NEVIS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 179, 15 April 1873, Page 5

NEVIS.

(From our own Correspondent.) April 8, 1873. The vicissitudes incident to a miner's life have for some time past interrupted the correspondence with which I was wont to supply you, and which I had hoped to be able to continue to do regularly, without any great inconvenience to myself, and doubtless with great pleasure ami profit to your readers. But " hope told a flattering tale," for scarcely ' had I got myself into "corresponding" trim when a cruel Fate must step between me and my intentions, and address me tbus :—" if you would pay the butcher, the baker, tie storekeeper, and above all the publican—in short, if you would be honest, virtuous, happy, ana respected, —go get a payable claim," Necessity licks us all, and the crust question is one that stands no trifling with ; so Itolled up the few rags that 1 dignify by calling a swag, reciting mournfully while doing so the Byronic stanza, — " Tribe of the wandering foot an 1 weary breast, Where shall ye flae and be at rest ? '" Having finished rolling the swag and reciting, ! L took the way that led to nowhere in parti- ! cular, and I am rejoiced to say that I did not j go far in that direction when I met in with a I party who (for a consideration) kindly per- j mitted me to occupy a share in their claim. Whether it is the payable claim that my Fate ! told me to "go get" or not, is a question the solution of which is still in the womb of Futurity; but " hope on," et cetera. So he e [ am, still in the land of the mountain and I the flood, inditing these lines by the light of •i sputtering " slush " lamp. The arch which the sun describes in the j heavens is lessening daily ; the mountains ! have assumed the tints of autumn ; the mists ! hover over the meadows, and all Nature pro- ' claims that the advent of winter is at hand. .Those among us who have " viewed the labour of the ant" and are wise (perhaps 1 that experience which teacheth fools has 1 something to do with it as well) are laying in i stock of coal, so that they may be able to welcome old Winter with his frosts and snows with a roaring tire. The laying-in of a supply of coals is a laudable custom, and highly to be commended ; but it is about the way in which it is done that I would write a few words. ' On the Nevis here, if Dame Nature has been pleased to give us a rigorous winter, she has also, with her usual kindly and pr.i:lent forethought, given us a counterpoise in the shape of an abundant supply of excellent coal ; and if it were not for this supply of! 30a 1 , this place would be almost, if not quite, ' uninhabitable during the winter m mths. flieii, if such be the case, —and there is no gainsaying it, for lire wood has all but cliiippeared,— it is surely our duty to husband this source of comfort ; and this can best be lone by working the coal-seams systematically and economically, [f th's course be idopted, a supply sufficient to satisfy all o urequirements can be obtained with Utt.e iabour or expense tor many years to co;iu ; out, on the contrary, if the custom which at present obtains be pursued much longer, coil will be difficult to get, and its price will become oppressive. Hitherto there has been no system whatever observed in the workiu" 3f the seams. When a party wanted a supply :>f coal they went to the seam, and if tney found an opening, good and well ; it' not, they nude one for themselves, and got their supply in the easiest and quickest way they could, with no regard whatever to thosifet'v jr permanence of the opening they had found made or made themselves ; and the consequence was that the ground caved in a id the opening closed up. The nartv following had :>f course to go to an additional amount of I labour and trouble to obtain the open n" th v required. Tnis is the custom that has been md is being followed, and it will surely he idmitted that it is a bad one. and that it is a selfish and a cn'pable squandering o.' ole of the greatest blessings that a good Providence has endowed this district with ; and if pors's'ed in, we must expect that co J will main- . tain its present and even a L tain to a hhder price. The means of averting such an evil is it hand—viz., by some one applying for a lease of the best seam. It is true that this ,ias been mooted several times, but execution aas always been abandoned because of threa-

toned opposition. The time luia come when we must unite in supporting anyone who may apply tor a lease, ami also in boa iiig down any opposition to the granting of such lease. A meeting of the subscribers to the Nevis Public Library was held since my last. 'J he old committee and office-bearers retiring through effluxion of time, a fresh committee and offica-bearors were elected. Messrs Drlpps, Blasters, pnd Scally were chostn as trustees. lam informed that the Education Board have sent the committee two lists of books on hand for distribution among the public libraries of the Province, from which lists the Committee are to pick and chouse the books they require. Let us hope that the selection will be a judicious one, and that it may not be made in vain. And also lot us hope that by the arrival of a goodly parcel of good books we may be able to record the one act of justice done by the Provincial Government to this place. Who knows how far such an act might go towards redeeming it from the contempt into which it has fallen with us ? It is pleasant to behold the labours of the reaper, and to inhale the fragrance of the harvest-field. Such a pleasure was mine while on a visit to the Crossing last week. The held of oats is of no great extent : some five or six acres : but still, even this is something gained, something wrested from the i wilderness, and is progress indeed. I was | informed chat the crop would average thirty | bushels to the acre, and is considered a poor j one. Mining affairs wear a cheerful aspect. All are busy, and few complaints are heard. Two or three claims in Drummond's Cully, Upper Nevis, are reported to be turning out extremely well. This gully or creek was opened ten years ago, and, if I mistake not, went by the homely name of Porridge Cully, some Scotchmen who exhibited a devouring love of their national dish being the prospectors. After the fh*st rush to it, it was almost deserted until two years ago. Since then, several parties have been doing well in it. ! This is another proof of the imperfect manner i in which the auriferous ground in this district was originally wrought.