BENDIGO.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 145, 20 August 1872, Page 6

BENDIGO.

(From our own Correspondent.) August 13; 1872. My anticipations of a snowstorm have been fully realised ; in fact, we are getting more than ] bargained for. Snow has fallen several times since my last communication, especially on Sunday last, and to-day we have a repetition of the dose ; the entire country, as far as the eye can reach, is covered with the "beautiful snow," and with Macbeth, I thinkwe can now cry "hold ! enough." There is no danger of a scarcity of water for many months to come, and sluicers generally rejoice thereat. Intense frost sets in every night, quite as severe as during the winter months ; but the increasing fervour of old Sol will soon dissipate this inconvenience. The time has passed for the appearance of of the great " comet." Whether it has been visible in the other hemispheres, we have yet to learn. I spent a few hours in " stargazing," but could not even discover a vestige of its tail; so no tale can be told of dangers past. In these matter-of-fact days, people are becoming quite stoical and very prosaic : those located about here went on with their daily avocations as if the world were never coming to an end, and indeed, after all, they were right in this instance, as I learn that the world has already passed through a comet which appeared to be a perfectly innocuous phenomenon. This proves Monsieur Plantamour, the Swiss astronomer, who attempted to frighten humanity with his prediction, to be a humbug : science does occasionally err, it seems. Doubtless many people will be disappointed at not seeing the " awful stranger" hearing down upon this earth at express speed, and i am afraid the romance of such heavenly visitants will bo dispelled in the public mind for some time to come. The Aurora tributers have taken on some extra hands, and are getting out some very good-looking stone from a spin or leader which joins the reef on the southern wall, near where the extraordinary rich patch was found in former days. This leader may eventually turn out to be the true reef. Should such prove to be the ease, the original company will have cause to regret having so hastily abandoned prospecting. Fluctuations of this kind are of daily occurrence in quartz reefing ; to wit, the present revival of the far-famed Caledonian mine at the Thames. The motto which should be adopted by all quartz reefers, and strictly adhered to, is '' Nil despcraudum." Affairs at the (Jolclough mine are in statu quo ; and I am afraid it this state of things is persisted in much longer, the company will, in sporting parlance, be completely out of the betting. Companies in the same iix I hi which this one appears to bo;would do wellto wind up, sell off, and starfffifresli -with- ;v small capital. I hop© this idea may i'ecoinniend itself to the directors of tJjis and several others of our now dormant speculations. Dame Rumour asserts that the Cryniweli | Company is about to be registered under the Limited Liability Act. 1 believe some of the shareholders purpose revisiting the old country, and wish to leave their property on ; a surer basis than is afforded by the ordinary j muring partnership, under which it is at pre- ; scut ',\ .irked. This Company's scrip, if placed I in the market, might to command a ready i Side, as hitherto with it, unlike many quartz i mining specs., dividends have been the rule j instead of the exception; everything as to | plant is of the best, and in good order, and in all human probability the reef will not be ! exhausted in this generation. But, after all, [may possibly be talking at random. Rumour '. is a lying jade, so your readers will do with the report as with a radish,—take it vum j gnuw satis.

It is not often a good tiling comes from P.endigo, but I cannot allow the following to pass unnoticed. A few of our residents met the other evening and calmly discussed the propriety of .starting a. company to turn the Molyneux between Clyde and Alexandra, and work the bed ! fdo not know if a resolution

to the eiieet was carried ; but J do know that the man who propounded such a gigantic idea ought to be presented with a medal manufactured by your eminent artist in leather, MrWhotter. To all who might wish to venture into such a speculation, 1 simply say,—don't : the modern Pactolus is not so rich, at all events at the place mentioned, as people innocently imagine. Whatever gold did exist has been tolerably well cleaned up by the dredges. The popular belief is that the entire bed of the stream is highly auriferous ; but I, in common with many others, know from experience that payable gold only exists at those points where the lead carrying the gild has skirted or crossed the course of the stream : tin." current, mighty as it is, has been unable to overcome the specific gravity of the precious metal, aid there it lays within a few feet of the ancient deposit. This fact iias been amply demonstrated by the dredging operations, and ought to convince the aforesaid would-be speculators, that any attempt in the neighbourhood indicated would be sheer folly. That there are paits of our rivers which might pay for turning, I fully believe ; and at a future date, if they will not be considered too Utopian, 1 may give a few practical ideas on the subject, hi the meantime, 1 might mention casually, that it there twists a plethora of spare capital in the district, it might be more judiciously expended nearer home. Two accidents have occurred in the Cromwell Company's claim since the last chronicled by me ; they were fortunately slight, but might easily have been much worse. When will the miners see this matter in the true light, and endeavour to provide a fund to secure themselves against pecuniary loss from such occurrences '■! .They admit it won Id

be a good thing'to have such an institution as an Accident Fund to fly to for succour in the hour of need, but evidently expect it to be initiated for them. Surely they themselves are the proper parties to form such an association. It could be easily done, and a modest contribution of sixpence per week from every working miner would soon amount to a tolerable fund, sufficient to bear the strain of more accidents than the present average. It only wants a start.