MINING INTELLIGENCE.

West Coast Times, Issue 1321, 16 December 1869, Page 3

MINING INTELLIGENCE.

(fhom the weekly leader.)

Mining matters are still improving, and the record of each succeeding week shows that the future of the County will be more brilliant than the past has been. During the week just ended there have been no extraordinary rushes ; there have been no reports of rich finds ; but from all the districts comes news of a cheerful nature, and, with one exception, no disappointing intelligence has to be told. That exception is, we must confess, a very disappointing one— it is, that Messrs Miller and Rankin, who some weeks ago set out under the auspices of the Westland Prospecting Association with the hope of finding a payable field in a portion of the Arahura district hitherto untried, have returned to. town, and reported themselves to have been unccessful. But their report though discouraging, is nothing to be much deplored, for it must be remembered that they have only achieved a portion of the work they intend to achieve, and that they purpose returning immediately and try again. It is to be hoped, too, that the first failure will not cause any diminution of faith in the Prospecting Association. That association will have done a great deal of good, even if nothing more is done than the setting of our doubts at rest by the knowledge obtained of the capabilities of the fields prospected, j

Tuiningfrem this temporary failure, after expressing. the wish that the operations of the -association may not be checked, but that, as it is the pioneer of snch associations, it may be the most successful, we now refer to the good ones. The Brighton Lead has. in spite of the hope deferred, turned out to be a real lead, and miners, with renewed energy, are setting in to work. Good news has come from the Maori Reserve Company, and after all the delaj' and discouragements, the company is likely to be rewarded for their perseverance and energy. The worked-out beaches down south, or rather the beaches supposed to be worked out, are again attracting attention, and to one place machinery is being 6hipped« Good news comes fiom Okarito, and there is little doubt that ere long a large tract of country will be opened up down there. From the Greenstone comes encouraging intelligence, and a good deal of gold is being got, the miners there having the advantage of a good and cheap supply of water. At Maori Point, the find of a big nugget has again exerted hopes in what has always been a good field. The old workings at the Waimea, Kauieri, and Totara are steadily progressing. We do not hear so much about quartz-mining now, but there is li'tle doubt that the Moonlight Ranges will soon give a return — will pay, and pay well. In other directions, prospecting for reefs is going on, and we believe that, early in the coining year, quartzminhig will be a settled, established, and wealth-bringing industry.