BENDIGO.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 212, 2 December 1873, Page 6

BENDIGO.

(from our own correspondent.) November 25, 1373. If the natural gaiety of heart of any of your readers is so boisterous as to require taming down,. Lean recommend this place as an excellent asylum for bringing about a decrease of hilarity. If any wish to retire from the troubles and temptations of the gay and festive world, and settle down into a proper misanthropical state, let them come here. Bendigo, in spite of lively hopes and prophecies, continues to retrograde. The counter attractions of the Carrick are drawing off and decreasing our already sparse population. It is said that the tide of prosperity has set in strongly on New Zealand's Bhores, but not the slightest wave or ripple has, so far, reached this "deadly lively" place. Such a state of affairs is almost inexplicable. We have payable reefs, mile 3of sluicing ground, and a large water supply which only awaits utilisation, and yet the district is becoming depopulated. It is generally admitted by all that it will be a good place One day, but unfortunately few seem to care to stop and assist'in bringing about this desired consummation ; and so "the day" is apparently further off than ever. Utopian ideas are not yet in fashion : sanva qui pent is the watchword of this generation. I think 1 may therefore leave the question of the

future of this place to the great physician, Time ; but I do so in the firm belief 1 have so tiften expressed, that its importance will be eventually discovered and fully recognised, to the discomfiture of many who are now, like the rats, leaving what in their shortsightedness they imagine to be a sinking ship. .The Cromwell Company continue to raise splendid stone. About 320 ounces were obtained last week from about 110 tons, and there is quartz enough in sight of similar quality to occupy the men twelve months in raising; and at the time sinking was discontinued the reef showed as rich as ever. I fancy Mr Hebden will regret his hasty conclusion that the mine was nearly worked out when he disposed of his interest therein. In quartz mining, as in many other matters, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." Of •course one cannot see far through a stone •wall-or the earth's crust, but I cannot help thinking that Mr Thomas Baird was welladvised when he made such a heavy speculation, and that the astute vendor of the share was decidedly sold. The unfortunate Aurora is once more abandoned, but there are rumours of the company proper taking it again in hand for a final trial. This would be the correct thing : to wind up the concern in its present state of

uncertainty would be suicidal. The last company of tributers evidently had not the means to prospect, and were consequently compelled to fossick out stone where easily obtainable; so that the development of the mine is yet to come. And this, I would humbly suggest, might be done by sinking a shaft in the main level to a depth of 100 feet or so. There is now in sight a reef from four to six feet in width, carrying gold, and if it did not improve at the stated depth, then, I j think, the company would be fully justified i in washing their hands of the affair, and in allowing the "Aurora" to merge into sunset. The Reliance Co. are in good spirits ; not from any great discovery of their own so far, but from the fact of being in immediate proximity to the Cromwell Co.'s ground, where the rich stone is being now obtained ; and really, without what Mr Trollope designates " blowing," I imagine they have good and sufficient reason therein to be joyful. Time, patience, and capital will accomplish much, and as this company are said to possess those three essentials in quartz mining, I hope and trust their efforts may be crowned with success. The Lucknow tunnel still "drags its slow length along," but I believe a slight improvement in the country, as to driving, has taken place. It is now in past the perpendicular of the reef, but owing to the reef having a dip or underlie to the south, a further distance of forty or fifty feet may have to be driven before the lode is struck. I may be wrong, but 1 think matters would have been greatly expedited if the shaft had been deepened concurrently with the driving of the level. The air is now very bad, and something will have to be clone to provide a remedy which the shaft might have rendered unnecessary ; and besides, the work is indispensable in the opening of the mine. The water supply still keeps good, and sluicers are prosecuting work with great •vigour throughout the district, with a view to good washings up' at Christmas. A sharp look-out is kept up for the Philistines of these times, alias the " Heathen Chinee," and should any of these night-birds be caught inspecting tail-races, they are rot likely to be treated, with the courtesy generally accorded to strange visitors. Shearing has commenced on Ardgour station, and I should judge from appearances that the lambing this year will give an unusually heavy percentage of increase. I do not know what is the price paid per hundred, but I heard that 205., as in the Oainaru district and other places, was to be the charge. This is only fair, as the exceptional and unequalled prosperity attending the squatter's operations ought to open his heart, and induce him to allow his poorer brethren to share in his hick. Mr Campbell's pet gang of Maori shearers passed through last week from Moeraki for Wanaka, so that he will not be necessitated to test the "Celestial" experiment this time, and his warning to white labourers may stand over for the present. His sympathetic contribution on the Maori question has evidently "fetched" the darkskin's, and doubtless he rejoices accordingly.