GOLD DREDGING IN VICTORIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2455, 3 April 1901, Page 20

GOLD DREDGING IN VICTORIA.

By Onlooker. MELBOURNE, March 22. Since my last lettei nothing of \eiy great importance to the industry has happened, except, perhaps, that the few letums published show an improvement, which I hope may continue. The Ovens River pontoons weie floated on thi 7th inst., and I am glad to say that theie ■was no damage done to the pontoons by the sinking. They have almost completed reerecting the dismantled machinery, and 111 ad.dition to this are fixing up the winch with steam power, instead of the belts prewously used. They are also plating the bow and dividing the pontoon by bulkheads into watertight compartments. This dredge ought to be at work within the next few days, and I hope she will make up for her bad start by some good returns. The Junction dredge has been pegging away eteadily at her claim, and since she started has worked cut about seven acres of giour.d. This is not bad fjpr some five months' woik, considerin'? the number of logs she has had to contend with.. Her return published on the 16th inst. ivas XOSoz smelted gold. The previous letum of S2oz 15dwt was published on Febiuarv 7, |mt they were stopped for about a week making alterations, to that her actual dredging time was only about four weeks, ai.d gives an avelage of 270z pei week, which is rot too bad They have hod ver> few logs to co itend v.ith during this time, "and the giound was very

shallow. The logs seem to occur in nests, and when met with mean a considerable amount of waste time. It will be remembered in dredging circles that this self-game log difficulty, according to some wiseacres, was going to kill dredging round about Miller's Flat; but it is the- same; old story, for \ylienever there is gold to be got human ingenuity finda some means of getting at it. The Maori Queen dredge has come forward with another record— viz., 31ioz retorted geld. The ground they are working is very liaid and j tight, a circumstance which affects very mater- 1 ally the quantity of wash which they can put J through. I hear that they have placed the i designing of the second dredge in the hands of | Messrs Richardson and Blair, of Sydney. The t shares in this company have not been quoted for some considerable time past, which is no | doubt caused by the increased capital of the < company and the fact that they or.ly have one dredge on the claim. "With their £50,000 capital they should have at least pis dredges at j work to do 'any good With if a..d the sooner these dredges are put on the ground the better for the shareholders. The Ovens and Buckland report on the 15th inst. that they have lost time removing logs, and that the lestilt of the last two clean-ups is 240z smelted gold. The value of the gold on the Ovens when smelted is very high, running into £4 2s 3d per ounce. The Overs Valley- dredge, which was designed by Messrs Richardson and Blair, of Sydney, and earned out by the Austral Otis Company, Melbourne, had a turn out of the machinery yesteiday. She was completed throughout in. ' less than sis months from the signing of the contract.