BANNOCKBURN.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 48, 12 October 1870, Page 5

BANNOCKBURN.

(From our own Correspondent.) j October 10, 1870. What an excellent thing is commercial com | petition ! The miners of this district are just beginning to appreciate its benefits, consequent upon the increase of applicants for a share in j the trade of this quarter. In a diggings, the effects of competition are manifested in various ways. The transition from indifference to civility on tha part of those dependent on miners for a livelihood, and the discovery, so suddenly 1 male by them, that stores, &c., can be sold with profit at a much cheaper rate than hereto- I fore, are quite refreshing to behold. It is a no- j ticeable fact that where there is no trade com- i petition in a mining community, the manners | assumed by storekeepers, publicans, and other ; men of business, are such as to impress a pur- j chaser with the idea that he is a greatly favored j individual, and is under an obligation to the j seller who supplies his wants. The advantages | of competition are observable also in the fact j that additions and improvements have lately j been made to the punt and its approaches (for ! the accommodation of the public), which were 1 hitherto considered unnecessary. There would j be no occasion for again adverting to the circum- • stance of a site having been marked out for the , erecti in of a punt, were it not for the purpose | of showing the connection there may be between this fact and the above-mentioned alterations. A case will shortly come before the Warden which will probably greatly affect the water* 'race hj aiders of this district. It is that of a party ,pf ulucrs enleavouring to obtain the use of the water of one of the creaks, for the purpose of working the bed there of. w xic’i has beau diverted fro u Its natural course for some years past. Shortly after these diggings were liscovere 1, an I before the a 1 vantages of groan I sluicing were known, an I that s.-ste al of working generally a loptel, several creeks, owin' to the then slow an I unra nunerative maimer of working, wore ah an Imo I as unpayable. Then it was that, seising upm the favourable opportunity offerol, an I well kniwing that there would be no objectors to their applications, many miners obtainol grants for races ait >f creeks cattainin' less than twosluice-heads of water. These creeks would now give employment to numbers of men, b it for the Dotal deprivation of the element ne- | cessary for sluicing them. If the water of a I creek be not alio we I to flow down its natural ! con ’se for the mirpose of sluicing ic a be I, a certain a nouut of monopoly will Do placed in the hauls of so an race-owners, as they will he enabled to retain possession of the water, until they nay see an opp art unity of selecting and working the richer portions of the creeks. The scarcity of timber is beginning to be I m are an I mare felt in tins locality. .Several I tunnels have been lost through the inability of | theovaers ta procure tinker ncccmr/ far rcuj dering the ground secure ; aul shoal I any accidents occir, they w anil fail ta create s irprise in the mini of an/one who ha I previously seen the peril am position many minors .are placed in in same of the an lorground w arkings. Tor a long time a butchery and bakery has been a lesi leratn n. To obviate this want, two enterprising Cromwell tradesman, with the intention of combining the twotrales, are having a suitable bail ling ccnstructel at tbo foot of the Smith’s Gully spur. It is the intention of the proprietor of the Shephcrl’s Creak Hotel and Store to ron ova that establish neat to a "gore favourable situation, at a short distance fro n the present site. The hull ling, on its re-erection, will be both enlarged and improved. The sharehol lers of the Royal Standard claim, Garrick Ran go, appear to hj avo been in a vacillating st ate of rain I with regar I to the selection of a site for the crushing machine lately purchased by them. Their intention now is to place it at the foot of tho road leading to tho reof, instoa 1 of close to the claim, as previously inten led. This will give tha owners of claims in the vicinity of Smith’s Gully an opportunity of obtaining trial crushiugs.