OUR WEST COAST LETTER.

Otago Witness, Volume 02, Issue 2420, 2 August 1900, Page 22

OUR WEST COAST LETTER.

(By Ajok.) WESTLAND, July 25. DREDGING NOTES. 'The recent finds in the Nelson Victory and the Lake Mahinapua Golden Gravels Syndicate claims, in which, foi the first time in the history of West Coast gold mining, the terrace bottom, has been found so near the sea coast and the wash immediately above it to be •so richly auriferous, have put new life into the whole district tip and down, for they have not only proved these claims to be highly payable for dredging below the water line, biit also the - whole line of leads on these flats which, up to the tune of the find, were deemed non-auri-ferous. When I inform the Dunedin shareholders of the N. V. that the wash has been proved by the boring rods to be from 26ft to 34ft, with payable gold all the way down, then of course those acquainted'with dredging matters scarcely need to be actvised of the probable value of their venture. Their whole lease is flat, and not in any part thereof more than 3ft above the level of the lagoon, the clear, slowly-running water 3 of which divide the area, on its western side, and as the Main South toad bounds side thereof, there will be little tromP&m fetching machinery to the claim. " all this, it is considered by ■the old diggers here that the celebrated Kohinoor lead runs right through this portion of the claim. Down at the Lake Mahinapua, on the south side thereof, in the group of claims of 400 acres held by a Wellington Syndicate, and briefly referred to above, I saw last week washed out of a shallow hole about 9ft deep 2dwt of rough and fine gold, and from about three- dishes too. The find— a new one— was kept a close secret for private reasons, but now , those have disappeared, the world may know it. The wash is in the old. bed of the Hokitika River, and so f ar' tlie shareholders have only been enabled to get_ down some 15ft for ■water hi the claims, which all lie not 4ft above ■water line. Not, however, the bottom will be found by boring. -Professional experts who liave visited and reported on the claims say it will he found at a depth of about 30ft — a favourite depth for dredging — so that I may be enabled to give your readers further particulars concerning this locality, which is causing so much attention from the Empire City. Probably some- of your readers may hazard the natural remark, "How comes it that this rich gold was allowed to lie perdu to long?" The answer is readily found. Like fche great goldfield Kumara, it was never found till discovered, although that field lay right over the main xoad to Gxeymouth, the only difference being that this Lake Mahinapua block, lick as it oertainly is, cannot be worked in the ordinary way, for a 10,000-horso power engine could not drain it of the flat creel? waters right alongside and through portions thereof. Induced by this find, speculators are now prospecting and getting gold in the immense swamp of 3000 acres, which is all held as claims, and have been so far rewarded with £dwt vo -*he dish, but the gold was lifted out oi a sea of water. The 30 claims will now be bored as soon as the fine weathei sets in. There is not a single stick of timber in the whole block, which extends from the Hokitika River to the head of the auriferous creek feeding the Lake Mahinapua, so that the probability is this -will turn out to be the largest dredging field on the West Coast. . Between the Karamea, in the extreme north of Westlan'd, and Jackson's Bay in the far south, a distance of nearly 300 miles, and having an aveiage width of lOmiles, a dredging aren of 200,000 acres has been computed hy carpful liithorities. Of this gigantic block quite half has been -worked -in - the shallows, or deeply as the water would allow, yielding in the past fabulously rich returns. Oil that stretch the ?e"neral report of the bid' digger sayeth : "All the. shallow places along the West Coast near the ocean having been wo-ked out, and the leads ilippiag clown, there is every reason to believe that the river dredge .vill now gc£ the heavier richer s,o^d lef b behind, owing to the'heavy inflo'v of v.Ttcr." The Baden Powell dredging claim, on ths

Aylnier Lead, yielded last week, in my presence, Idwt of gold from, a load of dirt.' The gold, both shotty and flaky, was weighed and valued at 4s. The lease lies between the ! Lake Mahiriapua Gold Dredging Company's \ claim, floated in Wellington, and for which a ; dredge is nearly completed there, and the t , Aj'lmer Lead Gold Dredging Company's claim, I • and has a known depth of 20ft [ •of auriferous gravels, herculean pump- I mg in the early days by the . in- ' dividual digger having succeeded in working '• profitably to that depth. Knowing the value t of the property, a Wellington syndicate has made the owner a, handsome offer for it, with [ the view of putting a dredge thereon imme- { diately, but as another equally handsome bid [ comes from the City of the Plains, the lucky holder is as yet undecided, more especially as only last week a miner who was one of three who got £800 worth of gold out of this very spot inside of three weeks in the shallows, came especially down to take up the ground for an Auckland syndicate, and was obliged to f return minus the coveted land. Provided the | proprietor does not fall between the three stools I placed upder him, he may earn a small pot, • and get the ground worked to advantage too. \ showing the value placed upon this lins ' of Aylmer Lead, a gentleman well Imown in I dredging circles, last Saturday, after fully satis- < fymg himself of the legitimacy of the locality, ' planked down his good cheque for MSO and 400 fully paid up shares in the company, for a small 40-acre prospecting license. Big as the. initial price appears, I do not know that he was_ mistaken, for a few days later he succeeded in prospecting fiom ihree loads of likelylooking washdirt 3*c)wt of gold, of the value of 14s, and since then the original owner has , had, of coursej_''to refuse an offer of £600 for the property sold. Up the Grey Valley good tidings reach me concerning the encouraging prospects found in ! the Pactolus, the Nelson Creek, and the Grey River dredging claims. Much capital is beinsr expended in boring and otherwise- testing these capital ventures, upon which dredges, should shortly appear. The Grey River dredge, now in the hands of the contractors,- will be completed inside four weeks' time. Fot the Mokoia dredge, on the Buller River, the whole • -of the machinery has been placed on the ! f ground, and it is anticipated a start will be I j effected in about four weeks also. The pon- ! : toons for the Buller Junction dredge having -t been completed, are now awaiting a favourable opportunity for launching, whereuraon the machinery will be fixed up immediately. Tenders for supplying an up-to-date dredge for the • Day Dawn Company, Ross, having been let, f the machine has to be placed in position by > the Ist of January, 1901. Messrs Crabtree and Sons, Wellington, have undertaken to supply the Buller Dredging Company with a suitable dredge by the middle of December next. THE COAL Bo\7, AND WHAT THE PEOPLE ABE GOING TO DO. 1 G reymouth, Hokitika, Ross, and Westport are [ kicking up as big a row as any of the larger centres can do over the coal monopoly, and the exorbitant figures demanded by the companies for fuel. At Ross J33 a ton -is rather much, Kumara growls at £2, Greymouth, at the very pit mouth, almost pays £1 12s, Westport about the same, whilst the housewife of | the Empire City is going crazed over the mono- j poly of £1 13s demanded by the owners. From ' inquiries made by myself, I find tha-t Bnumer j coal at the pit mouth is valued at 4s 6d per ton, it costs the company 6d royalty, haulage , ss, freight to Wellington 7s ; total, 12s 6d — pro-/ . fit, £1 0s 6cl. Rayther much. The Coasters have moved in the matter already, as you are doubtless aware, and Dicky Seddon — the pan- ' acea for all human ills frequently afflicting the ! West Coast — has been approached, and replied I that he will no longer allow that sinful monopoly, and to make a beginning he has instructed his Excellency the Governor tc tell the Agent-General to tell the Grey Valley Coal ( Company that if they don't complete their five j miles of laihvay from Greymouth to Point ' Elizabeth and turn out coal at the rate agreed on bstween them and him, he will take away their lease in double quick time. Then he has also told the other coal companies that if they don't sell their black diamonds at a reasonable piica to his beloved people, he'll collar their I properties holus bolus and make them. State

collieries, so they had better mind what they are about. they're bound to have a ssat in parliament.

liiero are no loss than fn'ree debating clubs in Hokitika, and last week the ladies, who, by the way, form the talking strength thereoi, decided that woman in Parliament would beautify, ennoble, sanctify, glorify, elevate all tendencies, jtc, and, in fact, that that arena was woman's propel and only sphere. Then one very gushing and beautiful young damsel was proceeding to- prove that the %cry atmosphere would become purified by the presence of women in the House of Representatives, when a red-headed irreverent interrupted the female flow with, " What ho, she bumps," and no more was said for the time being. .Replying to the request of the chairman, a?i angularity reared on his hindquarters and 'said: " Wouldn't the women get smoked out? " Notwithstanding which, however, it was carried that women be accorded a seat in the House; but the same debating club refused to say whether or not it would be a good thing for the Chinese Euvpire to become dismembered.

SLY; GROG-SELLING IN SOUTH WESTLAND. Last Saturday three denizens from the far south, attended the Ross Masgistrate's Court to answer the somewhat serious charge of selling spirituous haubr without a license. The information had been given by some southern settler not game to put in an appearance himself, and f.o it devolved upon the policeman to support one of the charges; but this he was unable to do, because he swore, he did get the unlicensed grog and they swore he got nothing else but milk, the whisky produced having been given to him as a present by the resident as he, the policeman, complained of starving with cold whilst crossing the- rivers of the south. The Magistrate (Mr Duncan Macfarlane) held that 'if a breach of the Licensing Act had been committed, then the prosecuting policeman (Constable ' Pancop) had also been guilty 'of breaking the law himself, and should be alsc convicted; but he dismissed the information. In the other twe cases he convicted and fined the defendants 40s each, adding, however, tiutt thp 'infoi'mer should Kave been present in court iv support ., of his information, otherwise such conduct was deceitful and unmanly. The police were always placed in a false position otherwise. Although Ido not advocate the selling of sly-grog in the south, yet I do know," of cases where in tho absence thereof people" might have lost their lives, and yet it will not pay to have a license uown there because of the sparse population. ••