BENDIGO.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 2, Issue 95, 5 September 1871, Page 5

BENDIGO.

(From our uwu Correspondent ) August id. The dull monotony of Bendigo during the past fortnight has been unrelieved by anything of a startling character. The customary | amount of labour has been performed in the I ordinary plodding manner, which may be jbest described by Mr Mantalini's remark 1 when engaged in the mangling business, a* '"one demnition grind." The romance of ! gold-digging is gradually but surely departing. ! I fear ere long another governmental depart- | ment will have to be called into existence, j whose specific duty will be to point out to I the miners the exact localities where gold i may be found, in order to induce them to | search for it. The wages system seems to j possess greater attraction than the glorious I uncertainty of striking a patch on their own j account to the diggers of these degenerate days. Sic transit, <C-c.

The deep lead is again looking up. Hali crow and party, who have for some time j been puzzled by what appears to be the reef : rising in front of their main drive, and head- | ing them off in every direction, having driven through the obstacle, discovered it to be only a mass of floating reef, with the gutter still well-defined beyond it, and yielding prospects of two pennyweights to the dish. They are now engaged in blocking out a portion of their drive, and will have a good washing-up in a few clays. The parties next this claim are waiting for timber to enable them to bottom. I have known the time when the mere rumour of such prospects as the above would have been sufficient to cause a rush ; but " it is a lying world we live in," and newspaper correspondents generally are not exempt from | suspicion. For myself in that capacity, I I have adopted a motto I picked up somewhere |—" 1 speak the Truth, impugn it whoso list.,"— J and will endeavour to act strictly up to it. The Alta Company have re-commenced ! crushing, having both batteries engaged. 1 I fancy the shareholders will shortly be grati- | tied with dividends, which will not be much I diminished by their wages-account, as only j half-a-dozen hands are employed. The proI spects of the Colclough Company, in spite of j all their bright dreams, are, I am sorry to j report, at present rather clouded. They have shortened hands ; but with careful management, and a little further prospecting, they may yet stem the tide of ill-luck. Of the I Cromwell Company, nothing need be said, j more than that they are, as they always have | been, working vigorously and successfully,— | employing a large number of men, and in I reality being the mainstay of the placo. The I tributors of the Aurora arc busy with the extension of their race. They are now erecting an immense timber flume over Bendigo | Cully, upwards of sixty feet in height. It is i to be hoped that their energy and perseveI ranee will meet with a suitable reward. | The very encouraging news from the Car- ; rick .Range is causing great excitement here, j and many of our reefers are preparing to j leave and try their luck in that locality. As I usual in such eases, I suppose " distance lend;; j enchantment to ths view." , lam glad to see that the Arrow miners j have taken a step in the right direction, in i the fornistion of a Miners' Association for | the protection and furtherance of their inte- | rests. A general wish is prevalent here that j a similar institution may be formed in the j Cromwell district, of which I am sure the i majority of miners in this place would gladly j become members, as wo are at present ton I insignificant to have one of our own; besides, I centralisation in such movements tends greatly | to their consolidation, and, by augmenting j the member-roll, would give one largo united ! body a greater prestiye than could be attained i by half-a-hundred on the Little Pedlington principle in the same cause. Although rather I late in the day, the movement is a good one, ! and may produce important results if well 1 and carefully carried out.

\ As it appears that pen-and-ink attacks have I no effect on the Government pachyderms in ! the matter of Chinese immigration, 1 would | suggest that a Monster Petition from all the gold-fields on the subjeet be the first gun J tired by the United Miners' Association, when ! formed. If the evil is not at onco met in a ! decided manner, we shall have the whole ten ! thousand promised blessings amongst us, and i the matter beyond recall. In conclusion, I ; give to the miners of Otago an exhortation I I used to hear yelled out nightly, years ago, at. i the Dmustan, by an Isjaelitish, .vendor of j nondescript articles to his gaping auditors, | —"Vake up! vake up, and shako the dust I out of your optics !" August 30. A startling change has taken placo in the ' weather. It rained yesterday for twenty-four hours without intermission, and during tiio night the heaviest fall of snow this Reason ! took place, covering even the low lands to a •depth of eight irKiit-s, Tits rain still r.dn~ 1 fcimiea.