BANNOCKBURN AND ITS RESOURCES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1064, 15 September 1882, Page 3

BANNOCKBURN AND ITS RESOURCES.

TO TUB EDITOR. Sir,— lt is doubtful whether the same feverish excitemen', which at one time held sway on the Garrick,’ will again prevail there. The time his gone by for dreams of speedy piles and cakes of gold of inordinate size and Miners have renounced thevisionary nbtionsof bygone days Flights of fancy and air-drawn castles have given way to thoughts of a less fantastic kind and to calculations more inlconsouanoe with the actualities of mining pursuits. To be “ contented w.’little, and canty wi’ mair," is a saying that will be more- honoured in the observance than it has been The highwrought imagination that looked for big things in has 1 een toned down by experience, not, perhaps, the pleasantest to look hack upon. Under the chastening influence of frequentdisappointment, miners have become less sanguine in their expectations and more moderate in th' ir gold-hun-ger. The eis still, and always will be, a desire to exaggerate ; but, fortunately, there is not the same amount’of credulity extant. Certainly making the best of everything is not so much to he condemned, It is a practice that is followed by the most of folks ; and, consequently, implicit credence is seldom placed in mere averments ; although it sometimes happens 1 that confidence is wrongly bestowed by the inexperienced and venturesome. Prospects and specimens are too often looked upon as a criterion, and taken upon tiust as the forerunner of an equivalent yield to be obtained from a heap of quartz, or, may he, the whole vein. Even nowadays there are persons to be found whose cupidity is easily excited, and whose speculative proclivities are [readily worked upon at the sight of a rich specimen, or encouraging prospect. Some there are. no doubt, who believe a prospector when he tells them that the specimen he produces was taken indiscrimina‘ely,’and not picked ; but their name is not legion. As a general rule, the quality of caution lias waxed stronger of late years, because the ways of prospectors, and claim-holders are getting known. WTien a miner wants a show speci men he hunts carefully for it : when he wants a “rattling” prospect, he knows where to look fur it, and how to take it out. In this he is in no wise worse than others who have anything saleable under notice But the. strangest feature in this common practice is the self -inflicted disappointment that results from it, as by continual selection from the best places only, taken with scrupulous care, the prospector, or cl inholder, as the case may be, is brought to look upon them as indices of the v'u of the whole mass hereafter to be treate • with. Thus he is acting in a manner that is a delusion and a snare to himself as well as to others. Crushings also are not a sure and reliable guide, though they are mostly looked upon as such. Thu first crushing is often the best, because exceptional caie has been shown m rejecting inferior stone and what is commonly termed mullock. It wou'd also appear that the number of tons put through a mill is, in some cases teior ed as b mg unknown ; at other times there is a certain amount of elr s ioity displayed in the calculations of those interested. Most old miners could speak in verification of the two forgoing instances. They are fully aware that when the quantity of stone that has been crashed is not declared, the crush ing has not come up to expectations ; and that when a trial crushing takes ph.ee, the pu lie has to be satisfied with the affirms tion made in regard of the quantity o ; stone put through. Things are not always what they seem Quartz reefs are things that seem to draw out all the ability a man lias to make the most of his resources. L’kely enough, when the coming summer arrives, and the sun and rain have dissipate I the snow on the Garrick, its spurs and gullies will be traversed by numerous prospectors There is a.probability, too, that many good rinds will be made, and many a man have cause to bless Dame Fn-tune, thou hj she has proved such a fickle jade in most cases. Our metaliferous lodes have not all been dis covered ; and our auriferous quartz deposits have undergone sufficient of the scratching process. They now await a more se; rehin • and thorougli-ffiiing trial ; and there is every probability of their getting it. A bright and prosperous future may yet he in store for the Garrick. 'Tis to be li ped, for all that, that the besetting sin of quar'z mine's will be laid aside, and Anthony Ttoßope’s entreaty regarded, and acted upon. Autolycus. Bannockburn, September 12, 1882.