OHINEMURI.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1925, 5 March 1875, Page 2

OHINEMURI.

Mr Macka,y Bdsigns Office,

Lc^an Shows a Reef;

(from, our spec at, reporter.) ; «. ■..,-.■....:■ , ,-■ Paeroa, Thursday, j The first ■ thing this morning most persons in the Paeroa ■pulled themselves together for a tramp to Mackaytown, where they, arrived (with the several coatings of; earth picked up on; the road).. to see the little township' as active as ' mighi be. ; : , ,: ; ; ;

, The Government officials were actively engaged in distributing minera' rights and certificates for residence . and business sites. The ' nuhibei* of miners' rights issuedup to the time that the ; Government closed; to-day, was 912. A number of business men were shepherding their sites, and,li^it buildiogs are beirig put up in allidirectjons:

At about 11 o'clock Mr Mackay proceeded across the Wajtekauri creek to re-survey the Government reserve.* It appears that the General Government have declped to ?sppport Mr Maekay in granting an additional five men's ground, and Mr Maekay this morning despatched Mr O 'Hallor ah*with Ms resignation of, office as General Government Agent. The : sympathy of the digging population will undoubtedly Be with Mr Maekay, who, it is well known amongst them, and as fully i icicnowlldged, has been and is the true friend to the miners ; all his endeavors,,. 1 from -his efforts to open^'tlie country tolthe present time have been directed to secure i justice* -and «t satisfactory arrangement j of allmatyers. To the majority of miners, I believef his intended action in this would have given complete satisfaction ; and for those opposite parties whose interests ate so intimately connected with the ground, tc amalgamate would have been their best possible course. other, anyway, offers so equitable, anxk withal so easy a mode of scttlemsnt.'- If' they choose civil war, "tooth and nal," to amicable agreement, then let him who delighteth in that kind of thing'proceed with the harmony and be happy; but one must always be beaten, and at what expense that victory may be purchased by the victor, Heaven knows ; we shall wait with impatience the termination of the business. i From. Mr _ Maekay surveying anew the Government reserve to the Prospecting Claim itself and Logan's-reef .is, an easy transition. The subjects fit in well. I saw the reef, the' cap' of which was come upon, at a depth of abeut 13 feet. It measured 3 feet 4 inches j but there is every probability that ft will measure folly 4 feet when the lower part is exposed. The quartz is'good looking s.tuff; good practical quartz reefers say that it is very promising. So far so good, but we , saw no gold in any. of the stone that was , picked ? out. Half-a-dish of rubbly quartz was, however, taken out of the cap of the reef and washed, carefully, when a fair prospect of very fine gold was obtained, Mr William Robinson, who performed the operation, having to be very careful. .he prospect was received by a good many with satisfaction, while others protested 8 that it was an adjective poor prospect. The reef is of a blueish color for the mesfc part, and this Logan says is the stone in which the gold is found. The courso of the reef is north-north-east, being on the spur alongside of the" creek, into which the'lode, is supposed to dip.' The opinion of some is that this.reef of Logan's is not a continuation of Smith and Colemau's, there being on that spur-two or three distinct reefs. A considerable amount of discussion eventuated on the reef being reached (it had to be sunk for), and some remarks slightly prejudieal to this reef were indulged in. Most of the, miners— of whom there was 'a number round the hole—concurred in one opinion, namely, that if a man could not show payable quartz he had no right to apply for. nor to be granted, a prospecting license. To me there only appeared one cause for disappointment. It was this. Logan exhibited this as a reef in which he had discovered the precious metal, but yet when a few feet are taken out of the ground and some of the reef chipped no gold could be found in the stone. This under ordinary circumstances would hare been of no moment, as that reef may carry as good gold as every one wishes it may, but people wish to see soruethingof the golden evidence itself after eight years prospcting. Unfortunately I was not at the" opening of Coleman's ground when he showed the stone to Mr Maekay, but I am informed that the stone was not much superior to this of Logan's, if superior at all. It will, then, be obvious that, looking at Logan's as passable, and Colemau's, therefore, as little better than passable, the prospects which have been made public at present do not need to be impassable, or the men shipping from the other side might 1 have reason to curse the luck which brought them here. ' From what I have heard to-day there 1 is reason to believe that reefs superior to either of the above can bo shown at a short notice, but the parties have obvious reasons for keeping dark just at present.

It i 3 stated that Charley McLean has got a good show in a branch creek off the Waitekauri—sluicing. It is to be hoped so; anything "coming from that quarter of an encouraging character;"being a welcome confirmation of the prospects which it is , said to hold out to the poor miner.

:Mr Mitchell has got his ground—it is on the right-hand side of a blipd creek, which divides the Gorge spur from the ground on Maelray_ Town, side. - A piece of ground on this side has been dubbed Block 27 ; merely it would seem as a mark of respect to that distinguished locality Shthe" Thames, as the block 27 of Ohinemuri;cau scarcely be considered yet awhile to Jbear any affinity to block 27 of the Thames. Qn the side before mentioned, some of the old hands have ground of which they entertain confident hopes. The prospecting claim, or Government reserve, is surrounded; in fact, a great quantity of the ground extending from the creek upto the summit,of the, hill is being pegged out. A little sluicing was being done in the creeks to-day, but nothing has been reported.. • There is a considerable amount of quiet growling about the manner in which the miners' rights were issued, but in this, as in. all else,' accounts of the affair .'get exaggerated by repetition. But still there can be little doubt that there is room for complaint, and it is a complaint of a- very grave nature, that is made against some .one in the department. That some one, whoever (in the mystery of^ ngs) he,may happed to be, could hot be strictly called an honest man, without o^ping..those that are honest an injustice.

A.number of miners came up to-day, and proceeded direct to Maekay Town while there was light to guide them, as the road is very nasty travelling at night, expecially when crossing the creek ; the Pearl also took to town a ' herring-packed' crowd of miners and others. Capt. Fraser went by the Pearl. There is great indecision about putting vp 1 houses on ;township -allotments, and until the "place is somewhat more settled the structures will beofa flimsy character.