CARRICTON.

Dunstan Times, Issue 518, 22 March 1872, Page 3

CARRICTON.

—o—(TP.O3I OCR CORRESPONDENT.) Carrickton, March 19, There is not much use in my writing •early inthe week, as itis almost impossible to predict when my letters may come to band. 1 see the R.S. I sent you last week arrived before the letter itself. However, ns I enunciated—for me—some weighty truths

in that iterant contiibutiou, it will certainly not injure for ketping. There is one advantage in general communications, or stock writing, they answer for all time. You will not require 1 suppose to be informed that quartz reefing and the development of quartz lodes is a slow matter, needing patience, money, and time, and yet it is this very element in its character that gives it however its value. ’Tis not an evansscent industry like calico gold workjn‘'s reminding one of a tinker’s existence, _-always on the move—hut one that mpels settlement, and chains down to a fixed habitation the most restless of man. Alluvial miners, as a rule, make had reefers. They have aot the patience or the training to wait the result of systematic labor, wishing to obtain tha egg ere the process of incubation is complete, and suffer in consequence for their haste. In reefing it is eminently true, that one sows and another reaps, men find auriferous quartz on the surface, delve •away at the stone, destroy then- chance of -working the ground properly, and having obtained a few ounces of gold leave their inheritance of discovery to another, and recommence the same spasmodic action elsewhere. When the hisen-y of gold mining in Australia and bcw Zealand comes to be impartially written, great surprise will be manifestedtby future generations, as to the manner, recklessness and imperfection with 'which such valuable mineral estates belonging to the Crown were suffered to be mismanaged, depreciated, and worked. The less of labor res-alticg from misdirected effort, is bad—a loss to llse whole community, as well as the individual—but when to this is added the loss that accrues to mining property from such ill directed exertions the loss becomes quadrupled. Were any other class of mining on earth so badly conducted as gold mining generally is, mining per se would be execrated as a Jetish bringing poverty to households, and its adventurers to the Asylum. Every man o i his own hook, and as every man is best in his own eye i, it scorns the rule to have been followed in Australia for the first decade of the gold producing era, and in New Zealand such a fallacy is nov yet explode- 1 . The Government alone must be considered respr nsiblc for this mismanagement, as private individuals if included among the s me, when leasing mineral estates of all kinds take care to make stringent conditions

that all such leases shall be "worked ao•c rding to tbo best and most approved method in vogue that is known to experts. Hence, perchance arose the olfi Arabian proverb— “ lie wbo mines for copper will make a fortune, “hewho mines for siivarwill .gain a livelihood, but he who mines for gold, will die a beggar.” The statement may he a heresy', but is still a truth, that to the combination and uniformity of purpose and idea .mong the Chinese say he -attribute! their success. A considerable -amount of money' has l>eea spent on the ■Garrick Range in attempting to test the reefs—perchance too much may have been .attemptel—but it is not too much to eay dhat a tithe of this expenditure and labor •well applied, would have produced results whether satisfactory or not remains to be seen, of far greater importance than it has yet fallen to my lot to chronicle or of which this Island as yetmay claim to have ta.de known. Over 'the hill sides in every direction trenches and shafts commencedto be sunk can beseen, tunnels at shallow depths begaa to be driven, leaders opened and left with the "zro kers no wiser than when they commenced operations—indelible tes.timonK.ls of crude and hasty action, and the mar, of

specuhitien as to what mental ob'.iqtity cf ■vision could have given rise to their projection. In claims that have a monetary value, and pay dividends to the owners tills remark is al«o applicable. A stranger as a rule becomes bewildered in attempting to fathom the leading idea that should be manifest in the workings, is confounded with either themultitude of the shafts that arc sunk to due together, that the debris of the one mixes with the debris of its brother, or indulge in dreamy speculations as to whether,'from the quantity of ground that is left open and exposed from the surfacedownward, without even a prop between the walls, men, managers, or owners have any idea of the height their working arc above the sea level, or the faintest recollection from observations or hearsay of the projective power of frozen water between the interstices of loose rock. The *• ten hour system” has been inaugurated in the Star of the East—and tbe nine hour sy.-tem in some of the other •claims. Having the Saturday afternoon as a holiday, minces the latter system to something like the eight hours orthodox day’s time—giving the employers only an hour and a half extra •during the week. ' I shall leave the Cromwell A rym to battle out * his question aneut the ten hours, and •content myself by observing the tendency anon have when a chance is offered them to revert to barbarism, and the mixture of intelligence and want of concerted , action minors combine to’put up'with an infliction, that would turn out every collier from Lis stall from Boghead to Ruahon or Tredegar. With long horns, in hospitable places in which. 4 o dwell, and excessive taxation, the miner may be compared to a sailors horse with a long back, warranted to carry treble. Our bridge 1 hear is speedily to be commenced. M'Ponnick will evidently confer a looon on the public and benefit himself by doing so. If men only knew it, this is the surest way to seek prosperity. Consideaing the railway is to come to Tunpeka, when will the Clyde* bridge be commenced ? and

finished, so that chief of all abominations inland, the Clyde ferry he abolished ? I presume you will consider that local questions concern not the dwellers on the Carrick range, yet, even here the nuisance is felt, as men prefer going by Cromwell to Clyde, than waiting thirty or forty minutes to be wafted across the Molyneux at your very doors.

The township here is increasing rapidly. We have two hotels open, one in a state of coma, two grog shops, and two restaurants in our midst. Sod huts seem to he the order of the day—thd harbinger : aud precursor of winter. The pipeclay road is finished. Strange to say, no hotel or shanty is yet located at its terminus. I have heard it stated, the cause of such neglect being the determination of our local representative to introduce the Maine Liquor Law into tl e Province. I cannot vouch for the truth of this statement.

I have nothing very startling in the way of mining news to communicate, hence my prelude of slow discoveries and developments. The last crushing of the Oak give, lam informed a divi lend of 135!. p shave for the month ; 175 tons of stone yielding 234 ounces. A very good dividend for a months work. Mr. Reid is succeeded in the management of the battery by Mr. Menzies. The Elizabeth machine is to commence operations again ; a patent blast being tried for steam generating purposes—this fail • ing, I presume the ultimatum willbe reached —anew boiler. I have not heard when the t vial crushing will be finished or its probable result, but, whatever misfortunes and drawbacks this company may have, they have the consolation of possessing a good claim. All tha elements of prosperity and independence are in their hands—and time and patience will pull them through. The Young Australian suspend operations and protect their ground. They have traced their thin flat leader one hundred feet, meeting a quantity of water, the leader not improving, and shareholders neglecting their

(a’ls have induced this decision The ground in the spring will doubtless be agiin taken up, thecompany bo reformed, and a thorough trial given to the claim. In the variety of the manifold phases gold mining exhibits there is perhaps no plan more fatal to success or satisfaction to shareholders than following a flat leader that will not pay to take out, with the'exception perchance of killing poultry to ascertain whether sufficient gold may be found in their gizzards to pay for their untimely death. Over the Young Australian may ho written the words Hie jacet, ifrc. The youth lived too fast, and crowed too lustily about his might to ensure a green and lusty longevity. The Welcome shaft is still sinking, the shareholders are more sanguine than eve”, and 1 sincerely trust they may cut the reef to expose the sapiency of our legislative mining enactments. From the quantity of powder they arc burning they must be wonderfully exultant. I may in conclusion append a list of the dying and the dead. The Dawn of Hope, the Golden Star, the Terror, the Victoria, the St. Clair, the Golden Phoenix, the Nugget, the Young Australian, the Black Horse, Lord Clyde, and perchance one or two others. A noble and motley obituary. Some of them may perchance yet figure in the Probate Court, and their testimentary bequests reach a respectable llgare. I have some grave doubts as to whether the winter may not prove too severe for the health of a few others, but shall reserve my suspicious to myself. The machinery for the Nil and the Burns is to be in working order the commencement of June. Ten 3cwt. stamps are to be driven by a fourteen horse power engine. The machinery is to be erected by Messrs. Kincaid and M ‘Queen of Dunedin, at a cost I hear of about 1,200k This battery will be about four hundred feet lower than the Elizabeth. There is some dispute at present between the Companies and Candidates for the honor of supplying their crushing gear, on which at present I shall not comment. Scrip in the Nil Despcrandum claim are to my knowledge sold for a good figure. The Pipeclay Companies deserve much credit and consideration for their long and hard sustained perseverance. ———VaT..—-- iiißMil