TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1851, 29 January 1902, Page 24

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — I noticed in your Saturday's issue that Mr Donald Marshall, late dredgemastei of the Grey River Consolidated Company, has taken exception to certain statements made in a paragraph in my notes in your issue of the 7th inst. 1 have never met Mr Marshall, and have no grievance against him any furthei than that, as a shareholder in the company, I was dissatisfied with the means of saving gold adopted and practised on this dreage, and I still maintain that these methods were crude, inefficient, and deserving of condemnation. I do not say that Mr Marshall was m any way responsible for putting the tables on the dredge, but it was clearly his duty to get tho very be«.t iesult3 possible from the tables, and if he thought the tables were unsatisfactory he should have condemned them and insisted on improvements being made, furnishing suggestions as to what was required.

j The party of which I was a member visited a number oi dredges on the Coast, and the Grey River Consolidated was the only one we saw on winch an attempt was made to save gold with practically bare muts, and some ot the dredges visited are managed by men of long experience 111 gold saving — men who have given the subject years of patient study. Where did Mr Marshall gain his experience in gold saving? And will he give some explanation ! in support of his preference for bare mats, and, j further, as to his theory with regaid to the few pieces of expanded metal so ridiculously employed, if not for the purpose of covering worn parts in several mats Was there sufficient of this metal to cover half of one table? Will Mr Marshall state how often during the | week the mats were washed in his presence, and did he always supervise the washing up? | Mr Marshall says with bare mats the gold sinks in, but where expanded metal is used | the sand gets into the mat and the gold rests ! on top of the sand. Are we to accept lhi = explanation as a reason why expanded metal or wire netting was not used over the Orey River Consolidated mats 9 I ani sorry Mr Marshall should have made so ridiculous a statement. A space is left between the mat and the expanded mctrl to allow sufficient water to run over the surface of the mats to keep the material alive, and so allow the gold to sink in ; and it nuu-t be borne in mind that there is no black or other heavy sand m this claim. Then, the expanded metal grades the maWial, carrying off the rough stuff and preventing it fiom coming iv contact with the mats or gold-savers. Wheie there is such a great rush of water and material, as on a dredge, passing over bare mats, and an uninterrupted run of 15ft from end to end of the Isb'es, oiip c?n readily understand the gold being cirried along with the Inrge bulk of matcml, and being allowed but little chance to settle m the mats, more particularly where there is no system of distributing the material over the tables, and where there is a continuous rush of water, whether the buckets are coming up full or empty. On rough ground like tho Grey River Consohdated's the feed must necessarily be irregular, besides entailing a great wear on mats. We happened to be on a dredge that was stopped to wash up. Before the expanded metal taken off we could see very little gold, but r. hen the mats weie bared the gold wa<> plainly discernible, well buried in the fibie, and not on top of sand, in accordance with Mr Marshall's theory. Although the same class of tables are in use on one or two other dredges on the Coa^t, the condition^ may differ, and expanded mptnl ov wnc netting is lispd over the mats, with upplcs or fn lo e bottorrs in the tail thoots, ai.d the gold wps of a heavier ntUue and easier saved than that on the Grey R'vei Consolidated. I can only repeat that during our vi='t there were no mats in the tail shoot of the Grey River Consolidated dicdf'r — .lothmg but a piece of chain extending dovn a lev.- feet fiom the top end of the box. Mr lfnr=hn'l says the tables have the usual falJ. The fall given to tables diffei? considerably, and depends greatly on tho class of tables used, the amount of spread, length, etc., nature of material it is intended to trer.t, and the quantity of water used. I had no intention of criticising the condition of the dredge machinery, or should probably have scrutinised junio closely. As we were passing by the ele\utor a totally disinterested peison with us it marked that a number of pms were wanted in the tiays, and we certainly thought so too. 11 M: Mai '■hall says the distance from the duck pord to the dredge is 25 chains, I will admit my pmr, but I thought it barely a quaitei of o mile. I am surprised to learn from Mr M.u«hall that by the action of a local shareholder the company have been paying from £13 to £'20 per month too much for their coal. Are the directors aware of this'- 1 Does Mr Marshall lefcr to the purchasing pi ice of the coal, or the puce charged for ci'iti'ig 9 I assume tenders would be called, and the contract given to the lowest tenderer. I <im not aware what the price paid is, but I do know that the roads for seven or 'eight miles <v ■ \ciy bad li'deed. Mr Marshall's other remarks bcaicely call foi a reply — I am, etc , A Recexi Visitor

Di. ■ edm, January 11