THE AUCKLAND GOLDFIELDS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 491, 13 December 1869, Page 2

THE AUCKLAND GOLDFIELDS.

The following items are from the Auckland and Thames papers, from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, inclusive, for which we are indebted to the Captain of the Jeanie Duncan : — Thames. The City of Glasgow and Long Drive have been getting good specimens to-day. Goodall's machine is crushing the Young American stuff, with every promise of a good return. At Bleazard's battery, stone from Dixon's No. 1 claim is being crushed, and looking very well. lt is reported that some good stuff has been taken out of the Otago Company's ground to day. A parcel of eight tons crushed in the old battery for the Valentine claim did not prove payable; In the Golden Spur claim another leader of beautiful stone waa discovered a few days since. Since I wrote last, good gold has been found in the Poor Man's Friend, also in the Golden Gate claim. Bull's battery is crushing a trial ton of stone from Mercury Bay, which shows signs of containing some gold. A trial crushing for the Domain View has taken place at Goodall's one-stamper battery, and yielded 22 dwts. from a ton of stone. Some very rich stone is now coming from the City of Glasgow, in the working near the boundary of the Long Drive. The gold is very coarse. The Waitemata crushing, at Burnside's battery, we are informed, looks well for a two ounce per ton yield, without specimens. Vickery's machine crushed a parcel of five tons for the Good Hope Claim, Hape Creek. The yield gave a return of over three ounces of cold. The Waiotahi machine is crushing Waitemata stuff. It is calculated from the amount of amalgam already off the plates that it will run 2oz, exclusive of specimens. Clarkson's machine has been idle since Monday last, when a cleaning up for the John o'Groats took place, which showed a yield of about an ounce to the ton. The Shotover continues to take out splendid specimens from their new reef, and shares are advancing in price. They cannot be bought under 26s or 275. A parcel of 25 tons of stone from Kawau has been crushed at the Hauraki machine ; only about an ounce of gold was obtained from the whole quantity. A crushing of five tons trial from the Golden Barque, a new cl dm on the Hape, has been completed at Vickery's machine, but the result did not prove payable. Clarkson's battery, Shellback Creek, is fully engaged crushing for the John O'Groat's claim, which is lookiDg splendidly upon the plates, and will, no doubt, give a very rich return . Goodall's Prince Alfred battery is crushing a large parcel of stone from the Young American claim, which is looking very well upon the plates, and will, without doubt give a good dividend. The Hokianga machine is still crushing quartz from the Lord Nelson claim, and from the returns, which are very satisfactory, the shareholders of the claim intend keeping the battery employed for some time. I have to report another find. This time it is on the Kuranui range, in the Providence Claim. A parcel of nice specimens were exhibited in town yesterday, which wero taken out of a reef 3ft thick. The Moanatairi Company's battery crushed 330 tons of stone during the last month, and received 150 ounces from it; but there yet remains a large quintity of amalgam to be retorted, which will bring the average to a very fair yield. During the month of November there have been 1090 tons of stone crushed at the Kuranui Co.'s machine, and the amount of gold that has resulted from this quantity is 4893 ozs., or an average of 4 ozs. 9 dwts. 18 grs. of gold to the ton. At the Kuranui battery the Long Drive stone is engoging ten head of stampers in the new battery, and the old battery of six head. The amalgam already taken from the plates proves the stone to be equal, if not better, than the usual general stuff from this celebrated claim. Since writing the report in yesterday's paper we have been shown some excellent specimens taken from the Hazeldell G.M.C., in which the gold is well impregnated through the stone. The reef is four feet wide, and has only been worked upon during the last week. The Golden Valley Claim is working on steadily, and the shaft has reached a depth of 1 10 feet, the thickness of the reef there being now between eight and nine feet, and expected to give fully three ounces per ton. Shares at this claim are valued at £200 the full share, which is by no means a high rate. The Okarita and North Devon Companies have amalgamated, and are now worked as one company. The shareholders met with an unexpected piece . of good fortune last week, when the Alburnia leader — in other words, Dixon's reef — was found for them, by the men who are employed working for the Punga Flat water-race. At the Hauraki battery thirty tons of stone, as a trial, is being crushed from the Kawau Island, and is showing signs of having some portion of the precious metal in it. A parcel of 30 cwt. crushed at this battery some time ago, gave a return of loz 12dwts of retorted gold, upon which result the present lot was sent to be tested. We learn that the Mountain Flower, next the Herald and Southern Cross, on the Kuranui range, has come on to good gold in a leader which they have cut in an air-6haft that was being put down to ventilate a drive that was being entered for the purpose of cutting this very leader. It is expected that from 50 to 100 tons will be got out of this block.

The manager of the Pride of the West is now sending down a parcel of stone to Weston's machine, from which good returns are expected. Under the new management, this mineis becoming rapidly developed, and shows the possession of several rich leaders, beside the fine reef that was cut through some time since in the shaft. The Shotover is again making a show. A blue leader about 7 in. thick has been met with in a winze near the Kuranui boundary. Gold can be seen in the stoae, and it is making a material difference in the crushing returns. The yield this month will hardly be so large as the last ; no more loose specimens have been met with. The lot of 290 tons from the El Dorado claim, Punga Flat, will be completed to-day, at Weston's battery, Upper Waiotahi, and the amalgam retorted on Saturday. The amalgam which has been taken from the plates gives every promise of a very payable return, although this stone, which has besn lying on the claim for some time, was not expected to give much of a return. The Wild Missouri claim, which many months ago created a great deal of interest, as the returns expected from it were to be something magnificent from the size and reported richness of the reef found cropping out on the surface of the ground, although, not spoken about of late, is still as promising a one as there is in Tararu, and will yet realise the expectations first entertained about it. The two winzes in the Alburnia have been carried down sixty feet on the leader, and a level is being put in to open up the blocks. As soon aa this is completed there will be an immense quantity of stone available, and judging by the rich stone that has been taken out on the top, and what is now coming out of the bottom drive, as well as by what was met with ia the winzes, the block cannot fail to be very rich. One of those localities which are bound to take a high rank amongst the gold-producing properties of this goldfield, we find rather more than three miles up the Karaka Creek, and in the immediate neighbourhood of the Lucky Hit Gold Mining Company. The ground belonging to this company has as yet hardly been sufficiently developed, but the produce and appearance of the adjoining claims is sufficient to warrant a good place for it. About ten feet from the entrance of the City of Adelaide, and in a right angle from it, we find the mouth of a tunnel of the Star of Fermanagh, a lease of ten acres beld by a company. Nothing that I can say could raise thi3 piece of ground to a higher standard than it really is bound to hold before long. The splendid quality of the stone, the magnificent specimens, and the quantity of quartz capable of being produced, all tend to bring this mine into the foremost ranks of the rich claims. The mines in the neighbourhood of Tararu are daily rising in value, and no doubt ere long will prove to be some of the best on the field. The Young Republic claim has amalgamated with the Hazel Dell Gold Mining Company. The shareholders are now vigorously pushing the work forward. In the Hazel Dell a drive has been entered about 120 feet in length, in which they have crossed a promising leader three feet in thickness. Ninety pounds weight of this stone has been tested in a berdan, and yielded at the rate of four ounces to the ton. We have again to record that very rich stone is being turned out at the Long Drive, and that a specimen crushing will take place during the ensuing week, but as regards the long Drive this is such an every-day occurrence that it has ceased to be remarkable, except when some very heavy patch is come across. If the leader continues to turn out stone similar to tbat taken out during the last few days, there is little fear but that the manager's boast of taking out a ton of gold in six months will be a literal fact. An interesting discovery has been made by an analysis of stone from a claim in Tararu. The quartz was impregnated with a substance believed to be antimony, and some of it was sent to a battery to be crushed, but no gold was obtained. Subsequently a portion of stone was submitted to analysis, and was found to contnin a large proportion of silver. We are informed that the silver exists in sufficient quantity to warrant the expenditure of money in getting machinery for separatii-g it from its ore. The FuU Moon Gold Mining Company, Tapu, have had some specimens crushed at the Bank of New Zealand. A shareholder hands us the following : — " Eight pounds weight yielded 25 ounces 14 pennyweights retorted gold, being over three ounces to the pound of stone. In reference to sundry articles from your correspondent at Tapu regarding specimens, the above resnlt fully proves that the directors are right in reserving such rich specimens for crushing at the bank, rather than mix them with the general crushings, preferring a certainty to an uncertainty as regards yield." A shareholder in the Young American Company brought some stone to our office yesterday, which was remarkable for its richness, even in this day of wonderful specimens. It ia certainly difficult to imagine anything richer, except the pure metal itself. Good quantities of this class of stone we are told, are being taken out, and arrangements have been made with Mr Goodall to employ six stampers regularly for twelve months. The mine can, without difficulty, keep this quantity of stampers constantly going, so tliat shareholders may reasonably look for regular periodical dividends from their property. A few more truck loads of stuff were sent across the wire tramway yesterday from the Shooting Star, and operations will, we are informed, be actively commenced to-day for the purpose of transporting a large lot to the Thames Crushing Company's machine, which it is intended to keep at work for some time on stone from the large reef. The encouraging returns obtained from this stuff at the recent crushing at Bleazard's ma-

chine have proved tbe payable character of the stone, while the rich yields that from time to time have resulted from the stone crushel out of the smaller reef, class the mine as one of the richest in this rich district. The splendid reef that has been so long advantageously worked in Dixon's No. 1 mine still continues to yield returns that class it as one of the best gold producing mines on the field. The crushing now going on at Bleazard's machine is turning out far better than was expected. The reef has only recently been opened up from the shaft, and it was at the lowest level the greater portion of the stone crushed was taken out. A cleaning up took place after 130 tons had been passed through, and the result obtained from it amounted to 406 ounces of melted gold. Thi9 return cannot fail to prove very satisfactory to the shareholders. The crushing for the Eldorado claim at Weston's machine will be finished up to-day. Most of the stuff put through was of a very inferior quality, and some of it had lain outside the works for upwards of eighteen months, not being considered sufficiently valuable to pay carting and crushing expenses. Bad as some of the stuff undoubtedly was, the whole lot will pay, and yield an average of about three quarters of an ounce, perhaps more. A parcel of specimens weighing about forty or fifty pounds, were being crushed separately at the single stamper. Some of the atone was very rich, and the lot is expected to average close on an ounce to the ton. Very good accounts are given of the West Coast Gold Mining Company, near Messenger's hill. While sinking a winze on one of their leaders, preparatory to blocking out at a depth of thirty feet, two new leaders were struck a few days since. This makes three in all, and they are running parallel to each other, with about a foot of mullock intervening between each of them. Two of the leaders contain brown quartz, but the third and lowest is composed of blue quartz, and has a thickness of fully three feet. Some very nice specimens have been taken from it, and it is rather a curious circumstance that this is the only blue leader whioh has been found in the ground up to the present time. We were shown by a gentleman in charge of one of the batteries in the Moanatairi Creek, a small heap of stuff which he had washed out of some tailings from stone passed through the battery. This heap was, he said, nearly all pyrites, which contained a large per centage of gold, and could not be saved by the present crushing batteries. This gentleman has invented a little series of tables by which the pyrites are further treated and mixed with a quantity of mercury. From about a dozen handfuls of these pyrites so treated, over six ounces of gold were obtained. It is the opinion of this gentleman that most of the pyrites on this field contain more gold than is usually thought to be tbe case. The Belfast Company are again in luck. A fine lot of remarkably rich specimens have been taken out during yesterday and to-day. There had been nothing remarkable about this, only from the fact that, iv place of coming from the leader that the lot last crushed from were obtained, they were taken out of tbe Young American reef. The stone is in large blocks, thickly impregnated with the precious metal. I predict that, before two years, barring the Golden Crown, this will be the leading mine in the Thames. There are about 40 tons of stone in the paddock, and crushing will take place shortly. The manager tells me he expects a larger yield than that which electrified the cautious Auckland public a short time since. We are glad to see that shareholders in mines are awaking to the necessity of amalgamation, which must be attended with the best results. At an impromptu meeting of shareholders in the Golden Calf and Central Italy Gold Mining Companies and Crown claims, the question of amalgamation was mooted, and it was determined at once to take steps to carry out tbe amalgamation of the above claims. A paper was drawn up for the signature of the shareholders, and it appears likely that there will be no difficulty in carrying the matter to a successful issue. The whole of the ground is dead on the run and underlay of the Golden Crown reef, and lies nearly all on the Moanatairi side of the ridge, adjoining the Otago, Justin-Time, Morning Star, Nonpareil, and Waitemata claims. Owing to some alterations, &c., necessary to the Golden Crown machine, it has not done much for the last few weeks, but as soon as these are completed, and the gearing and other portions of the machinery adjusted, the battery will start again in full play in the course of a few days. A retorting, the result of the few lots crushed during the last eight days, took place yesterday. There were only | about forty tons of stone altogether crushed, but amongst this there were 10 cwt of specimens. The total result of the retorting was 789 ozs of gold, which was lodged in the Bank of New Zealand yesterday, but is not yet melted, as yesterday was a bank holiday. Notwithstanding the quantities of stone that are being sent to the Tararu battery, unless the company 'B machine is soon got to work, there will be auch an accumulation of stuff that the paddocks, large as they are, will not be able to contain it. The new leader in the Shotover is turning out even better than was expected, and the parcel of specimens taken out on Saturday and Monday, which were burnt, were found to contain a very large proportion of the precious metal. Even the general stuff taken from it, although no gold may be visible even when broken into small pieces, shows at once on the plates when the stuff is put through the machine. Some very fine specimens were found yesterday in the creek-bed workings. One of these, weighing 4lbs or slbs, was thickly impregnated with gold, and presented a very rich appearance. The month's retorting was commenced last evening, when about 500 ounces of amalgam were put on the fire. Ihe result of this month's crushing is ex-

pected to be somewhere about 460 ounces of gold. But judging by the stone that is now being taken out of several parts of the mine, we should say that the December returns will be much greater. The tract of country round the head of and half way down Canadian Gully is about as "likely looking" for gold as any part of the district, and on this ground alone, would scarcely fail to recommend itself to the eye of the experienced gold miner. The original claims that the Southern Cross Company embraces are the Perseverance, Wellealey, Old Kentucky, "Victory, Novelty, Pride of Onehunga, and Edgecombe's, the area of ground covered by them being nearly fourteen acres. The name of the veins and leaders of quartz found in these claims is legion. A very fine reef was also found in the Old Kentucky claim, and if all that we have heard about it is true, it will of a surety some day create a sensation in the Thames mining circles. It is a fine lode, and strikes as nearly the meridian as may be, its dip is to the westward. Where it is in hand at thtend of the tunuel it sh >ws a face fully three feet wide. We have been assured that several tons of the vein stuff yielded over 1 oz to the ton. COROJIANDEL. Yesterday, a parcel of 410lbs of stone from the Emma Challis claim, Coromandel, was tested in three different lots, at the Kuranui machine. The first lot of 2501bs gave 15dwts of gold ; the second lot, 80lbs, 9£dwts; and the amalgam from the remaining parcel of about 501bs, gave Bdwts. This return would give a splendid average per ton of about ten ounces.

The following remarks are from the Auckland. Herald :—> The aspect of the Thames goldfield is at the present moment one that should command the attention of all that are interested in its welfare, but especially should it deserve the attention, nay more, the study, of all that are placed in position of political trust, for the future good working of this part of the province will most undoubtedly affect the entire interests of all classes. The Superintendency may now be virtually regarded as settled, and it is now the boundeo duty, not only of the parties who have been struggling for place and power, but of all well-wishers to Aackland, that our position should be understood ; that influence should be at onne exerted for the good government and better regulation of the Thames goldfield. The vast importance of the question cannot be over-estimated. The riches known to exist are incalculable, and the faith of the public in our resources is fully proved by the fact that hundreds of thousands of pounds have been expended directly in labour and appliances for obtaining the precious metal; it ia further known that a population of miners have been attracted to our peninsula, whose sinews and intelligence have demonstrated the existence of wealth, not only sufficient for themselves bat for generations yet to come. These, again, have been followed, and their labour supplemented, by merchants, shopkeepers, and others, whose business transactions are spread over a township some two miles long, occupying buildings that evidence their belief in the future, and whose political status has been - shown by polling the highest number during the late contest. That the faith of the public is unshaken is unmistakeable, that a city such as Shortland and Grahamstown now preserve, with the bustle and activity, the law and good order of its great population with the concomitants of old-fashioned townships, being already established in our midst is sufficient proof of their stability. But to leave this part of our subject, the enquiry is of importance, what is our position as a goldfled ? The fact is, that there is and bas been more faith than works, more zeal than discretion, more speculation than means to carry out, more regulations than ever needed, consequently there is less gold than needed, there is surplus and unprofitable labour, there is insecurity in the holdings, there is too much rent demanded, there are too many interests, there is a plethora of companies, there is too much scrip and too little money. To remedy this, to bring about a more healthy state, must be the work of our newly-elected Superintendent, and that speedily. Traverse our creeks what do we find ? very few fully manned claims ; others occupying the ground with the least number possible, but the great bulk are only represented by gaunt pegs, indicative as being held under application for lease, which) in many cases, will prove that they are only held to transfer, if possible, to parties with more money than wit. The land is virtually locked up by these applications for lease, and cot only new and distantly situated positions are thus held closed, but claims heretofore well worked as such, have been brought into the vortex, and, while the leases are not granted, can scarcely help themselves, being forced, through outward pressure, to work as economically as they can ; nay, to suspend work. Not holding under miners' rights they are protected against jumping, but having no better title.calls cannot be enforced. Directors do not, the shareholders cannot look after their claims; the managers get out of funds ; men are discharged ; works languish ; machines are idle ; and the returns of gold are confined to a comparative small number of claims. This must be remedied. On a careful investigation of the subject, the difficulties, no doubt, are great, but not insurmountable. The leasing system has to be revised, reformed. The tenure must be simple, and encumbered with as few. imposts as possible. Is it not enough that the ground-rent to tbe aboriginal owners should be equal and more than can be obtained for first-class arable land ? Do they not receive £3 per acre, and to attempt to insist upon £300 a year per acre being spent in the search for gold is ridiculous. Let the Government at tempt to carry out the present regulations by granting the licenses applied for,, and it will be quickly seen that the compulsory clauses

will be the liturgy of half the companies, and the burial of the expectations of hundreds. This is the first and most important question, the internal policy of our goldfield. The labour, the machinery, the intelligence must be set going again ; to continue as at present is out of the question. There has been a departure fr m the principles of good government, and tbe Government must come back to the straight line and start again. There is plenty of room to turn — let it be done quickly, and then it were well done.