BLACK'S

Dunstan Times, Issue 530, 14 June 1872, Page 2

BLACK'S

Very little of ary interest to tlie entsid public hae transpired in this most dull of all dull places since my last; in fact, 1 can scarcely tell bow we manage to keep ourselves from going melancholy mad. The same forms to be gone through day after day. Get up in the morning, have breakfast, take a stroll, have lunch, try to do a littlerbusiness, have dinner, take a walk throjlgh our black of all Black’s township, and go to bed. (Programme for one ’day,) the same dose to be repeated;till something turns up.whiqhMicawber like we, arestil anxiously looking'for, and look for in vain 1 The most of the cockatoos on the flat oh tamed their leases from the Warden cn Friday last, and are very jubilant thereat. There are [others (the minersj who are not so joyful. As I am not, interested either one « ay or the other, my poor opinion may he taken as unprejudiced. I think the Go. vernment have made a very great mistake in leasing any land on the flat, as I said in my last, they' have given a large sum of money to cut a drainage through a portion of it; that channel is still open, and enterprising parties of miners have cut branch channels from time to time from it to dif. ferant parts of the flat, and have, in many cases been amplyrepaidfor their trouble-, of course there are cases where they have not been so successful, andinsomeiustances'thcy have tr accd gold into agricultural block’s. Pbisj lam told on good authority, ha been the case in two instances. A numerously signed petition was forwarded to the Government about eighteen or twenty mouths ago, praying thera'to withhold those sections from agricultural leases. Another one to the same'clTecthas, IJiave been informed, been forwarded to our member, Mr. Shepherd, for presentation for the same purpose. Now, what has become of the first petition, If the land is still heldforagricultural purposes, and unless the miners interested in he throwing open of the flat, bestir themselves, it is more than likely that the second will receive no more consideration from the hands of theGovermnent than the fi.st. Surely theGovermnent are not so blind as not +o see the folly of alienating the auriferous lands .for farming purposes, and thereby throwing obstacles in the way of prospecting parties, the very parlies they should endeavor by every means in their power to assist. Tt is true miners can enter land that is held by agricultural leases, for the purpose of searching for gold, by pay. ing compensation, but if a party of miners start prospecting, especially in ground like Black’s flat, where there is so much water that they cannot sink a hole without taking a tail race with them to drain the ground, with cuttings averaging from eight to twelve feet, in depth, surely’iSt is enough for them to risk their time and labor without paying cash out of their own pockets'as compensation to the agriculturalist. Tha Government have been warned that the land is supposed to he auriferous, and if they still persist in issuing leases in spite of the protestation of the miners, the best thing the miners can do, will he to clear out and make room for the cockatoos. I have several more complaints against the Government, hut as my letter is getting rather long, I must defer them till another time. Enough is as good as a feast, so says the old adage, and grumbling perhaps will have more effect on the subject by being administered in small doses, and at regular intervals. In mining at Black’s No. ]. there is simply nothing of any public interest to chronicle. At Black s No. 3. the Homeward bound Company (formerly the Try Again) have struck first rate gold. This Company sunk their shaft in the reef and dovyn for the lead, they are now as near as possible under the first shaft that the Try Again Company tried to sink. They are getting out wash dirt, and I hear, expect it to yield from eight to;twelve ounces to the load. This will show what a Co-operative Company can do over a Limited Liability Company. The Try Again Company spent some OOOf. or 7001., and did not succeed in getting a shaft down fifty feet. The present company of only six co-operative shareholders, have struck the lead with only ten or twelve weeks work, and but very little expense save their own labor. Mr. John Pitches having furnished them with timber, etc., for a sleeping share in the venture.