BENDIGO.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 186, 3 June 1873, Page 6

BENDIGO.

([•'ROM OUR OWN CORRESIMXDEMT.) May 27, 1573. The clerk of the weather appears to have \ at last recollected that, in the constitution of Nature, there is or seems to he a necessity for I the winter season ; and with Burns, Ave may i now sing: "And lang's the night froe e'en to morn, l*m sine it's Winter fairly." And its long-delayed advent is likely to be fully atoned'for by unusual severity, judging; from present appearances. The climate of j New Zealand, by a popular fallacy, is described as temperate; my experience tells me that the term, so applied, must have another meaning than the one given by Johnson. 'Last week intense frosts set in, and very | nearly locked up the scanty supply of water;; on Friday, a tremendous gale of wind, ac-1 companied by sleet and snow, was expe-! rieneed ; Saturday tine and frosty ; Sunday cold and windy ; and on Monday morning j another "burster," making the poor denizens j of these "diggins" quake for the safety of their j tenements, frail or otherwise. Since then, rain fell steadily for fifteen hours. And this is called a temperate climate, save the mark ! | However, temperate or arctic, rain we must have, and if it. is only to be had with the concomitants of hail, snow, frost, and blow, why I suppose we must welcome it with a spasmodic grin, and cry, "better late than never." To some "unco guid" folks, my remarks may smack slightly of profanity; but they must recollect I belong to the sluicing] class of the community, who have suffered: great hardships of late from the long-con-! tinned drought, and who now, after months ! of fervent prayer for a downfall of rain, will \ proceed, most likely, in many instances to j dam it. \ The Cromwell Co. since my last, have had j a fortnight's intermittent crushing, sometimes j with five stampers and sometimes less; but unless Jack Frost puts his veto on the opera-1 tion, there is not likely to be a, recurrence of! such contingencies : the stream of water now i flowing down Bondigo gully has a tolerably! permanent aspect. It will be some months ere the company get thivugh, by continuous crushing, the stone already raised, and many tons of quartz are being daily brought to the i surface. The reef still keeps up its improved I appearance, I am glad to state ; arid when j the result of the next three months' clisiu-1 t°gration becomes known, 1 am certain the; foremost rank among our permanent reefs I will be accorded to this mine. The Aurora tributcrs started their machine lard, week, but were again compelled to stop from want, of sufficient water power. As in

tho abovo instance, no doubt this defect is now remedied, and I hope to bo able to give \ a more cheering account of their prospects in my next. 'Three shifts of two men each are now engaged in driving the Lucknow lead. The rock is as variable as the weather, at one time immoderately soft, and again immoderately hard. However, the work is progressing '"as well as can be expected," and ere lung we may hope to see it nn fail accompli, and the shareholders in a fair way to be rewarded for their plucky perseverance. A similar work to the above might, with a very fair chance of proving reproductive, be instituted by the Alta Company,—who, by the way, have declined to sacrifice their property and plant. I met one of the shareholders last week ; he informed me it was likely that the company would resume operations, and he for one would like to see a deep level driven, but was afraid that some of the holders of scrip were not prepared with what he called the " possibles" for such a work. The plant, under a former proprietory, has heretofore done good service in the way of security for "little bills": why not try " Mosesh" once more ? That there may be good grands for asking for temporary accommodation in the business of quartz mining, witness the erection of a mill at the place whence the Alta machine was lately taken, viz., the Rough Ridge , where the Energetic Co., undeterred by the disastrous ending of the Pioneer Co. of Ida Valley, purpose giving the reefs another trial. Should they succeed in steering clear of the rocks of managerial incompetence and blundering, I have no hesitation in predicting a successful issue to the speculation; and I may add there are many men more competent to judge than the writer, who will agree with the I above assertion.