The Dunstan Times FRIDAY, 28th June, 1867.

Dunstan Times, Issue 270, 28 June 1867, Page 2

The Dunstan Times

FRIDAY, 28th June, 1867.

rfeneuth the rulo of men ex"iikeiy jcm, the vtx is MiaHTiEii than the stvoiu>!”

f ' As advertisement which appears in another portion cf our columns, notifying the probable winding up of the affairs of the Ida Valley Water-Race Company, is ■ more suggestive than the majority of our readers would imagine. Scarcely two years ago ihis Company was started with _ glowing prospects, and it was almost unij versally considered that no joint-stock ! association of capital and labor ever had j such a profitable field of enterprise before '; i . The work ef cutting a race to convef I the head waters of tho Manorburn to the i auriferous hills and terraces in the nei*h- | bourhocd of Black's was duly commenced •| —a large cumber of men were employed, | some on wages and some working out ' i their shares. The capital of (ho Company . J was from time to time increased, and tho j project proceeded prosperously j and at a ! | cost of something like .€7ooo—two thirds I of the race was completed; payable ground I had almost been reached—in fact a further j expenditure of about six or seven hundred I pounds would have made tho work ici munerative, and any further extention might Lave almost paid for itself. But such is the uncertainty of mining specu-lations-a panic in the share market caused shareholders to refo.se payment of their calls, tho workmen stopped work, liliga- . tion ensued, and the plant of tho Company has since been sold oil' peaccmeul by bailiffs, at ruinous sacrifices, to satisfy j judgment creditors. Nothing-now rej mains but stone and earth-works, executI ed at so: a gn-at cost, which, had only a little more patience mid perseverance been used, would have been the means of rai - ing untold wealth from where it now lies unproductive ; employment would have boon given to numbers of additional ban ! s, and both the district and the shareholders _ | would have been e riched. The question next arises, what hj the cause of all this waste of money and labor 1 Answer says: want of confidence I engendered by one of those mouetory | panics which infect the mining share I market, caused by undue speculation, and a desire to realise profits out of undertakings before they have had sufficient time to arrive at maturity. People in Duuedia purchased shares not with the view of carrying out the object, but to sell to others at fluctuations of the market; but those fond expectations were never realis ed—shares did not rise because there was no returns, nor could there be any, for reasons; everything had been begun and nothing finished. Mining is a work of time, and requires more patience than the majority of people possess—the profits arc almost as sure as those in any other business, but to dcvelopea large mining work j it generally takes a much longer period, | aa it is beset with rather more difficulties than the majority of undertakings. Enj tcrpriscs hastily begun general iy result in j loss to those fiist engaged, in them, for '■ these very reasons; but the clay will surely come when our largo, water-races will be properties of inestimable value, and will ! descend as heir-looms from generation to I generation.

An accident of a serious r at u reoccured • it is our painful duty to record on Saturday night last, whereby ;l Mr Jonas was so seriously injured as to necessitate his removal to the hospital. It appears that Mr Thormahlen, of Clyde in company with the injured 'gent'eman, was driving a four wheeled vehicle from Cromwell; when in coi s.qucncc of one of the wheels | coming in contact with a piece of detachI ed rock on the road, Mr Thormahlen was | through the. concussion, pitched out, the ! the horse proceeding at a furious rate, 1 went hcadhwg over the steep nnh.iuknicnt

of the road, dragging with it tho waggon, from which, Mr Jonas was precipitated with great force. The horse with' part of the vehicle finally brought up at the edge of the Molynenx, The injury sustained by Mr Jonas is not so serious as was at first anticipated, there were no bones bro he-, but he has reeeived a shaking that' will take some montha to recover from. The vehicle was literally smashed, and the horse, a valuable animal, unfortunate ly had a leg broken. Individual instances of good fortune are frequently brought under our notice, amongst them, we notice that several parties working about five or six miles from Clyde on the west bank of the Molynenx are doing remarkably well, making in some instances twenty pounds per week per man ; also about p, mile or so from Alexandra, on either side of the river, there are some few who are making (rumour says from shty to eighty qounds per week per man,) from relialla authority, we hear about fifty pour ds per week per man is being netted. The weather which has been degrees below freezing-point for the past week, has had tho effect of freezing up everything in the shape of liquid. The towns people have taken advantage of a small sheet of ice, and spent a few hours each clay skating and sliding ; some few have come to grief, trying with their heads the strength of the ice ; but if diaculum plaster and bandages arc evidences as to which of the two was hardest, we conclude the ice bore the palm. On Wednesday last, Mr Warden Robinten in company with Mr John Hay, the Provincial Government Agent, proceeded to Alexandra, and opened the Court House there, ior the purpose cf obtaining the marriage registry-forms; after they were obtained and a marriage solemnised, I the Court-house was again locked up— I each taking his respective key. We cannot but think if the Court-House is open- J ; ed for one purpose it should be so for ' another, and further, wo think that the 1 many wining disputes pending, equally deserve at tho hands cf the powers thai be, as much consideration as a couple desirous ot being joined in holy weddlock : ■ and if a point is stretched in favor of one, it should be so in the other. The "Daily Times" of the 2oth. says : —That His Honor the Superb teiident, accompanied by Mr Goo. Duncan, the ' Secretary of Lr.ml and Works, left town j yesterday for Oamaru. and we are informI cd they are likely to be absent from Dun- ! edin about a week or ten days. The emigration still continues without j j any check from Qnecnstown, One of the ! ! Cork papers states that within tho past j fifteen days, 31 CO people have left Queens | i town for America, while the pa.«,sages en j j gaged for the present week in the vessels of the Imnanline a ore amoun 1 , to lOb'O. I I Hitherto the exodus was intermittent, pc- ! | riods of overflow Icing invariably sue-! ceod d by periods of comparative cessation but this season the emigration has begun and continued on a scale so extensive and with such exhaus ive regularity that it is difficult to eouceive how it can much longer exist in the same ratio without absolute depopulation of certain districts. The whole of the Sluicing Claims in the Alexandra distiiet have b> en for the whole of the past week, at a perfect stand still o.i account of the Water hi aces being frozen up. On Saturday last, an accident occurred to a miner wh'lst working in tho Frenchman's claim. It appears that a stone of some considerable weight, became detached from the face of the, workings, and in ■ its course struck the unfortunate man, he was immediately removed to the Hospital, and we hear is progressing favorably. A corespondent writing yesterday from Kawarau Gorge, says,—All tho large races bringing water to the sluicing c"aims on the banks of the Kawarau, arc frozen up, and scores of men arc idle. This morninga large meeting of sluicers was convened, and after much discussion a party of between twenty and thirty men was formed to open beach ground in front of Scotland's sluicing claim at Happy Valley Operations were to be commenced at one o'clock to day, the Company is named the ,; Fro- ' Z3ii Out." Tiie appearance of the. weath i er is most puzzling, it is a matter of im- ] possibility to guess whether the frost will continue for any number of days, or breakup in a few hours, however tho. majority, of the sluicers have determined to prepare for frost, selling to work at the river beaches. The new race of Messrs Kitchingham and Roberts being frozen up, the • proprietors have taken their wages men ; up to some ground on a beach about four i miles above Soaring Meg and are strongly . in hopes of securing a large qnstitity of . gold. Mr Warden Becfhain, of Queenslown, has been appointed to take charge of the Mount Ida District, during the temporary absence of Mr Warden Wood.

The trials of Willson and Switzer, for arson, both of which lasted two days, have terminated. The jury in each instance returning a verdict of not guilty. The " Governmo t Gazette" notifies the appointment of Mr R. Watkins, as Acting Town-Clerk, of the Municipal Town of Alexandra. Also, the appointments of Messrs Sandison and Stanbrook, as Re-turning-officers in the seperate Avard3, at the Election of Mayor and Councillors. In its commercial intelligence, the 'Oamaru Times" of Friday says :—A note-worthy feature of the week :3 the departure of the schooner Herald, for Napier, with 1000 bagsof flour, It isto behopel that the North Island will yet turn out to < be a good outlet for our surplus produce. The "Wellington Independent" reports that a smart shock of earth-quake was felt in that city about ha'f-past six o'clock on the morning of Sunday week. The business of the Revision Court to make the roll for the Town of Clyde, was brought to a close on Wednesday last, the number of \*oters on tho roll is 101.