Notes from Wakatipu. (From Our. Own Correspondent.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2179, 28 November 1895, Page 16

Notes from Wakatipu. (From Our. Own Correspondent.)

Ariiowtown, November 23.— For some time past there have been f^igna of a coming mining boom, and of late the signs have become more I defined. The recent change? in the Glenrock i mine and ownership and ihe Achilles Goldfiekis Company povtend_ increased, vitality and new vigour. The Tipperary Company, Macetown, are now noaring the completion of their main low level adit, when prospecting for stone will beg n, together with operations for opening the old known lode. Ihe tuccess the Victor Kmmanuel tributeiv* are mee'ing wi'h ; the improving ptospects of the Leviathan in Sawyers Gully, .Skippers Point, to which their newly-ciected lntteiy will scon give practical confirmation— all point to a revival in mining that is not far off. Already there is a certain activity that presages coming eventp. At the Shotover a good deal of prospecting for lodes is going on, and about half a dozen special claims or licensed holdings Lave been applied for already, and as soon as the Acbilks, Leviathan, and Glenrock produce their cakes the signal will be given for parties with claims showing any sort of a prospect at alt to come out on the warpath. I al-o hear that the project of damming back Lake Wakatipu in order to woik the Kawaiau is about to be taken up by some minicg maguate tf tbe 'West Coast, and that before the new year is many weeks old preliminaries will be shapsd. From this it will be seen bow things are moving ahead aud the direction they are taking. Then over and above all there is Mr Clement Dixon, a representative of a number of South Africin mining investors with unlimited capital to invest, having a lonk at New Zealand mines with a view of acquiring eligible bargain?. All who have read tbedeej.lyiateiestjngititerviiw of an Auckland pressman with Mr Dixon must be itruck \\ ltli the ina-teiful manner in which the points of the conversatiga were biougut out

Both Interviewer and interviewed are clearly one party in the subject thoy were discussing. Mr Dixon also pioved himself well posted up in the past history of our mining morals, though hia rather severe remarks tbereanent are subject to some qualification, for many of our failures are attributable to mismanagement, want of manage* inent, and want of capital (mite as much as to want of rectitude, great as that want may have betn. However, parties dabbling or intending to dabble in company- mongering should bear in mind that mining investors have had their weathai eye open, and they have a means of knowing when it is going to be fair and when foul ; also that there's a " chiel among them t*kiDg notes," and when he sees cause he'll print them. Nothing could be more reprehensible than to let transparent frauds damage our mining prospects and damn, as they undoubtedly would, all chance of our reefs being tried upon their merits. Since writing the above I hear that the Victor Emmanuel tributers have received notice of the termination of their agreement with Mr W. J. Farrell, now in .London. This can mean nothing else than that Mr Farrell has succeeded in floating the properly, itnd if so there can be no doubt that the other specs he has in hand will also go off in the same way. Such a consummation would indeed set Macetown booming once more, only that the interest will chiefly, if not exclusively, centre in London instead as formerly in Dunedin and Arrowtown. With such a prospect before it the district should look up once more.

The Glenrock Company, Macetown, which has been crushing for the greater part of the present month, will have a clean up about the 30th inst. The stone put through the mill is eaticuated to be worth ]3dwt per ton, so that a cjke of quite respectable proportions may be looked for, as the crushing piant is capable of treating 140 tons psr week. The electric hauling gear put down in the low level adit is working splendidly -giving indeed everwatisfxetion. Things in~he Achilles mine are piogras&ing favourably. Already sufficient quaitz is being raised to keep 20 heads of stamps feoing, and in a short time the mine will be in such a stile of repair after its flooding as to ktep the wnolu 30 heads f.illy occupied. The chiutening of the Laviathan battery the other week was quite a gala affair. Champagne, wine, whi.-ky, aud t eer flowed in abundance, as did the oratory, and altogether a very^ujoyable day was spent.