Notes from Greymonth.

Otago Witness, Issue 2565, 13 May 1903, Page 24

Notes from Greymonth.

(Fsom Ova Own Correspondent.) GREYMOUTH. May 5. ISo far nothing has been done in regard to the Trafalgar dredge. Should a flood come on, the dredge will suffer severely from silt. Work on the Mosquito No. 2 dredge is we!l advanced, and the machinery should be in full fiwing by the end of Mie month. The claim is considered to be quite as good as the Mosquito. The Red Jacks dredge restarted on Monday with apparently good prospects. It will take a week or so to clear out the paddock. The return from the North Beach dredge for 'last week is understood to be about 20oz for a broken period. The ground is a bit poor. This week is expected to give about 3flnz. Bignell's No Town Company have at length made a move, having purchased the Grey Extended Syndicate's dredge, with all boats, etc., for £250 in cash and 1600 fully paid-up shares in the Bignell's No Town Company. The removal of the dredge to the claim will I)" proceeded with at once. May G. The Shellback dredge last week obtained l£oz. The Cornmissioner'3 Flat dredge is closed Idcwn temporarily to mount grabs owing to the iiard nature of the ground. Some delay is therefore inevitable. Tha Totara dredge will make another start Sfter being overhauled and a new dredgemaster appointed. The North Beach dredge 13 still in poor fvash, but 13 close to ground known to be rich in the old day?. A few days are required to clean the Red 'Jack's paddock of silt. The Mosquito No. 2 dredge will commence Iredging about tho end of the month-

The Leviathan Freehold dredge is for sale by tender. May 10. Last week was possibly the dullest in regard to dredging matters that has been experienced on the West Coast for the past two years. Stock of every description was quite unsaleable, holders appearing to have " a regular fit of the blues," yet tha returns up to date are 1200oz more than for a like period o£ the previous year. The Nelson Creek division has not, during the last two or three weeks, come anything like up to expectations, while the falling oft at No Town, North Beach, and Greenstone, coupled with the reconstruction of the Red Jack 3 and Commissioner's Flat, have all tended to increase the general depression. Next month will see four new machines at work, and several others that have been overhauling again in commission, so that a revival may be looked for then, but, judging from appearances, returns at the end of the year will not come up to expectation. Almost without exception it ma ybe said that disappointment is due almost entirely to the dredges being unable to treat the quantity of dirt they were supposed to be capable of doing. There is not a single dredge or. the Coast that has treated anything like the quantity of stuff that engineers and others have said they were capable of doing. The Leviathan dredge got 320z for the week. The dredge is on an uneven bottom. The wash may thicken or run out to merely a thin layer at any time, the country being so irregular. The Stony-Mosquito dredge adjoining is working on rich wash, but the ground is hard and the machinery not up to requirements. Constant breakages are the result. The Aldinga dredge got 430z lOdwt for 130 hours. The ground is bumpy, tho wash varying from 10ft to 25ft. The dredgernastar expects to average a good deal over expenses till he gets 10 chains further up, when he anticiputes getting into rich wash. A diver hai been at work on the Trafalgar dredge, but so far has not been able to ascertain the full extent of the damage. It has started raining, and, if it continues heavy through tho night, the danger to be apprehended is that the crock may bring down a good deal of shingle and silt on top of the dredge, wl.ich novY lie 3 a considerable depth 'under water. Callaghan's dredge obtained 43cz 2dwt for 182 (hours. The prospects before this company are now very good, and I anticipate steady returns. The North Beach dredge obtained 20oz for the week. The machine is in partially-worked, poor ground, which will take a couple of weeks to get through. The Greenstone Creek dredge obtained 14oz I6dwt for 90 hour*. The machine is again in worked country. The Greenstone Junction dredge is getting ir.to better wash, and should get at least payable returns this week. The Kohinoor dredge obtained 13oz 7dwt for 119 hours. She was working in a poor patch of wash with heavy boulders. The Mosquito is now in a good state of repair, and starts to-morrow. May 17. The Paclolus No. 1 dredge Rot 20oz 9dwt, and No. 2 dredge 240z 16dwt for the week. Both machines are off the main run and on rather rough wash, but are again heading toward it. The Nelson Creek return is 38oz for the week. The present cut is much poorer than was expected, but it is hoi:ed that the rich lead will again be struck. Ths Reeves's Proprietary dredge only worked 64 hour 3 last week, getting 9oz 12dwt. This claim will not give much better returns till a new dredge is at work. The Greenstone Junction dredge washed up Boz sdwt for a fortnight's work. Every pennyweight was obtained during the last week. The dredge has worked across the creek, and th? buckets are working in the bank on the lefthand side, down to 30ft on wash, which is getting lighter every day. Thi3 is r^gaided as a good sign, for so leng as free gravel was met with only drift gold was obtained. The machine is heading towards the bore whence excellent prospects were obtained. The Greenstone Three-mile dredge get 2-loz sdwt. The progress of the machine was handicapped by very heavy timber. The machine i 3 now through this, end next week tho return should again be in the region of the " forties." The New Greenstone dredgo is still closed down, and there is no information as to the directors' intentions. If tho Junction dredge were to strike good gold the New Greenstone Company's shareholders would set to work with more determination. The Teremakau pontoons still lie on the bank awaiting, rumour says, the flotation of a small company to finance the undertaking. The Aldinga claim is showing an improvement. The wash is 20ft to 25ft deep T'lere is still a long distance to the solid ground. The- dam difficulty with the Cal!a{»han Creek Company being settled, there arc several miles of ground for the dredge to work. The North Beach dredge is on poor ground just nqw, but will be out of it in ?. couple of weeks.