. lenders aie culled for a 100 ft drive on the St. George cl*im, Cuttle Cove ; let us hope that it ■will be successful. The Morning Star is being pushed on vigorously—thvee shifts in both levels driving, on the ret-f, which is now very uicely defined in both levels ; not so wide as the outcrop, but showing nice stone, dipping slightly to the westward with a nice pug seam on tUe hanging wall. "LouK" should soon be getting cl^se to the reef at Sealers, and when it is struck, if the stone in the reef ia at all analogous to the specimens picked up there, it will be a dandy. The Golden Site is coming up again, thanks to the new find mado recently. The contract for extending the drive on the north side 100 ft haß just been concluded, this making the total length of the drive on the west side of the river 25itft. The manager purposes ri>ing up from this level to the new find, which will take two nvmths, and until such rise is finished he dots not anticipite starting the battery, so that this causes a temporary suspension of all the hands excepting eight. Tendcs are out for deepening the shaft in the Break of Hay No. 1 north. The Surprise, Triangle Extended, and tho Hesp'rid>s-all contiguous to each other on the south side of the river— have stopped working ; all the labour and prospecting on th*t side having failed to find a body of payable stone. The Lucky Shot, at one time so continuously blazoned before the public as containing numeious reefs running in various directions, has been aban loned. M' Kenna and party have got some pretty gold in their sluiciog cUirn at Gulches, but the concern wants a lot of capital to make a proper job of it. Docherty has been fossicking about Coal I-land and foun-1 a lode. Opinions differ as to component parts. I fancy it is v ostly pyrites (mundic), antimony, and galena, with a little silver. However, he has taken some of it out, and will soon hear if it is good. Smythies, Tr&ill. and Shepherd have just concluded cutting a 15-chain w^ter ra«e to command a range of terraces ab'ive the Gorge There is every indication of this turning out a profitable spec.