THE ACHILLES GOLDFIELDS COMPANY, BULLENDALE, SKIPPERS. (From Our Arrowtown Correspondent.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2242, 18 February 1897, Page 18

THE ACHILLES GOLDFIELDS COMPANY, BULLENDALE, SKIPPERS. (From Our Arrowtown Correspondent.)

I. Ib is deemed necessary to explain before starting my remarks upon this mine that "Your Own" hag had every opportunity during repeated vitits to the mine and a residence of upward* of 33 years iv this district of following the history of the Achillas, late Puoeuix, mine, aud that he can bear witness to tho magnitude and multiplicity of the troubles and obstacles Mr Fred Evans, the managing director of the mine, has had to overcome in ibs developmenb aud in bringing ifc to a successful issue. " Your Own" therefore Kpeaks wil/u a freedom and unreserve, and a degree of confidence in the prospects <-f the mine, and of Mr Evann'a &hn.re in having brought about the. present satisfactory state, which iv a stranger or mere casuil visitor to the mine would be unwarrantable and reprehensible. ''"Your Own" wishes the reader io bear this in mind when strong and pronounced opinions upon the capabilities of the mino strike Ins obserTatiou. or when pointed personal allusions are made upon it 3 management iv the following remarks. Tbe important developments in this mine which have for soma time been anticipated by those beat qualified to form and pronounce verdicts to that effect, now being realised and perhaps even exceeded, call for more than passing or casual notice. Moreover, what is now evolving itself iv tl'is mine i« likely to revolutionise hitherto existing notions ot quartz mining iv Otago. These developments have now reached a stage at, which they are no longer the children of promise or of hop*, bub they demonstrate themselves in tangible, measurable forms, which aie endorsed by weighty '• cakes " of dimensions thht leavo no room f -r doubt a« to their importance to the shareholder of the mine. PleaaiOK a« this ph».?e of the question ruay be to those invested in that way, 'share in another bide to the subject thut domands » full exposition of the evenrs now unfolding themselves in the Achilles mine, because of the bearing they have upon lode mining iv OUgo, which just now is utid?r a cloud on account of adverse reporls for which there is neither rhyme nor reason. SIINII\G KOTIONS promulgated by a man in authority and circulated in Government reports are of a nature calculated to impress the public mind with a strong emphasis, especially when such reports are unfavourable. One of the mining notions here referred to is the one proclaiming that the lodes in Otago do nob " live down." (Such a stacernent in itself is, to say the leant of it, unscientific, as it is not explained what is meant by the term " living down." It is scarcely possible to conceive thab bhe presenb surface line of Now Zealand cau be meanb as the line from which to measure "down," and withoub adopbing a fixed line from which to start, the term " living down " can have no meaning worth conaideriug. Payable gold-bearing quartz has been traced in the Glenrock mine, Macetown, to a point thab is upwards of 2000 ft vertically below the surface. In the Achilles mine lodes have been traced from the surface to a depth of upwards of 1200 ft, with the pleasing experience that they increass in width, in richness, infill the indications of permanence aud regularity, in both strike aud dip, the deeper they go, and a? they ar* tracked into the bowels of Mount Auram they may ultimately be 70001 b oc 8000 ft or more below the surface. So much for the statement that the Otago lodes do net "live down " ; bub when ib conies to stating a limit at which they must die, and fix thab limit ab 700 ft withoub fixing a starting point to measure from, ordinary reason is puzzled to believe thab ib is listening to sane argument. Whab has really beep proved by mining exploitations in Otago is thab continuous lodes do nob live near bhe surface ; thab where quantity is found in outcrop ib occurs

] only in broken, isolated blocks, and that therej fore permanent lodes must be looked for at conj »iderable depths below the surface. ■ | This view of the question is fully borno oub and confirmed by paxt and present experiences in the Achilles inuip, and hence tho yaluo of tho ' lessons they tench to quartz miners. The ■ distinguishing difference between the Achilles and moat other mines in Olago is that tha Achilles has had, and still has, all the advantages of persistently persevering mansge- ■ romfi that did nob allow itself to be beaten by . ■ disappointment, a very Bin nil modicum of : which was sufficient to wipe, oufc huudreds of • other mines, the consequence being ttut disl ' covories of (he moss valuable kind to the , owners of bhe Achilles have boon made, and which discoveries also shed a light upon quartz 1 mining calculated to explode before long bhe • j pernicious notion that New Zealand lodes do j not live down. It is clear thit bad Mr Evani", \ the mauatfing director of tfce A?hi>lcM, allowed '< himself to b>j diicouraged by any o\ tko thou- > «aud auri ono disappointment* iUa» beset mining l j naul lud t-.tnown up tbo sponge, the present | valuablo discoveries would uofc have beau made, , quartz miniug would have icceived a severe I | blow — mighr, indeed, bave been totally ex- , I tinguished, — and would probably have lain j dotmaut fur an indefinite length o ( time. I As it is, the pre.eeut omliti-jn cf tbe AohilleK '■ raiue is such as to pkinly show that lodes of ; i immeasurably greater vj.iue exist a.ft a dopth of at least l2ooit below than at or neat the surface), J aud that the lodes increase in body nna in richj nets tho deeper they ars followed. For this ; i VALUABLE LESSON ' the colony is indebted chiefly to Mejsrs Bullen | Bros., an tho owners uf the old Phoetux, now ] tho Achille 1 ) mine, and to their i'.-dorat'cftblo manager, Mr Fraii Ev*u.», who bar. devote* the best years of his life to developing the present; nplendid resouicos of the mine, and their narae.n are likely to live iv the mining history of N«w Zealand for all time. It wonld be impossible — however instructive ib might be — bo recount bhe difficulties that j beset mining iv oorua parts of Ota^o, but * faw i instances iv the life history of the old P/..CBMX ' will serve to illustrate what; tbiey revlly vj"jre. I In tie days of ta«j o!d z'g-nag track ab Detp Creek ib took about 60 men the better part of a day to lower a battery or mortar box weighing half a ton a distance of 600 or 700 feet down the track, or rather hill-sideling, eloping at an angle of about 65dojj, ab great ri^lc-i to tho box and to tho men. But we ne«d nob go so far back as that. At tbe time of my visit tt» th« j mine * cask of m*chiae oil, weigfcii&g 3et*r, j arrived on a sleigh drawn by two powerful horses, which took tbe better psirb of n day bo briug ib up from the depot* near Skippers Bridge, to bhe battery, a distance of little better than five milys, ab a cost of £1 8s 4d, or nearly 6s par mile. This lit.tle itsrn shows \ what the mice has to contend with a1;a 1 ; tuo | present time. *Nir hsvve aUvopts at ci""Ntii;g j a butter state of aiit-irs been wanch'g. [ Both Government and county council have been j moved tiine9 out of number, and though not always ineffectually, what was done was only grudgingly done or half done. The present developments iv the miris, it may be supposed, will command more attention ai t.) its real want*, and a better state of thing* will j probably prevail in the near future. Tho t'ict of j the approaches to the Skippers Br'dge boing taken in hand would argue that t'ae claims of the ! mining industry in general, and of the Achilles i mine in particular, are being recognised. • J What delay in success iv lode miniug on | account of difficulties of all kinds may mean j wa* strikingly shown by Mr Evans pointing oub | to me a young man working in the battery, an<i t Kftyiuis : "Do you see that young fellow there ? ! His mother was a little girl when this mine } started ; now her son is nearly a grown man, and we havo just attained tbo success we have striven for during tho last 30 years ! " Thia little incident will give miniDg investors an inkling what miaing developments may mean, j And let no on« run away with the idea that the I Achilles mine is singular io this re»pecl. Many other mines may be quoted the pucucss of which was delayed for raanv, many weary years, and which came out right in the end ; while, on tho other hand, uhous&ud* of good mines collapsed, and are now lying idle For the want of enough of weary years of delay and anxiety and deferred hopes. j JUOCK T-ODr.S. j Dealing with subjects of the .utmost impor- j tance to mining at a juncture when an almost fatal blow has been dealt, tho firsb desideratum is that bhe writer should mako hiraself clearly understood. For this purpose a few explanatory remarks are here interlarded. In lode mining the general object ia to peb down a shaft to a cUftirfd level on a lede. When that level has been reached drivts are driven along tho ! course of the lorle, n.*"v:b uprisss and passes are ! excavated in tho roof of tbe. drives to connect them with other similar works at a higher level, and finally, whea (he drives and uprises aro sufficiently advanced tho work of stoping oub commences, beginning *t the roofa of tha drives aud working upwe.nls. Ifc will thus be ?een J thafe a very consulerible amount of preparatory work is required to open s. mine, to say nothing , of the erection of machinery, construction of ) water races, roads and tracks, and *11 the ether j smaller works. However, if tho mine manager iv fortunate enough to meet with a strong and conbinuous body of stone in his slopes all is well and plain sailing ; but if this is not the case all the work th*t h»s been done \s in vain and looking for the lode becomes a ted'aus, disappointing, and expensive, operation , as in the Otago .surface blocks of quartz there aro no indications whatever in wha 1 ; direction the missing blocks of quartz have been moved. Crosscuts are put in and driven to great lengbhs, and in looking for lodes in this manner many hundreds, or even thousands of feet may be driven uselessly, consuming months or years of fruitless labour and expense. This Mby far the greatest cause of delay aud disappointment; in lode mining. To apply tbit le?son to bhe Achilles miuft it I may be stated tlwb after attaining partial successes interrupted by many disappointments, it was discovered that the blocks of payable quartz meb with originally belonged to one lode having been dislooated by more or less erratic movements of the surface. At whab is known as the low level adib the extreme movements amounted to more than 200 ft, within which distance oavuble blocks of quartz might exist. '

The country closed wifcuin theao 200 ft is bounded on the north by the north loda and on the south by the main lode, between which runs the middle lode. These three~ lines of lodes have a main east *nd west direction, and though they ran parallel they do nob do io continuously, for where, a block of stone occurs on the Hue of tlie north uo parallel block will bo found on the Hue of Iho middle nor on that; of thij loaia lode, MfA so oo with all tho linos of: the other lodes. In speaking of lines of lodes it must hog be supposed that these lines resemble a line drawn by tho aid of a ruler on paper. Linea ia contorted country twi3fc- and turn in all the possible directions of the compass, and there is no accounting for their vagaries. Mr Evans pub the whole case in v. nutshell by remarking that he had to work three mines to look for one lode. finch line of 'lode may be taken as the result; of a separate movement in the crust of the earth, therefore h»d there been two linei of blocks or one movement only it would ba easy to find any missing block ; but in the case of ! tho Achillea then? were three movements, which naturally give 16 points within the country roughly bounded by the north and the aaaiu lodes where a block of quartz might possibly exist. To this must bo added the disturbing effects of several cros3 courses, displacing the whole formation and jumbling about the isolated blocks of quartz until the difficulty of looking for them becomes as great a* looking ', for a needta in a hayatsctc. No human, in-ge-ouity lih3 succeeded in reducing to anything like order or tracing tho movements of the surface of New Zealand, and the mine manager is left entirely to his own resources to grope about in the dark as bsst he cm. This exposition gives the key to the numerous mining failures New Zealand is chtrged with. Tho events in the Achilles mine an* likely to shed a mosb lijrht upon these difficulties, placing i mining iv New Zealand upon a sounder basis and renewing confidence in an industry of the greatts l ) importance to the colony. These sanguine and hopeful terms on so uncertain a subjeofc as mining call for » few explanatory remarks to show upon what foundations they rest. After many long yosars of j actual exploitations iv the lniue tho theory j e volved ilsslt' that the blocks of stouo mefc with J belonged originally to ono lode, but it was a j theory that required confirmation. The lowI level adit, however, furnished proofs that fully j bore out what had previously been surmised, and further exploitations at lower levels also revealed th« fact that all tho linem of blocks were converging, iudicating a junction in strike ! aa well a« in <Hp. < j It go^s without »sying tbat. th« work in the naiuo hss always been conducted on w*»lldigeuted and douiuid plum ; but the erratic and < uncertain nature of the lints of lodes often defeated the most logical deductions drawn from them, and it wm not until the real chumc- ! teriahics of tho linos of lode* revealed them- ) selvei that the. plans became of actual assistance ! to t.iie tuanagr.Djeiit. This stage haviug now be«a attained, ifc is possible to speak with that degree ot cuolidenca of the mine as jutrt shadowed forth, and to add that the succtß3 of the Achilles mine is a&sured for generations to cotoe. GOLD IN BtOCKY XODES. v II would »ppe*r that th« uncertain and disturbed abitt> oi' the tod** h*d als.' bad an j elfccfc ufK-c tha dttfcL-icuUou of th? goM in tha ' blopfc.3 of quartz, which i» anything but even or reguur. Th« oßexiectnaa of tjold in tha blocks is erratic, jumping from the hangingwall to the foot-yaii without any indication oc apparent cause, or it may occur all through tha stone in varying quantities. What effect this t mny have on the output of aoie.Jg.MU at the' mill I in shown by tV d.ii:y record kevr, whiou shows j a rs.tig-3 oi from 11 >z to 237^z for * dny of 2t i h-M'<ra in eanh, aivd wftUin - t'.:c snmo montli the I quantity or qusrrz pi^sied through the mill oa each dar b-tiu; the s»iue. Supposing, now, that s. tunnel pierces a block o£ quartz at tho sput th»t yielded the lloz, the block might ba j condemned as not payable; whereas had tho 2870z spot baen hit by the piercing drive, ib I might raise exi-ectatutns b«yund the real value lof the block. Here, thofalore, is anoi-he* complicaHon of perplexing puzz'cs to 'btffls the j mine manager. In such a stcte of affairs the I clnvcre^ti and most sagacious mine manager is [ left entirely at the mercy of whatever guess hat the probabilities of tin situation- -may I suggest. [ Tne informahion above detailed will show tha tiiffittulticti Mr Eva is h»d to contend sgxingt in the past, but gradually they ar«s dis&ppaaring one after another, and the mine is fast growing I to * magnitude and exbonfc entitling it to be ranked as oue of tha most complete, besb j exploited, best managed, and mosb yaluable mines iv Now Zealand, and it is safe to say j that in tho future MiceeJS will be tho distinguishing feature of tho operations, and that fcba 1 ; snecess will be regular and permanent. Thia st&fcemevit m\y sound as a quotation from a prospectus, bub fortuualely it is demonstrable, as the Btquel will show. THE ACHILLES MINE WOHKS. As is now well known, thia mine is situated i at Bullcndala, near the head of Skippera Creek, | on the western slopes of Mount Aurum, from j whie.U f merge the richest gold-boaring »tr«ivms j iv New Zealand. Bulleodale is a township of I jibout 200 souls, all depending upon the mine. j There is a public library, which also serves as a : place of public worship, a'school, and a hotel. | The surroundings are cx f remely brautifal. t What is known as the township coniists of Mews Cotter's store, where also is the post office, and consequently is the business centre. Mfs*rs GoltfL- hdvfi a way, outside keeping a very complete store, ai! making life in so oufc-of-fche-worM b. place f.asier than ofchavwisQ ife would be — by their obliging manner, especially as postmasters and so forth, and by nob keeping to fchei strict rules of hours, a convenience which ii highly prized b/ thoso working on shifts ; and in many other waya they do their share to nuke life atrietable ab Bullgndalo. Arrived at th« mine, "Your Own " was courteously received by Mr Bvanc, who, being busy at tbe furnaco retorting amalgam at the time, banded me ovnc to Mr W. GK Mouafc, Ihs underground manager, who, being an old friend datiug back to tha e»rly days of Nenthorn, gftve mo a cordial welcome, after which v:e descended tbe perpendicular Bh»ffc. which ia 15010 deep, on % tour of inspection, and sbon landed at <he bottom in the mo<t comfortable manner. From the bottom of the shßffc stnrta.No. 2 ISVSI, with which the lower levels are connected by a grade so perfeccly true that looking down ib you appear to be looking through a square tube. Up this grade the quartz is hauled in trucks by an engine worked by compressed air, the trucks containing scwt each, in which ib is ienb to the surface, where the quartz is emptied into self-delivering paddocks whence it goes in truoka holding 25owt to the battery, where all the fine stuff is sifted out on grizzlera, the coarse lumps being reduced by rock- breaker* ; thenca ib passes into automatic feeders which pay the quartz, now reduced to a uniform size, into the mortar boxes. The automatic feeders are Mr Evans's own invention, and were constructed on the spot under his supervision. They have now been in use for 25 years, and have given perfect satisfaction. Thus the quartz is conveyed from

\the face of the mine where it was first; broken l; out to the battery without being handled .of teuer than at the initial filling into the first trucks. Returning now to No. 2 level, it may be Btated that it is quite impossible to convey an idea of the amount of labour done in the uiino in looking for missing portions of the lode«. It mutt suffice to say that there is a perfect network ot drives iv all directions, but for all the purposes of this article it will suffice to confine the attention to the actual work now in pro- , gress. : At No. 2 level the lines of lode* bave converged so much that they are only 1051 1 apart, 80 that tbe work of looking for any missing portion is reduced to one-halt of what it was at ' the low-level adit, 120 ft above No. 2 level Now, to carry oufc the argument : A.t No. 4 level, 184-fc below No. 2 level, the distance is only 68ft between the converging lodes, and in place of the middle lode, which has no far not been located .at this level, there is a body of pbillitic rock that carries payable gold for adistauce th»t has not yet been correctly defined. If the threelines of lodes continue to converge at the same ratio they will unite at a level about ,90Ft b-low No. 5 level, and it m»y be safely aut'eipated that they will fo-m one strong and true lode of considerable exteut and richness when tbe whole energies of the management and pant cad be turned to raising quartz of known quality only, and blind stabbing lor probuble blocks of qu*rtz, and the cost and loss of time connected with it, . will come to an cud. j So much for the mathematical proof of the statement made above to the effort that in the future success will be the dintiuguishing feature of the operations, and that that success will be regular and permanent. "Now, arguing from analogy, observat iocs in the Achilles mine oho w, first, that the deeper the stone i* traced into the bowels of the earth tr.e richer and more permanent it becomes, Rnd hecond, that wherever there is a good big of stone there rl*o is the gold most plentiful, and occurs in solid grains, whereas the gold is scarreano fine where the lodes are narrow and near the surface. At the present point of workiug, at a depth of 1200 it below the outcrop of the lode, there iR n body of stone 13ft wide from which the. last 300 tons yielded £>25cz 15dwt, or .-vl tbe rate ot li,z 15dwt lgr to the ton, tbe whole width ot the lode being sent to the mill. In the face of these facts it is fxcaeding'y difficult (o believe that the Otago r^efs do not live down, or that they die out at 700ffc, and as Government reports should not be discredited, and should ba above suspic.oo, tbe only assumption is tbn.t there inuet be some- : thing wrong somewhere Reafoning, however, from tbe established facts as disolosed by the Achilles and hundreds— nut to pay thousands — of other mines, the inference is that some surfjice disturbance has brokoo up the lodes at higher levels, and that the real permanent reefs of not only Otago, but of tbe Middle ; Island, must be 100 ked for at considerable dis- ' tances'beiow the surface, aud if the Achilles miue can be taken as a criterion, they are worth looking for, and when found would turn Otr.go into one of tbe richest and most profitable lode mining districts iv the Routhern hemisphere. From what has been unfolded above it is safe to say that there is no mine iv Ne*v Zealand, and few elsewhere, that can chow a life history like that of ths Achilles, and which has attained a more BRILLIANT SUCCESS. Axide, howevar, trom ail distinguishing ■features connected with this mine, and confining ourselves entirely to h*rd facts, it nuy be pronounced as one of the best, if not the be<r, mine in New Zealand, holding out well justified hopes of a long and prosperous career, c»pnb c of yielding returns that willit make one of the most sought after investments not only in London, but also in tbe colony. Nor U this all, for beyend all doubt the success attained by the Achilles and tbe lemons it teacbes mining men must infallibly iniuse, new life in lode miunig in Otago, and turn the new energy into directions quite cppis-te to the present preconceived notions that New Zealand lodes do uot live. down. PRESENT KXPLOKTATIOXS IN THE ACHILLES MINK are chiefly confined to No. 5 level, aud are of so encouraging a nature thnt tLe chief energies of the management and plant are directed to their development. As utated, tbis level has reached the depth of 1200 ft below tbe highest outcrop of the lode on the hill v.rtiiog ab >vtt it. It is connected by two winzes 160tb apurt with No. 2 level, which in its turn is couufct.ed with the surface by the present vertical working , shaft 150 ft deep. A ersde alreidy spoken of leads down from No. 2 to No. 5 level, and is fitted with a double line of rails for the ascending and descending trucks. Thfige connections I provide the moat perfect ventilation that could I be desired, as well as all t.be other necessary , conveniences of access, so thit it may be pronounced to be in full working order. The two winzes are in course of being connrcted. The stone now being attacked had a width of 7ft at No. 4 level, but at a depth of 83ft— that is at j No 5 level — it bad widened ou*; to 13ffc, the •whole. of which in sent to the mill aud is yielding as above stated. Tbe stone in sight is calculated to gladden the heart of any miner. It it B»fe to say that it will ketp the present 30 heads of stampers fully going for the rest of j the century ; and there are ample promises thac < the mine will live to see the year 2000 at least, | and how long after it is not possible to nay. { Explorations are also carried on upon what i is kuown as j THE PROMISED XAND LODE, a make which petmed to be independent of the other lodes spoken of extending eastward ; while | the north, middle, and main lodei appear to improve as they go westerly, converging in that direction as well as in their dip. All the lades j underlie north. The Promised Land lode has yielded some splendid returns iv years past, and promises to develop into a lode of great importance. j In addition to these lodes there is socthberg's reef in the Otago Company's ground, which, being the pioneer reef of the Wskatipu Goldfield, created bo mean sensation in its early days. This reef has net been met with in the lower workings of the Achilles mine for the simple reason that they do not extend far enough in the direction of the Otago Company's ground, which lies to the west. However, if the rule relating to the increase in richness w;th the increase in depth applies to tbe Otago reef, something of a sensational nature may be looked for when the reef has been struck. (To he continued.') THE WEEK'S MINING NEWS. The second interim dividend of the B'ue Spur Consolidated Company for the present year has just beun paid to the shareholders. The dividend • is at the rate of 3 per cent, per annum, being at the same rate as that paid about three months Bince. This makes a total of 9 per cent, paid on the shares within the past 12 months. Mr Thomas Callender reports 9oz 15dwt gold from the Moonlight SluiciLg Company (Limited) for three weeks' sluicing. . Regarding Mr tfirnan's statements to an mtertiawerin London to the effect that juimua in the

Inangahua district receive £15 per month, it is evide t (says the Inangahua Tiineß) that the statement has betn arrived at by staking an average of all w.igos paid, including managerial salaries. The statement, appearing as ifc does without explanation or qualification, is liable to mislead, and perhaps, too, be the means of attracting men here and disappointing them. The highest wag* p.ud on this tisld U 9s 6d pji; day, or £2 17s per week, which \3 t qual to £11 8s per month. Surface work is paid (or at the rate of Ss The Inangahua Times sajv :— " We regret to learn that the C> nsolid*ted Gildftelds Company have deemed it n't to pay the men employed ou the Globe Hace. ao the rate of S< per day This action ha«, not unnaturally, caused irritation to many in this district, although it does not break tile award in the Arbitration Court. We are informed by Mr M'Neill secretary to the Miner.-)' Uniou, that immediately after the derision of the Arbitration Court, he discovered that by an over-f-i^ht nothing had been decided iv respect to pick and shovel men, whereunou he. accompanied by Mebsrs Slater aud Tbomsou, waited upon Mess-is l?oyd and Foster, and pointed out the omission. Both the Utter gentlemen at once agreed that pick and shovel road labourers &houl<i not be re.iucd from '.Is. Mr l>oyd now lnforma Mr M'N'eill that this- uledgc do-s not npply to men cneiig'id in the work of r«ce-ciihing " The Gol len js.iy Argun, usfomng to a rercnt Order-m-Council which rugulates tne suivey fet-s> to be charged upjn .suiveyh of mining lea«ef, &c, says these regulationa provide for ih; iinpoaitinu of charges which will, except iv the c.iie. of applicants for Urge aroas. have the eff-'Ct of counteracting tbr good done by the reduction of reuts. The following Blue Spur items are from the Tnapek i TimeV correspondent :— The Consolidated Company' are busil" engaged cldHiiidff up their paddock^ foe their quarterly wash-up. All hands are kept particularly bui>y when this work is being done. — The Munro's Gully Company have iiui.-hed stripping, and art- engaged fixing boxes and el.-vators preparatory to elevating the bottom gravel.— The Fidelity Company are hampctcl considerably by hiving to depjini on other sources for water for elevating, having no supply of their own. I heai they are clervniug up their paddock. — Tue Local luilusrry have started their new e'evat')", with which they are lifting about 30fcof the top gravel. When they have stripped a \ru\dock in thi-> way tuey will elevate the bottom 10ft with another elevator, which they bave already in position. By working on this plan considerably more dirt, is elevated with far less water than by the ordinary method — A meeting of the shareholders of tin- Qiwia iienf I'ro-pectiog Party was held here on Thursday evening. There were 27 shareholders urgent. Afier a good deal of di<cu<<siou it was decided to m »ke a call of 2i (id per hhu-e, as> the management, finds the work in more expensive than it was -at Aist thought it would be and the calls they have been making — viz , Is — were too nnall to meet liabilities. — I'he operation? are at present at a standstill at the teef owing to the wane of timber Bur, this will not be for Jong and no time, will be 10-it in returning and push iug the work on vuoiously. I'he I'uapeka Times says :— ' Mr J. If. Jarkson, general manager of the ( onsolidiu&d Company, Blue Spur, has received authority by the San Francisco mail to distribute among local shareholders the second interim dividend during the year, amounting to *6i2. Thin vepi events v dividend of 3 per cent., and makes th« third dividend of that amount paid in nine mouths by the company. The dividends paid away in that time amount to £1950. Tim total amount, paid away in ordina» y shares if £75' 0 " The Waikaka roi respondent of the Southland Times writes :— " Gold-mining is still filling a big corner of interest ia our daily affairs ; not that much KCild is being got, but ia the hopes of (jetting it one is on the alert. Claim* have been pegged off in leadiwes* to take advantage of any stray chance that may eventuate. The big dredg that there has bieu »o much talk about is not finished yet. The prospects of the owner are deei'fadly good if pie .ty of water can be obtained. There i* a Urge area of laud around the. Waikuka tha l ; h»a been proved to be auriferous, but hitherto it has been the saving that has been the trouble. The town-hip rests on a series of strata that runs almost east and west, with a dip towards the aoutn of about (50 leg. Thcs<* strata are covered in most places with a later deposit, that seems to bave b en eroded from the terraces by river action. How these strata have been changed from this horizmtal position is very difficult to determine, but it is m .some of these that the best gold has b-en g'.t. Giod gold has been found on the top rteponit, bu^ it is patchy and run» more in Kill tors These strata luve been worked in the past, but in surb * primitive style that the wonder is how it couM hive paid. Smith and party some 16 y*ar-i ago worked a claim near tho township, and made, so I have been told, £^1 a man per weak. That claim was not worked out, but got too bard to work with the appliances available, and so hud to be given up. When it is understood that these strata run down to unknown depths ;md some o f them cirrv gold throughout, Bomu idea may be had of tbe fnture b*f re Waikaka when capital and skill are available to develop its deposi's. The immense dep ißit* ot quartz gravel and sand to be met with iv this vicinity tell one that there must be numerous quartz reefs not far awiv. Without a do'ibt th>: gold met with in these alluvial deposits is from the reefs iii situ, therefore it is to find the reefs from which the tremendous quantity of quartz gravel has come, to be found in thi3 neighbourhood, that an attomnt should be made. It cannot be that the whole of these ancient reefs have been completely broken down; it seem* more likely tha f recent formations have covered them aud that they will have to be looked for deeper.* There are numbers of reefs to be met with in the far interior, but have our quartzgravel deposits come go far? /Ike Poamhaka runs over immense denosits of quartz gravel, as do mo<t other New Zealand rivers, but tho gravel or ithingle in river beds -cems to come largely from the flats and ten- ices through which such rivers run. Our terraces have been largely formed at the old lake levels, when the rushing water from the mountain-* curied tho material down in immense quantities. What is required in these ..ltered times is a thorough inspection of our mineral deposits by a practical geologist. Some of our lost alluvial deposits might be traced, as also a number of reefs might be found." The following Waipori votes are by the Tuapeka Times' correspondent :— " 'l he b tlance cheet of the Waipori Deep Lead Gold-mming Company is to haud, hhowiug a loss of XS3j on the year's operations, increasing the previous deficit of £2tMl to £3476. The drawbacks to i fticieut working are asdibed in the mauager's lvport to the unsatisfactory supply of head water combined with the heavy influx into the claim, a disability which it is hoped will lie overcome by tbe completion of the Deep Stream water race now in the course of construction. This vice is to be mortgaged to raise sufficient cash with which to carry it to a point from which an effective supply can be secured. The company have had a tough struggle to exist and seem to have an equally interesting time ahead.— The Jutland Flat and Ho 1 Upper Waipori dredges are laid up for repairs. — The ownership of a large area of miuins; ground held here for obviously speculative purposes is likely to be questioned in court if it does not change hand*. It is to be hoped that the present holders will do something of a practical nature with it. — The Bakery Flat Company are operating on a promising looking bank of gravel, and their prospects are evidently reassuring, as another 1000 ft of pipes are ordered to enable them to get further into the fUt. — Mr L. Rest*, the manager of the Upper Waipori Company, has stated his intention to sever hid connection with the company he has so ably managed. He leaves this m mth for another and, let us hope, more lucrative post. — The Home gyndira f e3 have -hed a little cash here, to the advantage of the speculating part of our community, to be followed by a good time of plenty work and wages for the working section — if promi c es are to be relied on. Th-ir operatiuiib on the O.P.Q. aud Canton reefs will be watched with no little interest, as a wide difference of opinion exists even amongst the ni'ist practical and experienced a3 to their value. — The extreme dryness of tbe season has considerably hampered all sluicing operationo, aud those of the hydraulic claims that are not shut down might just as well 1 be for all they are doinr." 'I'he first general meeting of the Barrytown Flat Gold-mining Company was held at \stiburtou on Wednesday evening, the 10th, Mr Henry Zander presiding. Tbe Chairmuu uuted that from what

ho had seen during a recent visit to the West Coast, he had eveiy reason to feel confident the mine would be a very profitable one. The contract for the plant had been let to Messrs A. and T. Kurt, Duuedin, and it vras expected the claim would bo in full work in about three months. Pivery sbare had beien taken up, and, in fact, the total number had hesnover-appiiod for. Directors wore, elected us follows :— Messrs X, H. Graves, J. C. Duncan, R. M'O.ven, and D. Thomas Messrs A. H. Field and F. M'lvuig were elected auditors. Mr Ilenry Ziuder was elected chairman of the compiny, aud the provisional directors' appointment of Mr David Z mder as permanent secretary was confirmed. — Press. The Dunedin Stock Exchange report? the following returns for last week :— Golden Gate Dredging Company, 14oz 13dwt ; Golden Treasure Oredui-jR Company, -!)oz sdwt ; Ut.igo Dredging Company. loVoz The secretary of the Clyde Dredging Company reports a return for live day-, ending on the 11th iu*t.,of 35*oz 2dwt for T2O houi'a' wages time, £S hours,' dredging time. Mr ThoniAß Callender reports 40oz 2dwt 12gr retorted f?<>M from the Sew If >y liis 15-ach Gold Mining Company (Limited) lor th-j nAbC week turn two orejgot-. The Upper W.^pori AH'iv: d Gold Preilginj; Cotnnauy iLimitv!) "b*airud from Nu. i dred<ru V.hiz 2.\vt <jf boM for V-i'2 hours' druilginsr, and from Xo 2 drea^e 1307, (Jdwt of gold for 133 hours' dredging last week.