CARDRONA & WANAKA

Dunstan Times, Issue 348, 25 December 1868, Page 3

CARDRONA & WANAKA

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Both the Cardrona and Wanuka promise at no very great distant day, to become places of co siderablo importuned ; their distance from other goldfields, has doubtless been the cause of tliis neglect, but now there exists good roads to either, together wi 11, iho V'anaka. having been proclaimed a goldfield, the enterprise of the miner wih soon develop the latent resources, comparatively speaking of both of these undeveloped goldfields. Water is everywhere abundant. In no other part ol the province is it so plentiful and easy io bring on to ground, while the number of terraces that contain the precious metal in more or less quantities could no' be worked out by the ne.it two generations to come. * The Eardrops is tbe only go’dtield iu Otago in which a defined lead of gold has bee n Rt'-nck, accepting win t, is understood in A T ’ct- ria as a “ lead.” It Ims been triced for neatly half a mile, at a depth varying between forty and sixty feet from the surface. Some short time since this lead, hoik at ils upper and lower end, was 10-t ; but it has been recovered again. At the upper end it has been found running in the bed of tbe river, which has now been turned By the miners amalgamating their labor, and when' n rapid current once existed there is now perfectly dry hind. At the lower end of the lend the run of gold is thought to have been recovered by a sort of join - stock prospecting company, who have put down several shafts during the la. t three mon’lis. Tliis party hj ive discovered a very deep and w fil defined gutter, iu which gold is perceptible in small quantities, die drift havi 'g all the appearance of that which covers the wash-dirt in the liia-ili 'end. They have sent for pump ingr machinery to Dunedin, and are sanguine of bottoming upon the long lost run of gold Many of the claims worked here during the last two years have yielded extraordinarily well, r-bareh Tiers in the Sir George Grev | and Homeward Bound claims have ! netted as much as 8(7. per week per I man, ami many have gone home with i little fortunes from the Cardrona, while others, by the fruits of their industry, l ave been enabled to embark in the cultivation of laud or in i a business of which they formerly pos- * scaled some knowledge. Living is very cheap, many arfic'os ’ of daily cons uiplion being at less i then Gion!" (l! and Diins'au prices, a very in ei. com;a idem x : s* ing be- wim the business people. The township boa t» fur really comfortable hol« Is, while the other business places are on a much larger scale than is usual on uin-t of tin diggings lower down country. Such of the lucky diggers j who have wives possess neat litMe | cottages, and seem to have made im j their minds in make “life on the : diggings” as comfortab’o as possible. Abo t •ightr-eii )ulies from Gardroiia j is I, Be Wanak-i, the nearest point of, which is Rev's Day. so named af.-ev a siat’on-lieldnr who one" held a portion of the A anaka Run, now in the pos- ' session of Mr. ITeurv Gamobell oy s Bay, or TVjubroko will no ; doubt in time In come a n’aee of e>'n • siderablo import nice. It is the oidv : convenient, am! she! cml harbor at ib<> h-wc-r 0"d of the lake, and all tinbusiness cor,meted with the w-'ter-j c image is here concentrate;!. Tint’d | within the last six months there were , no buildings >t TVmbrok*', with the • exception of a boatman’s hut. Messrs. | Hoddimi and Russel I, of C.-mlron?), | have, however, just conn doted an [ in del amt s > ore on a. sei a • ot nn; on 1pai'O" )i( *t lißh- 'To attempted on anv ef the go'dveiiL. I lie 1 ini ding is sixty feet by forty feet, and lias > eon e.-ai'ci My const met od for the entertainment of visitors, who must, as (lie oouetrv g*'*s setiled, find their wav during the summer months to the pleasant shores of Imho Waitaka. The house is e’a’-'Oratelv furnidn-d, - nd contains numerous bed room . l>e«i T s dining roc-ms, parlors, and a billiard room. The total cost of the house and furniture has exceeded 2,00!7. Th- visi*or mav here enjoy himself right rovally. The spirited owners of the IVanaka TTnbd have both sailing and rowing Boats, and it would bo quite unnecessary to remark th>t j nothing s more d Bgh ful Ti-n'a j trip uu tliis beautiful hike, with itj thirty-five miles of water, s'udded with ishiinK and where the tonri'-t may enjoy a day’s shoeing or fishing as lie )>!■>'.' think best. The owners of two of the l-->r r eft cutters pil ing on the lake advertise to lin’d their boats iu readiness this Christinas for the accommodation of excursionist*. About a ni’Te from Pembroke is one of M r. Camjtbell s out stations, where the business connected with sheepwashing is carried on Washing sheep j has undep.ouo many imprm cnients 1 wi'hiu the last few years, ami now j that wool has fallen so voiy mueli in j value the squat*ere are making great : | efforts to bring a first-class article into j the market. Among the first of the J sh'-plierd kings is Mr. Henry Campi bell, whose appliances for shearing and j nre| ai-ing wool are ■ he most elaborate :iu the province. This genllonnu has 1 just completed one of Messrs. Hamil- | ton ami Geddes’s (of Mortlake, YicI torj-i.) new sheen wash and din. and | this apparatus, with its accoivipanyinp | appliances, approaches as nearly tc

perfection as we should deem possible. The sheep enter the dip, comparatively speaking, as black as ink, and live mimitesaftc wards leave it with fleeces as white as the driven snow. One thousand four hundred of the'woolly trite can be thus cleansed within a space of e’ght hours. The sheep are first driven hit» pens, from whence they are ejected, eleht at a time, into a hot-water trough, heated to 110 degrees Farenheit, and containing a proper admixture of soap and soda, so as to produce a lather at the sur r ace of the water. By means of a sliding door the shoe]) pass into a second trough, and thence into a third. Emerging from thi* latter trough they walk up a sort of gangway into the battery, which is turned on the moment otio enters, when it gets such a deluding with cold water at a pressure of fifteen feet perpendicular fall that, however entertaining the process may be to a spectator, he involuntarily congratulates himself that he is not a sheep. The troubles of the poor animals are, however, not vet over. From the ba'tery the sheep plunges into deep water, a- d is immediately

•added, swiming, by the ruthless hand of m>n benea'h ■what is ca led the spouts, which is another instrument of aqueous t* >r( ure, also bavin ga fifteenfeet. perpendicular fall, under which the halt-drowned wretch is held for about sixteen seconds, during which time it is turned bodily round three times, so that no part of its carcase escapes. The sheep is then allowed to swim off, and speepily lands upon an inclined platform, thence it finds its way into the draining pens, then into a weil-grassed paddock, and from there into the shoaiing shed, when, having been divested of its wool, we will hnmanolv suppose its troubles cease The who o process of washing a sheep occupies five minutes, and requires ui each individual ease six hundred gallons of water, T!e j dailv c ii-nmptiou «f soap and soda is COlb. of the one and “Bib. of ilie «.ili.-i. The time is thus divided :—Soaking tank, four minutes and a half ; batterv, ten. seconds; spouts. Sixteen seconds ; and twelve men, including the overseer, are all that are required to keep j the apparatus in full work. Every- | thing goes like clockwork, and your ; correspondent must give Mr. Allen, 1 the overseer in charge of the work, : credit tor thoroughly understanding ' the art of s; tting a bedv of men to work. There is no pushing, no (having, no talking or wrangling. .Everyone does Ids duty well and with an evident desire to accomnlish the most for his cmjvover. Mr. Henry Campbell seems highly respected by! nis eniphiyos. The wool shed a>>d inane station are at AlVvfou. on the banks <,t the C utlm, some four miles from flov s Bar. The word died d ;>s elobornte as the she<‘p v.-i-h. There is positively nothing wanting that can assist labor. The wool, after Icing taken from the sheeps’ backs, is properl v sorted and classed in'o the re- ■ speeti v e qualities of “clothing” ami “ combing.” From tip' ordinarv pre-s it goes to the livdraulie- iiress, when it j is ready for shipment home. A visit I to the V. an aka Station will well re- 1 nav an von e, ether the envious or th'-se interested in the pr dnetivo in-dn-trv of the province. They wr! s"0 tliere the business </ sle'en-farm-ing reduced to the precision and regularßv of n, inauu factory Ev A n i for c"o sing Ids floohs over tlm Clutha ! from ope nor‘ : on of t’-r "uu to another 51 r. < la raided 1 lias a. self-acting nun* of some fertv tops burden. This punt was launched f.om the out station at Boy’s Bay the dav previous to mv visi*, when a C' nsidevahln number of nersons made a trip in the vessel to its station on the Clutha. On lux way to the Dunsbi.n vour correspondent paid a visit to ; lm station of Messrs. Loughuau. a 1 Mount Bisa, for the purpose of seeing another ew sheep wash ('rented hy Mr. Alves, of Dunedin. .This, bv some said to be an improvement upon the wa-h of 'Messrs, itamilton and Geddes, is. >n tbo opinion of your correspondent, no such tiling whatever. D possesses ii'inii'roiis complications ia the shape of oscillating scrubbers and trap doors, worked by a water-wheel, which, however, spasmodici Iv refuse to act, and when they even do operate iliev are o’’ very questionable ntilitv. The soaking tanks are also not snflicientlv capacious, for it must bo distinctly understood that, notwithstanding the power of ihe battery and spouts, the real success of sheep washing depends upon the proper m macement of the soaking tanks. The Victorian sheep wash is unquestionably immeasura: B. superior to the Dunedin one.