THE KARANGAHAKE CLAIM.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2054, 26 May 1875, Page 3

THE KARANGAHAKE CLAIM.

To the Editor of the Thames Adyehtiser.

Sir,—ln reference to tho letter of Mr James Yerralf, appearing in your issue of the 25th instant, impugning the decision, of Mr Warden Eraser in forfeiting his (VerraU'B) share in the Karangahako claim on the ground of non-working, permit mo, as a working shareholder in tho adjoining ground, to make a few remarks thereon. I may state that the field has been open for a period of nearly three months, during which time the Xarangahake shareholders have driven a total distance of only about 200 feet. This quantity of work, I consider, could easily have been performed by two (2) men in. the same space of time, and one man could have timbered the same distance/finding his own material and conveying it from the bush.. It therefore follows that as the claimis supposed to keep 15 men employed thereon, fourfifths of them must We been very busily engaged in doing nothing, and some receiving pay from Thames, Auckland, and Ohinemuri shareholders at highest rates. The AH .Nations claim have, in the same lime aud with a lesser number of hands, driven about 220 feet of hard blastinp ground, and about 220 feet of good average ground (similar to tho Karangahake), besides sinking 20 feet of : a winzo and performing other work in prospecting in the creek on two other reefs. Considering that the Earangahake was the prospectors' claim, and the -shareholders knowing that the eye of the public was directed more particularly to their developing the ground, they (tho shareholders) should, I think, have, bes.tir.red themselves a little more than they have done, and oarned for Ohinemuri a better name than it possesses at the present day. And lam of opinion that their mine is a very valuable one, and only requires perseverance to open up a dividend-paying property. Mr Verrall, when he rushed into print, would have done belter had ho not tried to cast a slur on the decision of tho Warden, as few who know him could bo found to state that he has not invariably done justice to the working man. Apologising for thus trespassing so- far on your valuable space,—l am, <&c;, . irHABE.EOMEB All, NATIONS.