OUR NORTHERN LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2201, 7 May 1896, Page 20

OUR NORTHERN LETTER.

♦ (From Our Own Correspondent.) Ross, April 30. " NO. 35." It was the greyhound of the Western Ocean, in command of that gallant skipper Captain L . Who so happy and bright and jolly as he ? Minus the watch on deck all the ship's com. pany had turned in, whilst the greyhound clipped through league upon league of the motionless tide. Cloudless was the starry sky and breathless the air, and the ouly sounds came from the rush of the prow waters, the swish ! swish 1 swish lof tbe escape valve, witk the periodical clang of the ship's bell striking the watches of the night, and the intermittent whir-r-r of the steam steering gear. No. . 35 lay quite quiet in his bunk right opposite mine, which hung upon the inner rests of the ship's starboard beam: and in the stillness of that solemn hour I tried hard to go to sleep.and had just got to that chimerical, indescribable state when one forgets his last waking moments, when bang ! bang 1 belched forth at my ear. I sprang up ; so did everyone in that cabin except No. 36, who lay still. No. 31, immediately below me, called out in a hparse whisper, " Where are tbe lifebelt* !" "Oh," cried No. 32, , beneath 3>, "it is Only a whale struck us. slt is al4 right I " "Go to sleep ; it's No. 35 snoring," reassured I. Dead silence once more, then a whole bur«t of artillery, followed by broadside after "broadside ; something smashed into smithereens away up in the region of the cabin ceilingand showered down like pigeon-egg hailstones ■on a corrugated iron roof, and a heavy body fell prone to the floor. Thia was followed by low mutterings of.distftot thunder. It was No. 35, who bad snoited himself out, and tried to save his f»ll from the top bunk by grabbing hold of the hollow brae* curtain rod. We all turned out,' but he lay still Bnoring. We railed him— he snored worse ; turned him on his back and side <o side— it was no übc So we 'Shook him like a medicine bottle, but the snores kept coming out in pieces like organ stops. At length a tall, angular German in the next cabin called out that standing the offender on his head was a guaranteed cure. We tried it. In a minute the whole ship'^ company was awake. After explanations we lifted him up to his bunk and turned in. Next morning at breakfast No 35 mildly observed that there appeared to him ,to have been "a bit of noise " last night ! His victims smiled a ghastly smile, but did not think it worth while enlightening him as to its nature. A BOOM AT ROSS. Daring the past two weeks something like a little boom has been going on in the Ross mining district. It started after the visit of the Premier, who, also as member of the district, whilst giving an account of his stewardship here, spoke very hopefully of the -future of the district and tne early development of its latent auriferous resouiceß. For instance, he gave great encouragement to his hearers by telliug them tint the Mines department ' had allocated the sum of £10,08 J as a subsidy to any syndicate willing to drain the deeper leveh of the Koas flats. He also added that such a syndicate was forthcoming, to whom the present holders of these rich areas would most probably sell. That syndicate, I understand, is represented by^ the celebrated Mr David Ziman, a gentleman who has already ihown in mostunmiktakable realities that his actinns'can keep pace with the time. Hitherto the chief difficulty in the way of profitably extracting the known millions of these flats has been an inadequate pumping power for coping with the water below. To overcome this dim -.ulty it ia underatood th \i efforts will be made by this powerful syndicate to secure all the valuable water rights in connection with the Mikonui water-race. The race happens to be the property of the Ross Boiough Council, and I understand they ara not averse to handing over all their right, title, and interest to any such legitimate venture as would 'be willing to complete the race and utilise its fifty Government heads of water for the developmental systematic working of the lower golden layers of the field. The way being thus far smoothed, and Mr Mills, a capitalist of no mean dimensions, having alao come to Ross, and having offered to purchase for £18,000 that celebrated mining propeity the Mont dOr Gold-mining Company, which still continues paying shilling dividends, and also to tike the Mikonui water-race in hand and float the whole affair in London, a race for special mining claims set in. Areas are b"!ing pegged all round, and the Warden's Courts are lively with determining applications for claims twice over applied for. A short time previous to this Mr Verschoyle, a reefing expert repi esenting yct'another syndicate, went up with his men to Cedar Creek, and the result of their research, there caused a number of quartz-mining leases to be taken up. Last Saturday •afternoon' Mr Verschoyle caused a flutter of excitement in town by bringing down a parcel of very rich quartz specimens, with the intelligence that he had cut a solid-looking 4ft rtrtz retf on his lease at Cedar Creek which wed gold runnißg through it. Mr P. Q. Caples, mining expert, representative of Mr David Ziman, happening to be here, accompanied Mr Verscnoyla next day to Cetar Creek, and is so well satisfied with the discovery that he' is n*w reporting to his chief on tho value thereof, and I hear he will most prtbablr gat a lot ef £!&gU»h

capital into developing this auriferous quartz. Meanwhile, leases continue to be pegged oft", and interests are changing hands at taugible figures, COLYTON NICE HOMES. Springfield, a beautiful farm of 3jQ acres, carrying 700 Romney-Lincoln sheep, situated by the junction of Taiuui and Furlong roads, is tho property of Mr H O. Jefforied, who wa3 juat completing for himself and family a new aix-roomed house Through this capital block of pastoral lands Mangaionc, tho largest clear-water creek ot the district, meanders until it los a sittelf at the junction of Karare and Awa Puni, 10 milea to tho south-west of lovely Oolyton. Mr J.fferies has health and strength, energy and perseverance, and good judgtneut to direct them, so that the passage of a few years of time must ses Springfield & smiling home, Tarkhill, another capital homestead, owned by Mr R. E. Young, contains 250 acres of rich pasture land, nnd feeds 100 sheep and 40, head, of cattle. Although Mr Young has farmed here only four yeara, yet he has dons wonders at the place. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. That useful little coasting boat the- Waipara, which has enjoyed a lucky run up and down the Coast during tho last quarter of a century, appeara to have struck trouble down at Okaiito, is she is piled up on the beach there, and despite the united efforts of the depizjns of that isoUtiou, under a promise of 70 guineas, to launch her into her native element, she obstinately maintains her -hard-and-f^st position on the sands of Okarifco. At the last annual meeting of householders here for the election of a local school committee Mr Charles Free waa re-elected chairmau. The same gentleman has received notice from the Minister for Justice that he has been chosen for enrolment as a justice of tha peace. Mr* P. Daniels, lately mining expert for the Midland Rail way Company, having been app minted by a London syndicate, has visited Cedar Creek, Ross, and reported favourably to his principals on the auriferous quartz reef found' tuera by Mr Versehoyle. l . News from the Langdons reefs, Grey Valley, is also of a cheery nature. Rich stone from the Victory mine to be grassed, in consequenceof which thelucky proprietors, becomingyet more liberal, have raised tbe wages of their men. Speaking of the field, the Grey Star/ says*: — "In the Julian tho driving is being continued, and a very promising leader has been struck. Some of the other leases have also found- stone, and it is evident that the lcc<ttHy will at no distant date receive far more attention than it has in the past. Indeed, we Bbouli not bB surprised to find tlie wh ile of the range extending from Ngahere to the TenMile taken up and worked with go ;d results Of course all will not turn out -well, but there is sufficient evidence already to show that a larga area of ground will yield handsome returns." The lireymoutb Harbour Bjard, fully alive to the best interests of their capital port, arc having all dangeroun boulders from the bottom of the navigable portion of the rivtr removed by means of a diver. Although mining matters at Reefton are also prog i ess tug favourably, yet the Reefton papers I wti'n working meu not to come ther* yet, a3 the ! labour market is overstocked and the earnings of present employees is scanty and intermittent. The Wakamarina Gorge shareholders will doubt- i less < be pleased to learn thai their claim is now iv a fair way towards remunerating expended capital The well is dry, and a large paddock, sad to contain payable gold, is being rapidly taken out by the di iying gear, which is in capital working order, lifting over 200 tons per clay. A payable washing is anticipated within a week or tw o. A bilious individual in the neighbourhood of Greymouth, hiding his identity under a norn de plurMj writes to the Schoolmaster newspaper accu'inpr some poorly-paid, hard-worked, but estimable teacher of meat ness in c'aiming credit passes iv his school. The accusation, apparently untrue, is calling forth denials as to its authorship from lawyers, teacheru, doctors, aud lesser lights, who all say through the public press in effect, " 'Twarn't me as done it." . A quartz reef, 15ft thick, CArrying payable gold, having been reported at Bullock Cre k, a tributary of the Mikonui River, Mr James Holmes, Waitland's-" millionaire," has taken up a special claim of lOj) acres all round the find. It it stated by the Coast paper* that Mr Joseph Griramosd is to contest the Westland seat with MrSeddon at the next general election. I The gold minera of Charleston are rampaging ] mad over some wretched gold thief who has been robbing their boxes. If he Be caught Judge Lynch will likely give him a short shrift. Tests of tho stone taken from the big reef, Bullock Creek, Mikoaui River. Ross district, have been made by Professor Black, and have given over 2oz of gold to the ton.