NEVIS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 379, 23 July 1869, Page 2

NEVIS.

i'i'KOJI A fO'iIIESPOKDEXT.) June 29. There is not a district in the province of Otrtico which at the present time oilers more chances to the industrious miner, nor one that is more overlooked hy people in general than hm Nevis. hut out as we are from a’l intercourse with our neighbors, it isbut nt ral that orronions notions slim'd ! c formed of our doings, and tluve is i>;; 1 little doubt that strangers vvh* ocea hurdle wander among ns areipt to form tn exaggerated opinion of five sever!tv of our climate.

4 few remarks by an Hd resident andan exp rieiiced miner may not lie muHtercVoing to the public generally. Will m-.pecfc to our climate, though sovcib frosts are experienced from the middle of May to the end of August, they ire not of such severity as to outirey suspend mining operations, only one class of miners being unable to continue wo rk, namely, those whose races take their rise from high Sources, and our mining is by no means confined to sluicing. In this respect the Nevis has undergone a considerable improvement, of late, Some very good good ground has recently been opened in the terrace formation on the west side of the township. Two shafts have been sunk, and payable gold obtained at a depth of from twenty to twentylivet'cet within the last month. Two others arc in course of descent, and, judging from the close mst mbleace of the stuff hitherto turned up to that in which gold in good payable quantities has already been found, there is every likelihood of their turning out well Indeed, it is rather singular that this method of testing the auriferous deposits of the terrace formation lias not been adopted before now Diggers have been under the impression that heavy water would be met with, and as we have no timber for slabbling purposes it has not been resorted to uutd lately. However, it turns out that almost every one has been mistaken, as very little water is found beyond a certain shilgly gutter which runs on the edge of the terrace and parallel with it, by avoiding which and sinking in the main terrace beyond a comparatively dry bottom is found. As a sample of the deposits which are met with occasionally in this terrace I may mention that, in the claim of Iteding, O’Neil, and party, a piece of ground equal to about forty feet square turned out about two hundred ounces of gold. This party deserve great credit for their perseverance under difficulties, and there in no doubt but that they will reap a golden harvest They have at length abandoned sluicing in favor of tunnelling. At the Upper Nevis the sluicing operations arc principally suspended for the winter. Here also new discoveries have been made in the nature of the deposits. In the claim of Bailey and party a new lead has been struck at a lower level which bids fair to pay its spirited proprietors handsomely. It is notorious that the road irom the i ower Nevis to this place is in such a condition as constantly to endanger

the lives and limbs of travellers, who, to keep the diggers supplied with goods and provisions, have to wade through bogs and over dangerous sldelings, at the peril of being pro cipitated headlong into a yawning ebasam below. Only lately a miner was nearly hislng his life on th s road. The horse upon which be was riding slipped off the track into the river, and man and horse had a narrow escape. It seems api tty that, while money is being lavished on the roads in the neighborhood of the Kawarau Station, a place like this, which supports a population of from twenty to thirty miners, whose only meins of obtaining supplies is by packing, and where the expenditure of 80 1, to 100/ M would construct a safe and su ci ut ™ bridle track, shou'd be overlooked by the Government.

Our business people have exhibited •i praisworchy spirit in the matter of lowering the prices of all articles of consumption, and the prices of the necessaries of life will compare favorably with almost any of the goldtielfs towns. Bread is Is. fid. per loaf; mutton, sid. per b>, ; beef, Od. ; tea, 3s. ; sugar, Bd. The owners of cattle here are com plaining of the terms imposed upon them by the squatters, who have levied a charge of 1/. per head per annum upon all great cattle, f..ri»id> oat leowners to keep a dog, restricting them vlso to running their cattle on the most inferior part of the run. At the lower crossing-place tinpopulation consists for the mas* pan of Chinese, and “ John” appears well well satisfied with his earnings. I am somewhat jealous of my dark brother of the long tail, and cannot subscribe to all the opinions the are. he’d wi hj respect t« his honesty asd truthfulness, or his fitnos tor citizen ship with his Christian brother; yet 1 must own that, in many respects, he he is well worthy of imitation, and in none more s than h,s steady perseverance and steady, systematic, and methodical way of working the Nevis Flat, as the term is, “taking all before him.” By this means he timini any a patch tnat mullochy workers would miss We Revisites have two grievances —the fortnight.y nvil mid the nonattendance of the Warden. Tieformer is, to use the mildest term, o humbug and a nuisance, and n fi t worse than no mail at all. Hal the. whole arrangement been coni rived with the special intention of can si eg delays, annoyances, and losse-, i> could not have been managed more effectively With respect to the absence of a Warden’s Court, it is a I crying sham 3 that we are not a do to get the smallest matter done without travelling to Clyde or Cromwell,