Notes from Greymouth. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2429, 3 October 1900, Page 21

Notes from Greymouth. (From Our Own Cor respondent.)

GREYMOUTH, September 25. | Dredging matters are shil very quiet, with a fall in stocks. There is great reticence over the doings of the Grey TUver dredge, and it is linxjossible to obtain information that can be relied upon fiorn the directors or sscrelaiy. Piecing i.he information obtainable, it is most likely that soz were obtained for the first week, and for the period ended. Saturday 12oz were obtained. The dredge is new down the full depth. It is pro- ' bablc the official retarn will be known in a week or 10 days. Locally faith in the dredge ia ' shaken. This is brought about mostly by tho dearth of news as to the gold obtained, and to the vague :umours, which apparently cannot be proved or disproved. September 30. The Ford s Creek pontoons are completed, and the machinery is being rapidly put in position. It is expected to be finished in two months. The Greenstone Junction dredge, :n the opinion of the engineer, will be completed in a month. Nearly all the machinery is ready, and s. good deal of it is on the ground. The Dobson No. 2 is expected to start in three weeks. An early start will be made with the Jones Plat pontoons. Mr Bishop has the matter m hand. There is much disappointment over tlie smali return from the Grey Eiver dredge. Though" the shares dropped there is to-day a tendency to haideu. The secretary leports a retiUii for the week ending Satuiday of 9oz. The actual dredging time was ]05 hours. Promising wash is commencing to phew hi the eastern side oi the face, but it is very hard, and the buckets do noo come up anything like full. All the machinery for the Kelson Cicek dredge is not yet on the ground, it is mo=t probable the dredge will not be finished till the cad cf November. The contractors do not expect the Pactolus to make a start till close on Christmas. The Waipuna dredge is working satisfactorily, and will wash up on Thuisriay. j REEFTON GOLD EETUEKS. fl?ROii Ouk. Own CoaBEsroNDSNT.) KEEFTON, September 29. \ ' The return from the Kirwan's Eeward, crush- j ing 3G7 tons, is 4360z gold. Tho Keep-it-Dark | 'Company's return ia 23Soz gold fvom 1200 lojis - dusked at the battery, and 16ioz gold from the ' cyanide process. The return from the Buller dredge is 15oz of gold for 135 hours. TJ3"E MACETOWN EEEFS. (Fnow: Otjii Own Corbbspoxdent.) ARROWTOWN, Sept amber 29. The clean up at the Gleniock Company for the month of September was 1240z lidwt from 195 tons quartz. DREDGIxTG ON THE BULLER EIYER. (Fboji Oxtb. Own Cobhespoxdent.) EEEFXON, September 30. Dredging share quotations: — Buller dredge, 9s to 10:! ; Buller Junction, 10s 9d to 11s 6d ; Consolidated dredge, 5s to 6s; Mokoia, 22s 6d to 235; Grey River, 9s to 10s p; Giey River No. 2, 3s 9d to 4s 3d -p ; Pactolus, 16& to 17s p ; Eeefton United, par to 3d p ; Old Diggings, par to 3d p. Dredging matters are now beginning to take definite shape on the Buller. The Mokoia, which has been built by Messrs Sparrow and Sons, is now moored on the company's giound, and started to open up a paddosk on Monday, ■working day shifts onij- for the fiist few days, and, under the able management of Mr Cederman, it is safe to pi edict that ihe anticipations of plucky shareholders and the public will be lealised, as she is sine to give good returns. The Mokoia may be said to be the first of the new, up-to-date dredges, of which there arc several more to follow, on the Buller, and naturally all interest is centicd on the Mokoia. Success or failure on her pa.it spells a lot as to the future of dredging on the Buller, but any admission of failure on the part of the, Mokoia wojld. b.j looked upon as rank heresy. The Consolidated dredge, which has had such an unfortunate career, is sicwly dredging her way through the beach. Good returns aie expected when she gets a little higher up ths river. Good progress is being made- with the Buller Junction dredge, and it is expected that the i machinery will be in position in about two | months from date, and the dredge should be | working by tho middle of December. Tenders are now being called for the building of the pontoo:i3 for the Welcome Company's dredg°. The Welcome is the next claim to the Buller Junction, and lower down, adjoining this ground, is the Piemier Comppny, for the building of whoso pontoons tenders are also called. This claim is considered second enly to the Old Diggings claim, further down the river. Messrs Luke and Sons have a large staff" engaged plocing machinery on board the Rocklands dredge, and they expect to be in working order by Christmas. Ad|ommg the Rocklands 13 the El Do/ado claim, and steps are being taken, to have a dredge put on the claim forthwith. Next comes the Old Dipgings claim, which is considered io be the Hartley and Eiley of the Buller. Prepaiations foi this dredge are not very forwaid, but I undci stand tenders for the building of the diedge will be called shortly. On the whole, it may be soid that the future of the dredging industry on the Buller looks healthy, and there are several good claims yet on which dredges will be put &nou!rl tho ictums from those that commence woik fiist be enconrpgng. NEW ZEALAND MINERALS COMPANY. CHAIRMAN'S VISIT TO THE COLONY. (FhOjl Oub Own CoihiespoitdentJ LONDON, August 17. La&t week I sent you tho annual report of •the directors of the New Zealand Minerals Company (Limited), an undertaking with mteiosts Isoth north and south Cif the colony. The meeting of shareholders was held on Tuesday last at the Cannon street Hotel; Mr Oliver "Wethered, chairman of the company, presiding. In moving the adoption of the report and statement of account?, tho chairman referred to his visit to New Zealand. Early in the year ilO saw the Fortuua mine, in the Thames dig-

ti-ict, with Mr Curtis. They came to the conclusion that although the property was U adoubtedly patches of iich oie, the reefs are, nevertheless, of a kind which makes it almost impossible for a company to work theie with any idea of profit. It is piopooed to offer the pioperty to be worked on tubute. The chairman then went on to say: — "\Ve then visited the O.P.Q. mine, and I am glad to say that this is a much brighter side of the pictuie. Mr Curtis very thoionghly sampled the property, upon which a large amount of development woik has been done, and he came to the conc'usion that we ha\ c what bids fair to be a very valuable mine indeed. The reef is in a mica schist formation, veiy easily mined, but a disadvantage is that it requires a good deal of timbering to keep the loof up, and it is tins question of timbering which is laigely lesponsible for the delays which have taken place m opening up the mine. Tdo rot think, however, that that has been to the ultimate lo=ss of the company; because when I was out there, although our mine looked good and our plant was in a gcod condition, our piocess of extraction was anything but perfect, and we were enly extracting some 70 or 75 per cent., whereas with our sdditioiial appliancss we may hope to get 90 per cent., o; even, moje, When v/e ' lirst sent Mr Kennedy chert a"s Our lepresentative, one of the fiist things he did on taking tip tho O.P.Q. picpeity vas to secure a wotei right, and in the couiss of a. year, if the O.P.Q. develoxss into a big mine, we shall be able from that water to get 1000 to 2000 hor&cpower, ?nd as the mine is only 20 or 30 miles fioro Dunedin, cud there are several townships on the road, it is quite likely that any powe-i: we clo not use ourselves may be advantageously sold to ether people. We have 30 stamps, which in September -will be in full miming, ciushing fiom 700 to 1000 tons per month, and I am hoping that wo shall get a considerable margin of profit. Moreover, I trust that towa-rds the end of the year we shall be in a position to add another 10 stamps, when we shall be able to crush 2000 tons per month, and, unless our assays are very much out, we ought to have a margin of profit there which would lepresent on our large interest of 99,000 shares a very handsome return to the shareholders of this company. The chairman then went on to refer to the mines in "Biitish Columbia, and, concluding, said that, having regard to the valuable interests in the 0.P.Q., Enterprise, and Whitewater mines, he thonght the:>- might look on the future with a ve~y great deal of confidence. He moved the adoption of the report and accounts. Mr Eichaid Poplciss seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Ths retiring director (Lord Arthur "Ruller) was tfien re-elected, and Messis Morkhouse, Stoneham, and Co. were reapcomted auditors. The piocecdir.gs terminated wich b, vote of thanks to the chairman and directors. THE GOLDEN BEACH HYDRAULIC ELEVATING AND DEEDC4ING COMPANY. A gsneral meeting of the shareholders of the above company was held on Wednesday afternoon m the Dunedin Stock Exchange Buildings ; "Mj: J. Alwent Chapman, chairman of directors, preside:!. 'ihe lepoit of the directors for the year ending 31 st July was to the following effect: — " Tt is with deep rc-gret your directors have to zouord the death of Mr W. Ch Neill, late chairman of diiectora, who lost his life by a coach aocide.it in Apjil last returning from an inspection of the dredge and claim. Your directors took it upon themselves to send a leUer of coadolence to his widow and family, and they "desire to say Mr Neill had the interests of the company always before him, .and in his death they have lost a valuable cocliiector. To fill the vacancy in the directorate caused by Mr Neill's death, the directors appoiatscl Mr J. A. Chapman chairman, and they were fortunate enough to secuie the services of Mr Alexander Her-dman as a director until the annual meeting, and your directors hope you will approve of their action. The balance sheet and statement of accounts are very exhaustive, &o that little or no explanation is necessary, but perhaps it may be more satisfactory lo refer to a few items m tbern. You will be pleased to see there is a considerable reduction in our coal account, come £2u9. We attribute this partly to the coal being got now from the new Alexandra coalpit, in which the company hold 50 shaies, this coal being superior to that formerly used. [Repairs and renewals show a reduction of £2-56 against this item in last year'sprout and loss account ; but this could scarcely be otherwise seeing the cost of enlarging and strengthening the dredge (explained at tho last annual meeting) is charged to property account. The-io la a snving of £13 in the management and working expenses of the company, so your directors ars carrying on operations as economically as possible. Directors' fees stand about tho same as last year, but it must be remembered that out of this .sum is charged the allowance to the local directors who attend all the washings up and who testify to the gold returns. The most serious item to refer to is ths gold return. There has been a considerable falling off here, as you will sea on reference to last year's bolance sheet, but as the dredge ih r.ow in very fine going order and nearing the grouad from where she firtat started, there is little or no doubt that within the next 12 months she should exceed anything she has pievicucly done. The gold won during the year v.as liMoz 7dwt 2gr, valued at £51.16 17s 7d, out of which dividends to the amount of 3s per share, or 15 jier cent, on the nominal caxDit.il of the company, have been paid. During the year a water race of considerable value to the company has been purchased and paid foi. The contract entered into for the enlargement and strevsgthcm.ig of the dredge, v.'hich wcie referred to in the la&t report issued to shareholders, weie carried out at a cost of ovor £1001, but the time occupied in effecting these satisfactory changes exceeded by some weeks the time expected to bo taken, so that the diedging time for the current year has been gioatly curtailed, and the re&ults are not a fair criterion of the woiking of the dredge. More than this, the cost of the repahs ana overhaul, although entered mto last year, had to be paicl out of the proceeds of gold i?ot during the current financial year, hencs the small return to shareholders. Seeing the dredge has now got through the high face of wash which she had to work, and that the beach is strinped right ahead and proved to bo of a very highly-payable nature (the dredgcmasler having reported al-W3y-i that the be«fc wash got was lunning into the flat all tho way up), and that this ground right to the bottom of the claim will take over two years to work before the dredge turns to mike a fresh cut up again, the shareholders may rest assured that the outlook is really most piomisiiig, and they fully expect that steady dividends will be paid for a long time to come."

The Chairman, in moving tho adoption of the report and balance sheet, explained some of the itonib in the lattei. The item, supplies for the dredge, for instance, included ironmongery, JBII3 7s Id ; acetylene gas and vacuum oil, ;£55 <ls 3d. A considerable sum was linid for blacksmith's work. The company now lifd a smithy on tho claim, and employed a blacksmith, which resulted in a, considerable saving. The company's claim, being a flat alongside the river, had to be worked in a face, that was, the whole ot the giound had to be dredged whether it was payable or unpayable. In February the diedge airived E>t a large mound which was left by gold diggers because it would not pay them to work it. Tho dredge in going through this mound obtained from 9oz to 16oz of gold a week, which was not payable, a-9 it waa estimated, that

when the dredge was working constantly it took about 1803 of gold a week to pay working expenses end repans, con=equently, foj a time, the gold returns did not pay working expenses. The amount that had to be paid 'for improvements to the diedge, effected last financial year, and paid foi during the piesent financial jcai, would account for only 3s a share having been paid in dividends. Had it not been for this the same drwdend as la&t j ear (-i? 6c l ) would have been paid. Since the balance sheet had boon presented a dividend of ]& had been pud, and, now that the dredge was ncaimg iich giounj, where it fhs.t storied to voik, and where excellent ictuins veie obtained, much bettor icturns might be fully expected. Consequent on this better dividends would be paid. The dueetors had been most caieful in cariymg on thf> opeialioos of the company as economically as po-sible, and had, outride iheir duty as dnectors, spent p great deal of time in the mleieatp of shareholders, and had spved a considerable amount of money by looking aftei supplies for the diedge and getting them at lo»\ e=t market piices. They had a 1 so attended to orders at the roundly, and had urged forvaid the work, and &cen the mateiial sent away as expeditiously as po^^ible. This they had done instead of, a& umiol pimilovinc jt,r-i + = to" ad" the work. In order thai thaiiholclcrs might kno-v the letums of gold immediately after they were received, tho directois h?d, ps they wore no doubt awjie, instructed the Fecretaiy to post pll Le!egiani3 btvnina on the matter outside the company's office, and also to hand a copy on to tho press. -The weekly reports from Ihe dreclgemaster were also open for the inspection of any khprehckler, and ths directors would bs well pleased if shareholders would take advantage of this opportunity of seeing them. The secietary hacl been instructed to give shareholders thp fullest and late&t information as to what wps being done at the claim, so that they might be fully mfoimed as to all operations. Tho adoption of the leport and" balance sheet was seconded and adopted. Messrs J. A. Chapman and A. Herdman, the retning directors, were unanimously re-elected, and Mr T. Callender was roappointed auditor. It was unarjmously resolved that a vote of thanks be accorded to the directors for the able, careful, and satisfacloiy way they had conducted the affairs of the company, and ihe meeting terminated. G-OLDEM POIXT DREDGING- COMPANY. The thud annual meeting of the Golden Point Dredging Company was Yield m the Queen's Rooms o_i Friday evening, an-ci was attended by 10 shareholders. Mr H. North was voted to the chair in the absence of Mr J. C. Thomson, who sent a note apologising for not being able to attend owing to indisposition. The following was the lepoit of the dneclors submitted to the me.°tmg :: — ■ "In presenting the accounts for the year ending 31st August, 1900, the directors beg to repoit that the amount of gold won may he considered satisf-cioiy in view of the fact thai little virgin ground has been worked dunug the perio:!. The diedge is now upon solid wash, and the returns for the last few weeks have impiovpd accordingly. As shaieholders ore aware, negotiations are now pending for the amalgamation of this company with the Enterwiise GoVl Dredging Cornpariiy. Messrs D. Baxter and William Brown, the retiring directors, effor themselves for le-election, as does ako the auditor, Mr E. R. Smith."

The Chairman stated. that he. had not much to say, ifor the reason -that h.a h-id been unexpectedly called upon, to take the chair ps their chairman was laid up. , JETa -did.no t think thcie was anything much in, the. balance sheet. They were better off than they were -last year. They would see "that the liabilities up to* the end of August were .8012 3s lOd, -For-the greater poition of this year they. got- vei-y small relum-i indeed. For &ix months they seareely got 20oz of gold a week, and for sevei-al -weeks they only got something like 81oz, so th?t tal:in» +he whole year round they had had rather poor reUuns. -At the end of the year they w^ie indebted to the bank £573 12s lOd, and owed foi -undry accounts 2333 10s, making a totnl of £'912 3s lOd. The last month had been the bssf of the whole year, and if they took in that month it left them with a balance of £671 s<? sd. That was their indebtedness a*" the present moment. As he said, they 'ird had a veiy good month, and he only wished that they had got the same letirnis months ago. in which case they would have been out of debt. He did not think there was anything else on which he could speak. If thpre was. any question any shareholder would like to ask he would answer it as well as he was able. There being no question?, he moved tke adoption of tho report and bn lance sheet.

Mr A. Sli?o seconded the motion for pdepbon, avd said it was not necessary to dwell upon the position of the company. It was satisfy clorv to know that thejr had reduced their indebtedness during the last month v?iy materially.

The motion for adoption was famed. Messrs D. Baxter and Willicm Brown were re-elected directors, and Mr E. E. Smith auditor. . ,„ An extraordinary general meeting wos then held, at which the Chairman said, as they were .iware, since they met and passed certain resolutions with regard to amalgamating wi_th the Enterprise Company, and the approving of a deed of porrrernent between the tv ( o companies. Hiere had bacn a law case in reference to the Chicago and Enterprise Cornpanig 1 ? going on That law case was still pending, and the warden was to give his decision on the Bth of next month. They could not adjourn the present meeting until that date, as the law did not pei nut of it. They had everything ananged and eveiything had been agjeed to. He hpd the dipffc agreement, but as the ca?e between the two comwnnies previously named was still pending he did not wish the contents published. Tho agreement having been read, and some questions answered, the chairman moved the continuation of the fir^t resolution, which vas that the Golden Point Company be wound up with a view to amalgamating with the Elite 1 - OTise Company. This wos seconded by Mr Sligo, Find cariied. The Chairman then moved the confirmation of the second resolution, which was, in effect, that the draft agreement be approved, pnd that the liquidator be authorised to enter into an agreement with the Enterprise Company, in terms of the draft, and to cany the same into effect •with such modification as he might think exvjpclient. The confirmation was seconded by Mr D. Baxter, and earned, and Mr A J. C. Brown was appointed liquidator at a remuneration of £50.

The Chaiiman said the shares would be divided one to five, which meant there would be 1200 shares, and that 300 would lemain to be disposed of. He would suggest that . these shares should be divided pro r.ita among shareholders at .£5 each. Each shareholder would have the privilege of taking up shaxes pro lata, according to the shares they held, by paying to the liquidator ,£5. If any shares were left o\cr he suggested that the liquidator should reali&e them on 'Change at the veiy best puce lie could obtain. Also that any sum left over, after paying all the liabilities, be divided amongst shareholders according to the shares they held. Where the shares would not divide, the liquidator should sell them to the best advantage, and the shareholders would get their proportion of the money back again. Mr Moody suggested that, instead of going on 'Change, the shares might bo distributed among the shareholders willing to take them.

The Chairman replied that the remainder would be veiy small, he imagined, pud it might be said that the liquidator had sold them to some particular foend for £5, when he coiilcl

have got £6 for them. If any shareholder liked to give the market price that day offered, well and good.

Mr Sago moved a vole of thanks to the directors for the trouble taken over the affairs of the coinwanv.

A Shaieholder suggested that the directors should receive a fco of 30 guineas, but the Chairman paid that, sperkiilg for himself, he did not wish tc be recompensed as suggested, and he chcl not think the clian man ot directois (Mr J. C. Thomson) would either. A brief conversational discussion followed, and the meeting ended. KAWAKAU CONSOLIDATED GOLD DEED SING COMPANY. The fiist annual meeting of the Kawarau Consolidated Gold Diedging Company (Limited) was held pt the Agricultural Hall Buildings on Friday afternoon. Mr H. Shrimuton presided, and there weie about a dozen shareholders piescn'o. The Chuirman, in moving the adoption of tlie annual report and balance sheet, made a few exp 1 anatomy remarks with icgard to the position of the company and tc the piogress i oeing made with Vie woi'lig. I Mr M'Eacken seconded the motion. Ho stated ! that ho had recently been up to the. claim, and fiom inquiries he mnde on the spot, and particularly f*om inio_ - ii??tioii received from Mr j /■ndeison, of Bannockbam, he was now satis- i iied that the claim wss likely to prove one of j the best on the Kawarau itiver. | 'Ihe morion for the adoption of the t report wag subsequently put and carried. ' j Messrs H. Shrimpton and Alexander Smaill, the retiring directors, veic re-elected, and Mr A. Bartleinan, tho retiring auditor, was also re-elected, his remuneration being fixed at 5 guineas per anmim. r * A WRINKLE FOR DEEDGEES. TO THE EDITOK Pie, — "Here is a wrinkle for dud^eis: To find ihe number of ourccs of gol'i consumed p-r week in the wcrk'ng expanses of a en eke divide ihe i mouDt of th-3 annual ixicDsis by 20C, and the le&ul 's ounces at tt c piic- of £'i 17s per ounce, For, let the annual expenses = x; \ .r x 0 I then = the number of ounces for the ye_ r, 77 i a x (he number of ounces aveiagefor and 5T777 = aweek = £0 20 1 52 x 77 4004 £00.2 thpi-efo-e * X 2 °- = — = the weekly expenses tueieto.e HJ omice< _ Tt c decimal iv the denominator is equal to 1 x , and may be 6i-r. garded, leaving — 50 0 200 The proceeds of the gold won duiing they ay may be treated in the same way, and the difFot- ( nee is -*he vetklj profit. Thus : The pio eeds of sold for the year t&ken at £5796 ~ 2CO = £B'9S.z irr week The expenses for the jear taken it .£260) - £00 =]3 3"oz „ „ Working profit £3136 -2i0=15 68 z „ „ Deduct eiror O'Olo^S 1000 ]s'Citi4'.V2 z (Jonvei&elv, a weekly vJiun aver<tf> ii g 14cz will yield for the j ear . . . £2800 llus for error 2 16 0 1000 £2502 10 0 —I fin, etc., Sem:x. •'MINER" AND THE FALL IN SHARES, ETC. TO THE EDITOR. Sik. — The letter of " Miner," published by you lecontly, 13 suggestive. He 'ones to set foith the causes of the fall in the price of dredging shares. To a certain extent his conclusions are, I believe, correct, but I thiak very few will ngree with him in ceitam thiags he 'says — for example, when he speaks of directois o! companies. He seems to ha,ve oveilookec l the fpcl that engineers' offices and foundries sre in the large towns. This renders it absolutely necessary that directors and secretary should be at hand to arrange for construction oi diedge. The real element oi danger in this is fiom the director known as a ' guinea pig." This gentleman gets on as director on every company where he can lay hold of paid-up shaies for nothing. He dees not care twopence whether the claim is wonh anything or not. What he is after is the guinea per meeting — 12gs per year per company. I do not know how for we may be suffering from this class of person. The vast majority of directors iv Dunedin at any rpte will, I think, bo found to be genuine, straightforward tradesmen. Numbs ■•% of iliem have had moie or le-;s experience of goldfields life as miners, etc., and on account of their experience hive been almost forced into the diiectc'intas they hold. Other things being equal I should be in favour of hok'ers of contributing shares only being directors. Most companies have one local diiector. Thp dredgema&ter and ho consult on any important matter. "Waul of honesty has, I think, been the great fault. Tenders have sent in false lepcrts. Scnm bio>ers seem to have aided and abetted. I do not know that even consulting engineers five free. I believe more than one claim has been reported as dredgeable that certainly never will be worked that way. Thus it has come

about as " Miner " says, that claims have bee^ floated that should never have been claims.

"Miner ' N is quite correct when lie says tha in ceitain parts there aie areas that can b< worked better by sluicing and elevatirg thai? by dredging. But wherever the water supply io adequate and clay not too prevalent, tha dredge is far and away the most economical pilmial gold mining «.plant in the country^ According to depth and nature of wash an upi to-ctate dredge will turn over from half an p.aiy to an acie of giound a mojth. An elevatoi will not appioach that; from a tenth to a quaiter of it would bo the ordinary capacity', and the crpense and capital hi many cases no\ so very much less. TVhcie the bottom is har<^ the elevator has the advantage in cleaning up. One cause of the iall in shares that is ofteir, overlooked is the manner in which the gold; is distributed. We^e the gold evenly distributed shares would r.ot fluctuate. From som\' dredges the letiuns are remarkably regular, showing that ths gold is pretty evenly dis> tribvtcd thiough the wash. This is generallj the case with fine gold. Some claims give very lich returns for a while, and then fall off again. The gold is patchy, and in most oi these cases will be (found to be more or lesn ec:si'»e. Soinetiiuys, fnie gold proves very patchj', also. When the ordinary person, with no practical knowledge of gold minuig, sees reports of big returns — SOOoz and upwards pe\> week — he begins to consider how much he i^ losing by not having some shares in that company. His excitement rites, and he is soon share mad. He puts his ' bottom dollar " int<, big return companies without any inquiry ai % to length of time the claim is likely to lasrl or even big returns keep up. A few divii dends come in, and share plunging is staited. Eor_the benefit of those who may wish to learn I may state that in gorge and river claim) a modern dredge -will work from 20ft to 4011, up the liver per week. At this rate, and with about 40 working weeks per year the claim will last from thiee to, perhaps, eight yea-rs — very few will last more than fivfe years. In thai time capital, plus interest, has to be got ba;k, for m most cases the diedge will sell for very little after it has worked out the claim. la a flat claim a modern dredge works off or oa about an acre per mo.ith, or, say, from eigtri it J2 acres per year. So if a 100-B ere claim be all dredgeablc it -will be worked out in from eight to 12 years, or theie.ibouls. — I am, etc., Onlooker