MINING INTELLIGENCE.

Evening Star, Issue 3912, 7 September 1875, Page 3

MINING INTELLIGENCE.

( Fro?n our Exchanges.)

The Universal Company are pushing their works rapidly forward. They have part of their machinery on the ground, are building the water-wheel, and their tail-race is working effectively. It has lowered the water in the shaft of the Arrow United Company by 12ft., so it is quite plain that there is every chance of the flat being bottomed now, and the United should reconstruct their company and get to work as seen as possible. The outlet to the Kawaran of the Arrow lead of gold appears to have been discovered in private property, Fitzgibbon’s farm, on the opposite side of the Arrow llivor to the land which has been the subject of contention between the miners and Mr Patrick Kerrin before the Waste Land Board. The lead is said to be very rich, paying about Ll7 per man weekly ; and some good nuggets, up to 3ozs., have been found there. The Fitzgibbons are sluicing the ground, and are about to cut in a rock tailrace 40ft. deep. It is now very probable that the Arrow lead will be traced through the flat, most likely under a great deal of private property.

The Sons of Fortune Company expect to be on gold very soon. The woxks are progressing rapidly and securely, and shares arc firm. The Rip and Tear river claim, after tiring out the patience of several European parties, is now yielding good returns to a Chinese patty, who have been so far favored by immunity from flood —that terrible enemy of the river miner.

The Niagara party, who are bringing up a drainage tunnel under the river bed; are now ear their expected prize, and have had some very good dividends lately. A very payable quartz lode is being developed by the Crown Terrace Quartz Mining Company, who arc sinking to the lode. They are down Bft., and the reef is over 2ft. wide. Some of the specimens are on view at the bank, and five or six ounces per ton is talked of. Operations on this line of reef arc being commenced with good results in otherparts of the Crown Terrace. Another reef there, the Columbian, has been taken in hand by a prospecting company floated for that purpose. This lode is parallel with tiro former, hut further hack ; it is 6ft. wide, and gob I is obtained from the casing. The Phcenix tributers, Skippers, have now 300 tons rich stone ready, •anil hope to commence crushing in a month. The Nugget and Cornish have not yet struck the reef in their deep level, although said to he close to it. 3 he weather at the Arrow for the post week has been excellent. Work progresses more favorably in all the claims. Hopes are enter- I tained of being able to work claims shortly that were abandoned on account of the severe weather at the Twelve-Mile. The Messrs Hull and Resta will, if the present favorable weather continues, commence the work of opening_ out their reef and thoroughly prospecting it. At Cromwell there is little or no stir, and nothing of special interest to report on. Water is still very scarce, and every week the Warden is asked to grant protection to a number of claims, they being unworkable, owing to the very inadequate supply. Unless they have a plentiful fall of snow to form spring and summer stores, the prospects of the slulcers in the coining season are anything hut assuring. I'ho ‘ Arrow Observer ’ comments as follows on the late meeting of the Arrow United Gold Mining Company The meeting was called to consider the advisability of winding up tile I company. The chairman attributed the failure J of the company to having two directories, and hj« was quit* right* but we entirely diaagtee

with Mr G. F. Reid’s saying that the upcountry directors had mismanaged tho affairs of tho company, aud that they did nothing but write querulous letters. Whose fault does Mr Reid imagine it is, that the company has been so unsuccessful? We will answer, and defy contradiction —the Dunedin directory. This is the grand secret of the non-success of tho company. Had the local directors been allowed to do with the claim what was right and proper, the present smash-up would never have occurred. There w'ere men in the local directory who knew more about the claim than all tho Dunedin shareholders put together. There were men who had worked on the Arrow River. The Dunedin directory even gave no power to their mining manager, a gen tlemnu who would long ago have bottomed the flat had he been allowed his own way. Rut no, tho money mast be spent in Dunedin—or wasted, we should say. Whore has tin* 1.4,000 gone to? Has it benefited tin’s district in any way? We emphatically answer, no! 1c has been literally squandered by a lot of men who know nothing about the mine, and, what is more, never will. Mr Reid also makes an assertion to the effect that the directors up-country have only thought now of constructing a race Costing seventy pounds. Does Mr Reid know that Mr Elliott, the manager, wasted to construct that race when he first came to the claim ? Who is- to blame ? If, we say again, Mr Elliott had had his own way, the claim| would have been in a dividend-paying position. The directors in Dunedin might as well have sent up a big humming top to work the machinery as the first turbine that came. The last one, Leffell’s, is a good one, and is of sufficient power to bottom the flat, but they will not give it a fair trial. Now they talk of starting a new company to work the claim! We give them this one particle of advice : let the local directors conduct tho affairs of the mine, without interference from anyone, and give the mining manager, whoever he may be, power to act, so that he may be able to work successfully ; also, don’t think too much about giving Dunedin the ‘ big licks’ of the expenditure.” The weather at Moonlight has been anything but favorable during the last fortnight to the mining interest there. What with hard frosts and snow storm, a good deal of valuable time has been lost.

A meeting of the Moke Creek and Moonlight Minors’ Association was held at Mr Gardiner’s store last week, when a committee of ten, with Mr W. Crozier as president, was duly elected to carry on the business for the next twelve months, A Progress Committee, consisting of five members, was also appointed to look after the roads and tracks in tho locality. This has been an unfavorable season for the claimholders at Butchers Point, the river requiring to be at a very low level before the claims can be worked to advantage. Paddocking is proceeding briskly, and, although rather late in the season, tho claimholders have still hopes that they will be repaid for their labor. Noble and party at Frenchman’s Point have commenced another paddock ; their claim has turned out very well, and there appears to be sufficient payable ground on the back reef to last them tor several years. Michael Kett is still on ground, and it is gratifying to think that he will be well repaid for his great outlay in cutting the rock tunnel. Stewart and party are still sluicing on the terrace near the brewery; they have a good supply of water, and are rapidly altering the appearance of the ground in that neighborhood. The ground is rather poor, but the quantity they are enabled to wash renders it payable.