BANNOCKBURN.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 181, 29 April 1873, Page 5

BANNOCKBURN.

(from our own correspondent.) April 26, 1873. We have this week been favoured with a day and two nigh s' good steady r;.in, which has increased the water-supply very materia ly, and caused a general revival of mining operations throughout the district. There is reason to tear, however, that unless the rain is speedily followed by a fall of snow on the mountains, the winter supply will come far short of our actual requirements. I observe Mcss.s Fergusson and Geerhave nearly completed the task of getting their co 1-pit (in Smith's Gully) into working order. To th.s end they have been for some months en: aged putting in a tunnel from the creek bed. lam informed they have an excellent sjam of c ml; and from the fact of the Quartz - ville and Pipeclay road parsing do e by the mm-th of the tunnel, I think the speculation will pay handsomely. Jt is reported that our neighbours at the Ne\is a'e about to memo ialise the Governmei t for a block of agricultural land in that loc; lifcy. A great portion of the proposed ai\a is, I am informed, admirably adapted for farming purposes ; aid if it does rot inclrde auriierous ground, or otherwise interfere with mining interests, I trust the application will prove successful. If we only possessed a block of good land anywhere near Cromwell, what a difference it would make in the price of such conimodit'es as butter, eg/s, milk, and vegetables of all descriptions. The dispute between the sluicers and tunneilers in Pipeclay Cully seems to have come to an end. A friend of mine living there tells me that the party who were working in the bed of the creek have abandoned their claim ; and as no one else can take up ground there again, Ihe holders of tunm■:Claims have no need to iear any further trouble in that way. Talking of P'pcclay Oul 1 -. i x seems to bo a fa 'curite rendezvous for stray animals and birds. DiU'u g stsvciai mou hs o: last year, a solitary slice]' —no doubt tempted by the g ass which grows abund ntlv on the edg s 0 the tcn.ices —Lock up its abode there, ard w en disturoed, used to make straight for some abandoned tunnel, w* ere it found a comparatively retreat. Shortly aiterw axis a native pan quet took a fancy to li\e underground, and v as frequently seen emerging fiom its suuteiraiKau domicile as the tu id' Hers were gorig t-Mvork in the morning, 'lhe next solitary adventurer was a half-grown lamb, but it did not stay long,— tli a sunless atmos; here of the tinnels, I siq - pose, being uncongen al to tl e instincts < f tli; jnveniie jhubok. Las;, wu«.k a line fat woodhen wa 1 ' found in a drive, ruptured, condemned to death, ana extavkd ior being illegally in possession of auriierous ground. 1 am af aid a similar fate befel tlio poor paroquet, for wild cats are very numerous in the ne.ghlourhood of the old workings.