Mining Notes

Southern Cross, Volume 7, Issue 38, 16 December 1899, Page 10

Mining Notes

In the coarse of an article in the Mines Record on the Waiau River as a gold - dredging channel, Mr Ro. Garrick observes :—A good deal of misapprehension exists as to the strength of the Waiau currents. The impression seems to be that they are much more rapid than the Molyneux. Superfices of the two streams prove that cannot be correct. The one is 120 miles in length, with a fall of 1,000 ft. ; the other 80 miles, with a fall of 600 ft. That gives an average of 8 ft. 4 in. per mile to the Molyneux, and only 7 ft. 6 ins. to the Waiau. The Molyneux is rock-bound, with a closel} 7 concentrated channel, confined for the most part within narrow mountain gorges : the Waiau, on the other hand, is a spreading stream, its waters in numberless instances breaking away in separate channels and by-washes. Some of these ‘ spreads ’ extend over areas nearly a mile wide, and in that way form a complete network of channels and runnels. Distributed thus the main force is greatly assuaged, and in floodtime these by-channels will be important as havens of rest and shelter for the storm-tossed dredge.