WAREATEA DREDGING CLAIM. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2428, 26 September 1900, Page 22

WAREATEA DREDGING CLAIM. TO THE EDITOR.

SiIR, — Some people argue and believe that tho system used here for testing claims is no good. We use a common Douglas punip to litt the stuff. A pipe- pointed with holes Ift to JS^m diameter is driven with a 90lb monkey. The ]sump is uspcl about eveiy foot or 18in. ; This iiits the sand and gold. The pump test has been proved by shafting and paddocking, and ib generations ahead of boring rods. Some people say the pump draws the gold and leaves the sand. What lot. Who ever -heard of geld! shilling easier than sand; not black sand, but light ruby sand. This is the Wareatea test:' First y paddock was sluiced with a hydraulic^ ]>>.nt. The paddock was 12ft x 12ft x 18ft asacH Hit deep — about SO yards. The water supply. wjb no good, and , the O'Neals had tc give ife best. They got soz out of 80 yards, -of stuff, phiftecl — ; about an hour's work for a- dredge, as the stuff is easily shifted. This givs^-over—" ldwt per cubic yard. The pump test gave 16gr per cubic yard, which proves that tne; pump does not suck all the gold. After^piimp- - sing clear for one minute very little golcl comes out. The Island Creek Company's ,claim, next to the Waieatea, is said to contain. 2|dwt per cubic yard by paddocking, and 3Jdwt by the pump boring. This claim has its pontoons in course of constiuction. They are from the old Sandhills claim on the Shotover. This dredge will be at work in four months. The buckets aro about 3ft, and if she shifts only 60 tons per hour and gets 2clwt per cubic yard, she will soon beat the record. Thes,e claims are both floated and prospected by the same promoters.

The next claims worthy of notice here ara the threo Waimangaroas and Stony Creek claims. More gold has been taken out of the Waimangaro.i than any other pr.rt here, and good gold is still being got. The writer saw several handfuls of nuggets — some up to 2oz, others half quartz and half gold. Dr F. W. Mackenzie, of Wellington, was the lucky seciTrer of these claims, for which dredges have been ordered in Wellington. Henry C. Greene, of Westpoit, was the prospector, and if his reports are confirmed by the dredges these claims will do extremely well. — I am, etc., Prospector.