HYDE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2429, 3 October 1900, Page 38

HYDE.

October 2. — Since niy last letter we have experipnced many and diverse changes m the wepther ar.d also in the temperature. One day it is soft pud genial, a, typical day of fip-ung, 2nd the next we have a co.d. blustering sou-wester, accompanied by heavy showers of snov'. The general effects of this changeable wea-ther are a. stopija^e of gro-vtli of both ciops and grass, an increased death rate ot yovng lambs, and also a recurrence of that vile epidemic, mihiei:z'i.

Mimng. — Operations are in full swing again, consequent ur,ai a good supply of water. Johndon oad party are situcuia m the old workings above the township. The Uighlay .Kepii-13 Company have Leei working full time, but I have not lesined with results. Considerable inte-'est 1-3 being manifested iv the scheelite 111 the 1 cduntiy lound the Highlay Company's leal^, a' ivo.tnber of leases Jiavmg been taken up, 'the old site 'of the Ilighiay Company's quartz ieei being one of them, la connection with this it is =-igrificant io not.' that when this c-lcl reef vn 3 beir.g wciked for gold-bearing quartz, some 10 ot V. jvars ago, the then manage 1 ' complained of the quantity of scheelite that was mixed rvith the quartz, ■saying that it vas ? regular nm&ance, trnc? i_o\v this same reef is "bout '.o be worked for tho value of the sehe*lits a 7 oie. Tt is to bs hoyed that success will attend the c&'oits of the }:>ai ty.

An Ingenious Mechanical Contrivance — Some little iimp 030 1 w: j3j 3 thcira an ingenious :>p~ phance for the ] urrore of ;>?■-. era'ti.-g motive powei co drive a chaffcuttev, coastructed by the Seveh'i Bros. They obtained trie large travelling wheel of a reaper and birder, with the sprocket driving wheel pitacherl, ar.rl also sh* small ditto. The large wheel they mounted on a frame, and oa the 'ciavcUing turfpee they affixed boxss in*"C which they directed water from a- hose. The small driving sprocket wheel they also attached to the fiame, it doing duty as an intermediate, bsirg duvcn by the driving chain from the main wheel. The connecting red between the intermediate and the chaff-

cutter ja tho rod upoxi which "the "packeis" of •a binder work. 'Xiie speed generated by this cheaply contrived Poiton wheel is evidently nearly as much as the cutter, which is a small one, is capable of standing. The fall in the line ot hose is about 35it and the length of 'die line a-bout 40yds. As all the work of fitting t>p the wheel, intermediate, and connecting iod was perioimed by the Se\ehn tiios. themselves, the lesuit is highly cieditable to them.