LAKE COUNTY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 883, 21 March 1879, Page 3

LAKE COUNTY.

Arrowtowx, March 18th. '■'t. Patrick’s Day passed otf very quietly. There was an excursion to Kingston by the new steamship Mountaineer. The 'fares were very low—only 5s there and back, and it is needless to say that a number of people availed themselves of the trip At the Aiiow ihere was a shooting match between the Arrow and Queenstown Volun teer Corps, when the Arrow men proved the victors. Some of the men belonging to the Macetown contingent proved extremely good shots A d ir.ee. at the Od(Fellows’ Hall concluded the evening’s entertainment. From the reefs there is most cheering news, and the more they are opened out the better they seem to he. The Tipoerarv turned out sp’enlidly. a crushing of 501 tons producing 835 ounces of gold. The Horn word B mud yielded a cake of 130 ounces from 200 tons of stone. They haw some fine stone to put through, hut will not do so until their new tables are down- In the meantime they are crushing up all the stuff left by the little machine—the coffee mill -which, however, did very good snr vice in proving the mine. The All Nations are crushing some very good stone, hut arc very short of water. The Tipperary is now crushing at the public battery, aud the Homeward Bound are using their own machinery. AH the machinery on the mac works remarkably well, and it is difficult to say which is the best. Mr .1. B. Douglas has got the turbine driving the public battery to work exceedingly w 11, and there are verv few delays now. The Maryborough have their machinery erected, saving the shaft, which could only be got there on j Friday last, the wad having been made rca- | suitably pa-sdtle. and then it took two days to convey it one mile It, will take at least, two months to complete the road to Sawyers Gully. The floods played fearful havoc 'o vhe tracks un the Twelve Mile Creek. In places it is hard to say where they were, while in other cases they are feet below the level of where they were originally made. It will be impossible for some of the claims to get to work this season at all, to it is impossible to convey material at present. The gold appears to be extremely diffused about Macetown, and wherever there is a strong properly defined lole and facilities for machinery, it cannot fail to pay ; while the mines can he worked at very small expense. About six pennyweights to the ton will clear everything in a well conducted claim at Macetown The only drawback is first getting to woi k The floods doubtless i threw the place hack twelve months, and | the peopls a lot of money to set things I straight again. ; ■

We have bad a number of visitors 1 ac’y from I'nnedin and Invercarcill to inspect the mines, and they really express astonishment at the progress made, and algo at 'be magnitude of the undertakings, 'wJw'ffi

plainly show that the shareholders mean business. Ido not mean to asset that we are going to have a second Stawell or Sandhurst, hut I Jo mean to say that there is nothing like what wo have here either in Australia or New Zealand at the present day. The reefs -that is the parties working thorn—have had a deal of up hill work to pull against, in the shape of local jealousies and rivalries on the part of parties who refused to believe in them at first, but are now eating the leek of repentance. This class has systematically tried to iiijti'e the interests of the place but their efforts have proved thoroughly unavailing, as the mines am “ able to speak for themse'ves.” Our id i friends the Daily Times and O’ago Witness have been made great tools of in th s respect, corresoon lents, special and otherwise, representing ih'ise jour ia!s who never can get further than County road labourers, have been trying to teach us how to mine and manage mines, but have only biou.ht ridicule upon the pages of the journals they represent. With the exception of a few telegrams in the Evening Star, I see no hiog reliable in the Dunedin papers on mining matters. The Wit ness used once to be a very good au hm-ity. but lately its pages seem tn'e fi'l-d "itli no'hing but growls about. tb“ future of gold mining from the pen of M‘Quirk and M ‘Shanes, after reading which people a c in a greater fog than over It seems a pity chat even just the sligh'est. hit. of tb • hem of Sir Julius Vogel’s mantle was not left behind to assist the beni.-hted editor of the Witness in min ing matters.

Talking about journalism, a first-class weekly journal has ma le its appearance hero latelv in the shape of the Canterbury Times, edited, I believe, by M“ Robert L uigniiau, late of the Mount Pisa Station For its admirably chosen selections and eolum..s of general news, it is equal to the Australasian, and which it also equals in size The sporting news is first-class, while the printed matter is closely set in small type, and the paper is really a credit to j mrnalistic enterprise in New Zealand. Travellers say that the Canterbury Times has almost driven the Witness out of existence in the southern portions of Otago. 1 feel assured that all your readers will feel ideasure at the success achieved by their old friend, Mr Robert Loughnan. The Crown Terrace seeti ms, to the extent of six, were, thrown open for selection on Monday. They were something like a bone thrown to a pack of hungry dogs, as had th“ whole lot. been thrown open, each would have found an occupier, and a number of people settled down to work instead of being left to an unprofitable course of vexatious uncertainty. The movement for the new hospital daily gains favour, and people are coming nut liberally in its support. It is expected that the bazaar in aid of the funds will prove a most unqualified success.