CROMWELL.

Dunstan Times, Issue 395, 12 November 1869, Page 3

CROMWELL.

(from our own correspondent.) Though quartz-mining occupies the largest am unit of public attention.it <loes not entirely engross it.- Toe miners art not yet quartz-reef struck, though business people may be. Sales of shares are not sufficiently numeronto esfab i-h a reputation for the actual value of stock. This must he very annoying to the new class of brokers who show extensive lists of shares for sale In fact, caution is the predominant feature, and investor ", with a few hundred pounds at command do not rush to obtain shares so invitingly offered them. Whether a change will come o’er the scene is hard to say. At present the pot onl, simmers ; by and b>e it may boil, am , perhaps boil o'er. The notice of Mr. Pyke Inn also tended to prevent urn ue speculation, and his action in the Ward n’s Court has had the same lei denev. Ho his decided that two men will lie repaired to represent six me i’s ground and fo ir men for more than that. Speculation in mining shares wilt nevertheless take place, and the notice he broken llir ah. Eventually the true po iiion will he arrived at. In alluvial mining the results continue most satisfactory. Water is, if not plentiful, ample tor current wants, and the sluices throughout the district are doi ig well. \ vain iMe right 1 1 wa er has b. en grant, din he Upper Clutha district, namely fifteen leads of water, to a party (Colvi le and Co ), 9 who intend to construct from Luget Cr. ek a race of ten miles in exte it. The next escort will show favor ,bl , and all these facts prove tint that the attention of the miners has not been diverted ir.an mate ill lesuirces, such us alluvial and sluicing cUiius. The Chinese element prospers, and they continue ! o find new ground, giving them profitable returns.

It' 1 have nut meniiuned individual claim* it is simply because I would have to enumerate so many and so many returns that ini-lit give rise to complaint that some were omitted. Taken as a whole, the. mining interest is in a good, sound, healthy, and flourishing condition. The want of vain is much fe tby our agriculturists, and a few showers would lie welcomed.

The township itself is brisk, but I have not heard of many transactions in the sale of freelio.ds Mr. Weaver, of Queenstown, has purchased Mr. 1 Sooth’s store and commences business soon, and Mr. MdJonnick’s hotel has ch nged hands. The prices given arc not extravagant, and wc have as yet nothing like a rush for town lands. 1 [oilers, on the other hand, appear indifferent about selling. Mr. Pyke, on Wednesday, easily got through in a couple of hours a large amount of business. The cases were chiefly applications for reef claims and their protection. Two quartzurtji sites were grantel, and another for by Mr. Mandors on behalf of a company. Not a single case was heard in the llesident Magistrate’s Court. The only application was for the temporary transfer of a publican’s license from the Cardrona to the Cromw. 11 district. The points are to be argued to-day (Thursday). Simply they are these : can a license he transferred from place fo place without the payment of a fresh license fee, entailing as this does, special application at a quartc.ily meeting of the Incensing Bench? Is the division oflicensing district to he a bar to transfer 1 Is the Ordinance to be read as applying not to the province as a whole, but to each several district 1 The license fe r s go to the general treasury, not to the municipal bodies; hence the doubts regarding transfers nf such licenses. Corporate mat ters do not seem to mend,, Councillor Fraer has resigned.

and others contemplate the same line of action. A public meeting of ratepayers, would solve no doubt many difficulties, for the present state of dead lock is disastrous to them. It little matters to them the pre-ent personal contention—they ask for local self government, and the advancement of the interests of the town. A public meeting would no doubt solve the difficulties ; for the sake of the Town and district, it is absolutely necessary that the Corporation should be vigorous and alive to its responsibilities.'