THE PROSPECTORS.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1657, 10 June 1875, Page 2

THE PROSPECTORS.

The Prospectors' claim seems to be fair game, at which everybody can have a shot On Monday it was stated that another claim' ant had stepped in pegged off. But this f «■ have not been lo trace out, and am inclined to thick the peg was put in for a lark Mr Baird, who is rumoured to be the last pegger off the claim, has sent to Mr Lc-ssong the surveyor, who is now going over the ground for his client. Mr Bayldon, of Mesßrs Wright and Bayldon, is also doh)g the same on behalf of the Prospectors, as a check upon' previous surveys.—A post-office is much required here. ALLUVIAL GOLD AT OHINEMTJRL Mr. G. H. Hagin, who came to town yeg« terday from Ohinemuri, informs ua of anew rush which took place there on Monday morning, and which is likely to prove of importance. Ifc appears that on Sunday night spme men came in from the direction of Waibi, bringing with them stone stuff of a pipeclay foimation, in which there was rich gold thowing. Early on- Monday morning the whole of the spare popnla-; : tion of Mackaytown went for the new rush which is said to be on the fern flat about four miles from. Mackaytown, in the direction of Waihi. but up to the time our informant-left, none of them had returned. From the description of the stuff and other circumstances, the general impression is that it was from this place Stewart and party some ■ time ago obtained that rich stuff which was treated here on the Thames. On that ' occasion; the party declined to inform anybody of the exact locality from which/ they obtained the stuff, further than" that it was from the Ohinemuri distiict. If *the rush has set in to the place from which that stuff was obtained, there will probably be some important news frcm Ohinerouri ■:-■. shortly, for the stuff treated for Stewart and party was extraordinarily rich. In regard to the efforts which have been made to discover the locale of Stewart's find, we may state that numerous parties have been out. They : : found a pipeclay seam in the Waitekauri district, upon which numerous holes had been sunk. These have been cleaned-out recently by Messrs Logan and others, and :. the pipeclay tested, but the prospects obtained have been poor. SHAMEFUL STATE OF THINGS. ""Z. For the majority of us, the squabbles be- j tween the General and Provincial Governments, those sharp and epigrammatic telegrams, and the rhetorical letters, in which" keen and subtle irony is employed, are only v subjects of entertaining reading, but for men - whom these miserable complications deprive of hard-earrsed "wages, and who, -with-,:-! their wives and children, -are by them reduced almost to starvation, they are no laughing matter. Some two or three hundred men have been employed at Ohinemuri for some time past, and only a small portion of their wages ha 3 been paid to them. They were engaged on read works by.Mr,, Mackay about the end of February or beginning of March, chiefly on an extensive cutting for the purpose of obviating the two . 7 crossings of the Ohinemuri river between the • Paeroa and Mackaytown. We believe it;' was thought at first by the Provincial au- . thorities that the General Government were . to pay for these works at Ohinemnri, but Dr. Pollen had no more idea of doing that than he had of paying the deficiency in the „ returns of the Auckland and Waikato railway. '", Meanwhile the poor men at Ohinemuri were left to get on as best they could. They went ~ *on tick,' Btretching out their credit till iff I could stretch nq further, and submitting to a most ruinous discount on their paper orders. For more than three months men working on the roads with pick and shovel have been allowed by a paternal Government, or rather by two paternal ; Governments, to go without their wages. ;| The Provincial Executive at last, when the ! Council met, put £1800 on the estimates,to .; pay for the road works at Ohinemuri, that - being the amount which, it was thought, s would pay off all arrears. But it seems that': a larger sum will be required, somewhere i ; about £3000 or £4000. T Mr. Mackay has already paid about £800', and the General Government, we daresay, want that re- . funded, to begin with. Meanwhile the men continue subsisting as best they can, or ] starving with their wives and children, if they can do no better, for aught that our two Gevernments care. PROMOTION. We understand that Mr P. L. Dignan, the accountant and teller of the Bank of Newy^ Zealand, Grahamstown, has been promoted, - and will leave the Thames to-day per steamer Hauraki. Mr Dignan has been at the Thames during the past two years, and during that time has proved himself a most zealous and efficient officer. He is lieutenant of the No. 2 Company of Hauraki Rifle Volunteers, and during his residence |he has taken considerable interest in Volunteer matters. / ,