BLACK'S No. 1.

Dunstan Times, Issue 225, 17 August 1866, Page 3

BLACK'S No. 1.

(from a correspondent.) On Monday evening, the sth inst., a public meeting was held in the Shamrock Hotel, for the purpose of taking into consideration the construction af a main storm channel from the Manuherikia river, up past the township, a distance of about one mile. Mr Machin occupied the chair and after a few preliminary remarks called upon Mr Clarke to address the togMr Clarke showed the necessity of immediate steps being taken to accomplish this most important object, he went on to state that a great number of people were working in the lower ground, and were put to an enormous expense, by lifting and conveying away the drainage water to the river; for it was quite evident that many acres of auriferous ground lay hid beneath in a watery bed. By a storm channel, the water would run away ■without the slightest inconvenience, besides giving employment to hundreds of miners, for years to come. He went on to state that as much as from three to seven dwts. had been realised to one tin ' <lish of wash-dirt; yet, through the large ; quantities of water in the ground, the ! miners had been oblidged to abandon it. • He also stated the necessity of steps being taken to ensure a still larger quantity of • water being brought in for sluicing away ' the made hills. If a channel was not im- i mediately commenced the consequence ■would be, that the flat claims would be ' swamped out, and instead of unanimity existing between the hill sluicers and the flat workers, it would be continued litiga- ' tion. Mr Hillary entirely acquiesced with the ' remarks made by Mr (larke, he saw no difficulty whatever in accomplishing the object for which the meeting was called, remarked, we must first try to help our- ' selves, it is very easy to sit here and talk matters over and say what might be i done, but it is action that is wanted. He sincerely hoped they would put their shoulders to the wheel and push the work i forward with all their might; and if it : cannot be done one way, why, try another < and another till we have gained the object in view. Afterwards many of the miners expressed their ideas upon the subject, which were very satisfactory and encouraging. A Committee, to carry out this most important undertaking, was formed ; and consisted of Messrs. Clarke, Hillary, M' v ally, Martin, Marks, Clayton, and Palmer. A vote of thanks to the Chairman and to Messrs Clarke and Hillary, concluded the proceedings. Business is very dull ; owing to the ' frosts the miners have not been able to ' wash up, now that the weather is more 1 propitious, all seem to have returned to their usual activity, and work is going on again most satisfact rily. Walsh and party expect to have water upon their ground this week, they are at present cutting a tail-race for sluicing operations, great credit is due to this party for the way they have overcome the greatest of difficulties.

i Good nature is more agreeable in conver i sat ion than wit and gives to the countenance a certain air, which is more amiable than beauty. It shows virtue in the fairest light; takes, in some measure, from the deformity of vice, and makes oui fo'ly and impertinance supportable, Those men talk most, who are in the greatest mental darkness; frogs cease their croaking when a light is brought to the water side. Duties fulfilled are always pleasures to the memory. ' Vice should excite shame for its own sake and not for the censure it may incur from others. The virtue of him who is guarded from temptation only by the fear of the world and the probability of detection, is certainly fortified by very feeble defences. A supercilious attention to minute formalities, is a certain indication of a little ] mind, conscious of the want of innate dignities. Slander is a coward's revenge, and, dissimu'ation his defence. When do we begin to love people 1— When they begin to let us look into their hearts, and their hearts are found to be worth looking into. The United States min annually 100,000,000 dollars from their own gold and silver mines. A Parliamentary return shows that on the 13th February last, £20,763,000 worth of Bank of England notes were in the hands of the public. The south-western railway company now possess a monster engine, which has been named the Colossus, it has been built to draw a train of 80 loaded waggons, 80 miles, in three hours, each loaded waggon weighing about ten tons. It can drag nearly 1000 tons from London to Southampton, with almost the speed of a bird flying, the engine consuming only one ton of coke and a few gallons of water. The number of letters delivered in the United Kingdom during the year 1864, amounted to six hundred and seventy nine millions, eighty-four thousand eight hundred and twenty-two. Rock-Ctjttino Machines.—The plan universal on this goldfield of sinking shafts by manual labour is being rapidly superseded in Europe by machinery. One cannot take up a number of the 'London Mining Journal' without falling foul of at least a dozen advertisements, setting forth the superior excellence of this or that patentee's rock-cutting machine. These are now constructed so that all kinds of sinking and driving can be performed with astonishing cheapness and rapidity. That stupendous work, the Mont Cenis tunnel through the Alps, is being bored out entirely by these machines, which have been in use there for several years. And yet there is not to our knowledge a single specimen, or even model in Victoria. The old-fashioned drill, with its slow progress and many attendant dangers, remains in universal iavor. Even at Ballarat, where they profess, and with some reason, to be far in advance of the other gold fields, it takes several years to find gold which might otherwise be struck in little more than as many months. This is not more ridiculous in the present day than band-loom-weaving or reaping a thousand acres of corn with the sickle. This rock-cutting-machine is no new invention. It has stood the severest tests and saved many thousands of pounds. Its price is not great, and it is worked at a small cost, the motive power being compressed air. Underground it possesses one great advantage, that wherever it is at work there is a constant current of air created, so that expense in ventilating processes is avoided, as well as the numerous stoppages consequent upon foul or insufficient air in the drives. To work one of those machines only a man and a boy are required. Amongst other advantages which would be peculiarly marked in the Bendigo district is this, that a company need never be long in recovering a lost run of stone, as is so frequently the case with the present appliances. This alone would produce a confidence abroad in the permanence of our quartz resources, which would soon supply the c pital for want of which the district is now in so languishing a condition. Ground too would be worked that is now locked up in leases or lies in that dormant condition known as being "registered." Nor could the miner be injured in any way. There would be more than ever for bim to do, although much of it in a different way. The time occupied, and the expense attendant upon sinking a shaft to anything like a depth, causes myriads of ounces of gold to remain buried that would otherwise, have long since gone through all the process of extraction and refining, and have now been in circulation.—• Bendigo Independent.'