upper MINING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2355, 13 April 1899, Page 29

upper MINING.

April 10. — During the week the Molyneux rose at Alexandra from 3ft to 4ft, consequently a large quantity of travelling drift was met with by those dredges working in mid-stream. However, a rise in the river, if not too high, ' does not affect all dredges alike, but rather assists than retards the operations of those dredges working the banks. At the same time, j from the activity displayed in the pegging off of claims at a considerable distance from the river on the Earnscleugh Flat, one may judge that the dredging of the future will be carried on continuously, independent ofjany appreciable rise or fall in the river level. Pegging Oil of Claims. — The harassing regulations as to the marking off of claims, as contained in the new mining act, are meeting witb much disapproval throughout the district. This need not he wondered at. when one considers that to mark off an ordinary dredging claim nearly a dray load of pegs is required. These pegs have to be put in the ground along the boundary line of the claim, 300 ft apart, standing 3ft above the ground, and composed of .sub- j stantia.l material. Quite so. All that is now | required for the regulations to state is " that a barbed wire shall be stretched from peg to peg around the boundary of the claim, and it shall then be securely ring fenced to the aatiefaction of everybody except those paying for the privilege of so fencing the claim." No j doubt this multiplicity of pees used in pegging j off a claim is deemed by the framers of the ! act as a safeguard against litigation ; but the assumption is that the greater the number of ! pegs used in marking off a claim the. greater are the chances in favour of litigation. Not only has a claim to be boundary fenced with pegs, but about 400 ft of trenches has to be cut, having a depth and breadth of not less than 6in. All this pegging and trenching is quite unnecessary in a treeless district such as Central Otago, and as regards thiß district, some amending form is needed in the act. Under the act of 1801, it was possible to peg off a dredging claim in a few hours ; now the time occupied in such an operation takes up just two days — at least such was the time taken in marking off a clam? on the Earnacleugh Flat last week. Labour Verßus Capital. — The first rift of difference between dredgemen and dredgcowjierß has taken place by the hands on the Earnscleugh No. 2 declining to work nine honrs a day for eight hours' pay. These are the facts : The dredge is undergoing £ome alterations, and the dredgemen were assisting tradesmen to carry out the alterations. That is, the dredgemen were receiving pay as such at the rate of 10s *, day, and doing labourers' work, which is paid at the rate of 8s a day. They were asked by the manager to work an extra hour a day. This they-declined to do by walking off the dredge. What result may accrue from, to my miud, this hasty and uncounselled action of the dredgemen it is difficult to say. This I may say, that the mer working for the Earnscleugh Company have had* little to grumble at. They have had steady employment at a fair rate of pay, -which has been regularly paid. Indeed, there is not a company on the river about Alexandra that does not treat its men in a fair and generous spirit, and do all that possibly can be done to make the men comfortable on board the dredges. Among all classes of men there are to be found a few discontents who are ever ready to stir up strife between employer and employee, and I suppose dredgemen are not exempt from such ones. At the same time I would say to the xnev : band yourselves together by forming a union to protect your interests, for you now have interests to protect; but be on your guard against thejfie who stir up strife by windy haI rangues that sometimes move men to hasty action, with bad results to all concerned.

1 The Matau will resume work in a few days, the top tumbler having come to hand. The returns from the several dredges during the week were fair, but nothing sensational to affect that most susceptible of all markets, the share market. It is astonishing how easily the market is affected. Even a travelling breath from a dredge as to the appearance of the mats has the effect of depressing or raising the value of shares. A slight rise in the river even lowers theii market value a sixpence or a shilling. i Shareholders in dredging stock should pay no attention to such whiffs of news as, at the best, they are but garbled stories emanating from the too fervid imagination of some excitable person of no consequence. The only certain test of the value of shares in any dredging company is the. return of gold week by week. • I hear that 'shares in the Alexandra Coal . Mining Company are being freely applied for. : From what I hear, the probabilities are that ! the company will be registered in a few days. To those seeking a bona fide investment, I can .' recommend this venture. The coal is of the . best quality known as lignite, .and, so far as , one can judge, is piactically unlimited in quani tity.