WEST COAST NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2804, 11 December 1907, Page 41

WEST COAST NOTES.

(Fbom Oue Own Cobhespondbnt.) GREYMOUTH, December 5.

After a period of some 12 months quietness the mountain fastnesses at Otira once again resound with the dissonant clang of pick and drill, and the echoes give back one deera boom of the blast, and the highway is busy with teams hauling material, and men -ate" to be seen constantly passingto and fro, some going to work, others coming off shift. Two shifts are busily engaged pushing the big cutting, which, when completed, will give easy access to ihe Rolleston bridge, which spans the river of that name, immediately in front of the tunnel to be. Another gang are at work building a groin to protect the approach to the tunnel. In fact, all around is c scene of bustle and activity. Messrs M'Lean have a number of carpenters and labourers at work erecting cottages and clearing ground for more. Some 50 are to be constructed. An engineer's residence and offices are to be erected on the same aide of the river as where the tunnel is to start, and a start has been made preparing the site and making a road thereto. After a good deal of negotiations between tlie Tyneeide Coal Company and tha Miners' Union, an amicable arrangement haa been made in reference to an agreement for the ensuing --year. The Minerals Company washed up yesterday, and got 260z.