CARRICK.

Dunstan Times, Issue 503, 8 December 1871, Page 2

CARRICK.

(FROM AN’ OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT.) i Nov. 29. ! Things are steadily moving progressward, The Elizabeth Battery, after some delay, has steadily settled down to work, and seems to run well. Perhaps tome fifty tom have-gone- through, and ’he tables are look--ingwell. Ofconfsc, it would be immature to make a positive statement as to the yield of the stone, but it appears a matter beyond doubt that the yield will maintain the character the claim has attained, and fulfil the promise of its trial evushings. The reef promises well, and is certainly a very valuable proper y. What will make the Garrick Reefs so valuable will be the ease with which they can be worked. Of a rubble character, they require no blasting]; and a few men can obtain large quantities _of * stone. * •Ihe battery in course of erection for the ' Heart of Oak and Star of the East will probably be ready for crushing in Jr fortnight; so that, with the three machines at work, after Christmas, a visible increaseshould be apparent in the Escort returns. Mr. Horrogan’s hotel is nearly finished, the shell of another has attained some a mb'ance of what it purports to be, and t.ie fouu lation of a-third has been al.-eadv laid, while another, and still another, I hear talked of. The cats will probably seen be as numerous as the mice. I have nothing very startling to commuuicate in the way of mining items. On Mo May last 2.>OA was offered for a halfshare in the Nil Desperandum, and refused. Tne reef looks well in the prospectors’ ) tannel, being some three feet and a half thick. It prospects well, is well defined, and, from its cropping out over such a long stretch of ground—some fifteen hundred feet—there seems little doubt of its permanent character. I heard last evening, but cannot vouch for the fact, that a first-class prospect had been obtained in the White Horse claim, next to- the New Royal Standard. This locality is about half-way between Quartzville ami Carrickton, i nd promises to be a busy portion of the range, as the Caledonia and New Royal Standard are adjacent. The Bannockburn Company’s tunnel, close to the Royal Standaid, son o mile and a halt from the . upper township, has been driven about one hundred and fifty feet, without as yet having crossed any reef, while the tunnel being driven 1 y the Elizabeth Company, has als> f.fled to cut the reef —an event, however, daily 10.-ked for and expected The weather is fine—hot and dry days—cool refreshing nights. Summer is evident y the time to work here ; winter will certainly try the constitution of many, and find out what rheumatic tendencies many yean.’ mining and exposure have implanted in our frames. It is no joke to winter in Otago some three thousand feet above the sea. I tried it once in the province, and shall beg to be excused from repeating the experiment. I had then some advantages not here to bo found—an abundance of wood—while the lignite here has to be carted from the Bannockburn. 1 wonder at what elevation lignite can be found, what its • limits may be, and the reasnnal le and pro--1 a de grounds that can be adduced for its existence. 1 mean, who can tell us what t io guide is where to look for it * what is the outward and visible sign of it* hidden existence ? and what contiguity of rock < r strata should betoken its position ? A good seam of brown coal in this upper regie n would be the next best thing to a payable reef. If by any process of spiritual inquiry you can manage to ascertain where such a bel of ignenis material can be found in close proximity to this upper township, I’ll lease and i pen it, and when you come up here allow you to teas': your sh ns before my tire, as a reward for your discovery. You had better think this matter over. You won't get such an opening and ae eligible an offer every day. 'There is no scrip in the market as yet—l believe none issued ; but I expect this also will be altered after Christmas. I should rather like to see scrip floating about in people’s hands again. It is amusing to watch its fluctuations, the singular hands it gets into, and the pride some people f.cl in pushing those nicely printed slips of paper—so like cheques—into no ice and notoriety. It is the best and simplest way to hold mining property. It gets into a greater number of hands, can be more easily transferred, and enables poor people to hi Id interests in valuable estates.

Many other things are also to be remedied after Christmas. Shares are lo go up, the yield of gold is to be increased, a numb, r of fresh claims are to be opened ami proved, a large influx in population is to take place, a new era of prosperity is to dawn on the district, and what besides I would not venture to predict. Quien sale ? I believe all these things will come t) pass, and with such a declaration of my faith shall conclude my epistle. You can send us vp a copy of your "print.” Reading materiel is at a premium here. Eecrmber G. I suppose my last weeks letter was too scratchy, incoherent, or late for post, oryou m were suffering from a glut of matters or some other unforeseen casualty occurred that grevented it being “ set up,” Well all that is your business—certainly not mine. The only onus under which I labor is to write—your's and your readers the suffering —you to pay, and your subscribers lo endure. 1 believe all things considered, I have the best of the bargain. I do not think as yet I have fully dilated on the climate of this elevated locality—certainly a singular one. It is a kind of olla prodUia —like a broad'pudding, a Saturday’s dinner in a frugal household, a paupers coat, so patched you cannot divine what original material waslike, or an omnium gatherum of manyi'znnes. You may bo wo; king—but they tell mo that is not your forte—sweating at every pore neath the unclouded sun, without a breath of wind to cool your sweat begrimed skin for a couple of hours, ami

then (eel as though a rough monkey jacket or a seal skin coat were a desideratum. The forenoon may be calm as tht Agean Sea, op an inland lake, while p.m. has wind enough to blow the hair of a man’s head and congou! the marrow i.i his bones. It rains, snows, and hails reipeotively, and repeats the process in inverte I order. If a man •wmta anythin' novel in the way of climate recommend him to come here. He can be accommodate 1 daring the weeek to a long variety ; w'hat the year may produce is more than I would venture to predict. Recommend the head of the range as a meteorological station, and tell what a charming variety would be manifested in those dry ■dull tables the Registrar General inserts towards the end of that cheering and interesting blue book “ the Statistics of New Zealand." lam afraid reefs will be found much higher up the range than at present-, and in contemplation of such an event, just order mo a balloon for my inspection excursions. I can finl, I dare Say, gas enough up here for infla’inn. I’ll walk no higher tbanl have. I have travelled up and down so many hills in this uneven province of yours, that I such a longing for a level piece of ground, that, if 1 ever build a house again for my habitation, I shall avoid the perpetration of a flight of stairs as I would “ the logs." rr spending a night on the summit of Mount Conk. Things are, and yet are not as they were. The hotels are drawing nearer completion—that is, four of them, there were only three last week you should have known, and another has commenced. Perhaps you will kindly tell me and your readers how many there will be next week—five at present —and there is, as yet; only one store. It seems a wonderful thing to me that it requires so much more accomodation and attendance to satisfy the bibulous habits of people than to minister to their culinary capacities. You can write a leader on this head if you feel disposed, and consider yourself up to the mark. The Mizabeth battery still keeps pound, ing away, crushing about forty tons per wide. If conduct be fate, on what principles was this mill built—they say here by Halves—one moiety of power wanting. I don’t understand these things you perhaps may. What the result of her labour may be I cannot as yet predict. The tunnel in the Elizabeth claim has been driven to the westward of the open cast on the hill crown. The reef has either been passed in so doing—most probably—or hag died out or run thin. In the shaft sinkin in “ The Star of the East ” the reef is four feet thick and looks gratifying to the eyes of shareholders, their machinery is nearly complete The Caledonian finishes its crushing to night, you will have to learn the result from some other source than my weekly budget. “ White Horse ” shares are looking up—in fact none are for sale for money. Yesterday in sinking the shaft some very rich stone was struck, and will lend a great impetus to Can ickton and the range. Your readers will remember that this claim adjoins Butler’s, or the New Royal Standard, and is about half way up the hill from Quartzville to Carrickton. The “ Star ” sho il.l stand, and sell well. I must go and see the locality—but then 1 shall have to walk up the hill again. If many more startling discoveries take place, I shall have to charge you heavily for boot leather. Send a shoemaker and a blacksmith up here. They ought to prospir well. A newspaper correspondent should tell the wants of his district so as to ensure his effusions being read. When people find it pays to read correspondence, it helps to sell your “ print.” The ‘‘Nil Hesperandum ” slid widens ia the tunnel driven, but is a singular mullochy reef. It prospers however well, and this is however the chief matter. Visitors keep poking their intru sive noses in this quarter -more reporters than your servant have wandered hither—and the “ Birds of Prey ” not Miss Braddon’s are putting in an appearance. The carcase is perhaps not large enough at present, but “ bide a wee, ” as the canny people say, and see how the hooked nose tribe will gather. They will come from every quarter you will see after Xmas, before it “ The White Horse ” is like what it is reported to be. I saw a novel thing yesterday—a veritable policeman actually hunting up Chinamen for their licenses. He caught ten he told me last week—hoped to have another haul this one. I suggeste 1, if he were over-num-bered in prisoners, to lie them together by their tails—like a string of horses going to a fair, heads and tails together. I purposed patenting this idea—but considering the Mongols to be intruders, publish the hint lor the benefit of the police generally, and the “ s fe conduct ”of John. We are short of newspapers up hero. Send up a large roll of exchanges—by post, if you can get no Samaritan to bring them—and so addio ! till another week arrives. { For reminder of News set Supplement