The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, JULY 30, 1869.

Dunstan Times, Issue 380, 30 July 1869, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, JULY 30, 1869.

Beneath the Buie of Men entirely just the pen is mightier than theswoßD

Tun success ■which has attended the ■workings, this winter, on the Moly-

neux between Clyde and Alexandra, and more especially in what is known as the valley of the Dunstan, is sufficiently satisfactory evidence for us to arrive at the conclusion, notwithstanding that for years past this portion of the Otago goldfields has been systematically neglected as a supposed unprofitable field of labor, wo are yet only upon the eve of very valuable discoveries. The present yield of gold per head for the population proves unmistakably that previously formed opinions were erroneous, the yield at the present day bordering upon something almost amounting to the fabulous. The chief of our golden streams appears to occupy the bed of the Molyneux itself, as has been proved by the enormous finds made by the dredges, amounting in several instances to over ,100f. worth of gold per week for every man employed. This lead, for such it has been proved to be, is readily traced, crossing and re-crossing the river from bank to bank, and into which it doubtless penetrates for some distance back; but it can only be thoroughly developed by the sinking of shafts from the surface to the bed rock, or by driving in tunnels from the river at a suitable distance above the reach of the water. This was attempted upon several occasions some time since, but the rapid ingress of water and the expense of timber for securing the ground necessitated these undertakings being abandoned. The presence of gold was found upon each and every occasion, and in the case of one tunnel such course gold was obtained that the existence of a rich deep lead intersecting the great Dunstan Flat was proved beyond a doubt. This was the last attempt made. All that has been done since has been the sluicing away of the river banks for some few feet back ; and here again the results were highly satisfactory, every party engaged having succeeded in obtaining gold in payable quantities. The difficulty which has hitherto existed in reaching the -bed rock at a distance back from the river promises now to be effectually removed by the substitution of boring rods. These will bo placed under the skilled management of Mr. James Holt, to whom the work of prospecting has been committed, and we have no doubt but that when a few trials have been made it will be our pleasing duty to record that the

long and anxiously lookcd-for deep lead of gold lias been struck. From the Earnscleugli upwards to Clyde the sluicing parties on the river are pro secuting their researches with renewed vigor. The improved methods of extracting gold from the gravelly terraces which border the modern Factolus lias largely increased the yield, and tendered these workings extremely lucrative. Almost immediately opposite the town large dams have been constructed for husbanding the “night water,” formerly permitted to run to waste, and where one or two parties of miners, comprising only some two or three members, used to eke out a precarious existence, we find them, in every instance, increased, and the same appears to be the case everywhere else where there have been workings on the river side. The slopes of the Dunstan Eacges at the head of the Wai Kcri Keri Valley are supporting a constantly increasing population, the want of water for sluicing purposes being the only drawback to an in creased prosperity. It is very evident that the country here is equally as rich in gold as either Dryhread, Tinker’s, or Devonshire, for wc find that parties, by merely using “ long toms” and cradles, succeed in making excellent wages. What, therefoie, would bo their gains did they hut possess the advantage of an abundant supply of water such as exists in the localities wo have just named 1 A race cut from flie Lindis would supply the necessary water here required, as also many other places along its line of route, affording additional employment to the population and adding largely to the prosperity of the province The work would, as a matter of course prove an expensive one ; but, at the same time, its utility would bo so great that there should exist no unsurmountable obstacle to getting up a

public company to construct it. Nor do we even sec any reason wliy the Government should not render assistance, cither in the shape of a guaranteed rate of interest upon the capital subscribed or a grant of land for a propoition ot, say one-half or one-third, of the outlay connected with the undertaking. We have, for some time past, neglected, fearful of exciting local jealousies, to draw attention to the vast mining resource 8 immediately surrounding Clyde ; but, now that the existence of a prolific goldfield at, om very doors has been so satisfactorily ascertained, we should be neglecting our duty as journalists did we not proclaim its whereabouts. We wish it to bo distinctly understood that wo by no means wish to disparage our neighbors. Those divisions of the Dunstan District comprised within Cromwell and Ale:, andra are well known lucrative fields of labor, and their advantages we have written about times out of number. Their

prosperity is our prosperity, the in- 1 terests of each of these three divisions are so identical, that one cannot pro gress without centering some corresponding benefit upon the other. The fact of one being the chosen head quarters for the Warden and his staff of one Clerk cannot possibly add to or take from the quantity of gold contained in the soil, neither is it any gain to one, that the light of the other should be “hid under a bushel.” “Where the carcase is, there will the ravens he,” and “where the gold exists in the largest quantities, there will the miners in largest numbers congregate. We believe that in each of these three centres there exists gold enough to employ ten times their present populations in the work of extracting it, the satisfactory development of either being only a question of time.