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Grey River Argus, Issue 91, 11 August 1866, Page 2

If the various specimens of gold bearing quartz that are continually -being discovered in the Grey distrijt may be .regarded* as indications of the richness of the -original, reef, we may venture to say that there remabs^as yet undiscovered a source of golden ■wealth passing the wildest imaginations/of gold hunters. We yesterday were shown a specimen of quartz from the Inaugahua whicn far surjrasses anything of the kind we" have ever witnessed. The piece is about four inches long by three inches broad at its widest part, and weighs 9 oz 18 dwts, of which about 7 oz are estimated to be pure gold. The precious metal lies like an envelope on one- extremity of the stone, and just, as if the molten metal had bean poured" over the pointed end and allowed to cool on" the surface. The quartz is laminated, the gold being plainly visible in the various interstices. It does not »appear to be ranch water worn, and certainly leaves the impression that it has been found not far. from its original site!" | There^have been' too many examples of this kind to doubt-th© existence in some as yet undiscovered region of the' vast quartz reefs wliich have already by their disintegration supplied such a rich harvest of gold in the gullies" and water courses, And their discovery can only be a question of time, for* the researches of the miners, .which are continually being pushed further back into the unknown interior, are sure ultimately to lead to the result already achieved in. Otago —the discovery of rich quartz reefs. * The specimen we have referred to is in . the possession of Messrs Broadbent and East, who will doubtless be glad to submit it to the inspection of those interested* in such matters. . During the. lvcent separation debate in -the House of Representatives Mr Dillon.Bell gave utterance to a ban mot which deserves preservation. Alluding to the demand of Auckland for the control of nathe affaire, and of Otago for the management of the ' igold fields, he said,^" In short, the North wants its niggers and the South its diggers," We find it mentioned in the Australian papers that Mr Michie, a well-known and eminent member of the Australian bar, is about to emigrate to New Zealand, -and that he has been specially retained for the defence of the Maungatapu murderers. s It- is. always "a pleasing duty to mention ' instances of successful local manufacture, and ■ we gladly notice the production by Messrs Broadbent and East of a beautiful gold smiffbox, made to the order of a merchant in town- , As a work of the goldsmith's art it is -highly creditable, the ornamental design being at once chaste and well executed. , Indeed, we were hardly prepared to find that such a" finished piece of "work was within the compass /)f bur local tradesmen. - Referring to the Bank robbery at Okarif a, \the Westland Observer says: — "The -have apparently not yet succeededen putting their hands on Richard Banner, by whom aquautity of gold, supposed to be that stolen from the Bank of New Zealand, Okarita, was recently sold to a storekeeper, Jones, at the" Grey. . It is known that previous to his disappearance from the West Coast,* he sent several hundred pounds to his wife in Melbourne ; and it is suspected that he subsequently ' sailed for some of, the ' South American ports. 'Dick' is not supposed to have been concerned in the actual robbery, but to have obtained a knowledge of the secret as the guilty parties were -about to leave, and to have made sufficient 'use of that knowledge' to induce them to give him a share of the spoil. 4> There is, in fact, a suspicion that the actual thief benefitted least by^the robbery, and that Banner and Sullivan, or whoever was his companion, received the lion's share. If is thought 'that part of the gold is still ' planted ' in the neighbori hood of Okarita, "the exact locality being a problem which a great many would like very, much to solve." ■* • i l ; /y ' A man named James M.'Fee had a very k narrow escape from drowning T on Tuesday. He-is a boatman, and was engaged, in trackingahoat in the shallowwater about 7 miles up' the river, and whilst hauling on the farthest end of the rope, lie fell face foremost in the water. Fully fiVe minutes -elapsed before his companions discovered his actual condition, and when they attempted to lift him'

they found him to all. appearance dead. They immediately put him in the boat and returned at, once to Greymouth;," where Dr Foppoly was promptly ; summoned to- his assistance.-' At the time Dr Foppqly reached him the faintest eyidences,of life only were apparent, but fortunately the means adopted to resuscitate him proved successful, and after two hours exertion he was brought round. It appears that the man^was slightly intoxicated before starting, and that the ex- i cessive cold of the. waiter : had produced cramp, and caused him .to fall. . ■ The winter has been ao severe on tlie Dunatan diggings that the miners have keen employing their time in amusing -themselves on the ice.' Curling matches- have been quite the fashion, and skating, sliding, and such like have been pursued to a great extent. It is stated that such a severe winter has not been experienced in Otago ever since its occupation by Europeans. ' -■; \\ " By tlie overland mail, we have, Dunedin papers to the 4th, and Christchurch papers to the Oth mats. . ; ' i Several instances have come to our know- j ledge of narrow escapes froni. fire, owing to the faulty construction of fireplaces— parti-! cnlaiiy those made of iron. ; Only a night or' two ago the house of aT gentleman in- this, town nanwly'escaped destruction from this very cause. His fireplace ia one of the iron ones so commonly used, and- the bricks at the bottom had been placed on logs and shingle. The. lime having worn away from between.the bricks, some of the embers had fallen through on to the dried and heated logs, beneath, which smouldering for a fame at last broke out into a blaze. This occurred after the family had gone to, bed, and but for the timely discovery of the fire by a neighborit is_highly probable the house would have been consumed. Not long ago a precisely similar accident " occurred in another house, and, m that instance it was only liy chance that the discovery was made and the building saved. We would advise the householders to examine their fireplaces if they would wish to be safe. : '1 "'" ■ An important decision has recently been delivered in Duedin by Mr Justice Chapman, to the effect. that a Banker has no lien on bills placed in his hands for collection. The case in question was the " Commercial Bank of New Zealand v. Dyer." This decision ia an important one to the- mercantile community. It will be well for sportsmen tq remember that, the "close season" commences on the Ist September, after which date. all persons destroying pigeons or wildfowl are liable to fine according to the Act. - Okarita appears to have done its share in making the fortunes of some fortunate diggers.' The local paper says : — "Among the parties of successful miners who left this locality during the past week, there was one party of eight, eacK of "whom went away with £ 1 000, the- result of 'a few months' work at the -Five Mile. - This is only one among many instances of. good fortune which has attended the work of digging on that beach, the majority of the front claims having been found equally rich. On the same beach we know 1 of another party who, out of little more than two mensV. ground, have already got 600 ounces, ami they have yet' one-half of the ground to work, with every prospect of getting 400 ounces more." ' The heavy rain of the last few days has made the New River diggings a most comfortless place, the ground, particularly ' in tht bush, being almost impassable. Several claims have been flooded, and "others have cavedjn ; but still, the^ spirits of the miners have not suffered, as all are sanguine of success. The rain has prevented much work being done during the past few days, and we are not aware of any new facts worth men. tiouing regarding the prospects of the diggings. A. police station is a necessity that the authorities ought to look after promptly, as there are a good many suspicious characters on the rush lodking out for what they call '<a slant."; Order, however, has-been well preserved, considering the crowded population, and the excitement that.always attends the' opening of anew rush. There have been rumors afloat for the last day or two of the discovery of payable ground further back in the upper terraces, but we have not been able to ascertain anything definite concerning it. A small rush has set in on -a terrace a mile or twa from the Teremakau, but we cannot learn that it is of any. particular importance. The rush reported last week, behind the cemetry, progresses slowly, although we are informed that several claimshave proved payable.- From Maori Gully we hear that the rain has been very.wel-. come, and that the various sluicing parties -are again,busily and profitably; engaged." A short time. ago. our Dune&iri correspondent mentioned, the successful trial of a hew patented . apparatus for extinguishing fire, known as "L'Extincteur," consisting of a small portable vessel containing a peculiar cliemical compoumF which' has the effect of ' impelling with 1 great force a jet of "water onany portion of a burning "bitilding. Its great efficiency is in extinguishing a fire at its commencement,' and in being so portable and convenient as to be a most useful and necessary equipment of every householder. • 'We notice that Mr Morris Levy, of this townj lias been appointed agent for the patentees, 'so that anyone desirous of possessing one o* these valuable machines can obtain it. " Farming on a gigantic scale is being carried on in Southland. We learn, from the- JSotdhland Times f that "in the Oterainika Hundred,and ou.the banks of the Mataura, the operations of one company — for we understand , the various estates, .which may well be called such, are to be amalgamated— are deserving of notice. . It has at present about 50,500 acres of laud fenced,' a good, deaLof it subdivided, and a large portion under cultivation] In addition to- this, it possesses 46,000 which it is intended to bring under cultivation as speedily as possible. V There are five ateam ploughs at work, turning iip the soil .in preparation for culture, and three more are expected, besides which, there are 60 of plough horses in constant employ-

- - . ■ , ■- : • •■ : r - -■■■■■■i!U ;ment. ; From- two to threemmdred men are . : ™ daily engaged in clearing and. breaking up-'-,' land for the ploughs: There is a flour and oat-mill in course of erection, which is to b s' . worked with an engine of 25-hbrse power, arid two steam saw-mills have been in con-/^^ starit woik for months. Theperfect.appointment of everything- ori ; these estates is such Aas is seldom or never seen in a new-colony, and is quite equal to the highest culture in the home couutry. We" understand jihat the ; * instructions to. the managers of these various properties are to lay down at least 10,000' ;acres yearly in English grasses. The cartage alone from Invercargill forms no inconsider-. able item in the expenditure and would justify the belief that a railway constructed in this direction would prove a remunerative " undertaking. Twenty horses, besides several bullock 1 teams,, are in daily employment V "carting between Invercargill and the different properties, at an' average of four pounds per ton." - It will be seen that our" latest advices from the Inangahua district fully substantiate the previous reports jis.to the discouraging ' . effects of the high price of provisions .there. We are glad 'to notice, however,, that the Nelson Government, wrth its accustomM foresight and energy, is endeavoring to improve the means of 'Communication, and thus reduce the cost of -conveyance. We may hope therefore that before long the miners of the Inangahua and the adjacent localities will be able to get their supph'es aTa reasonable rate. • * / The Melbourne -Argus vrla.b]i is usually so reticent in matters of the kind, predicts a considerable rush from Victoria to" Hokitika ' and Greymouth during the ensuing spring and summer. And no wonder, for according, to the same journal, the condition of the industrial classes was never so gloomy as it 13 now. In a leading "article, in a recent issue, r - the Argiis says :— " By an unfortunate coincidence in time,, the actifcis of the Ministry and the.acciderits of the seasons have combined tdmake the cost of living much higher than it was, so that' wages have been not only absolutely lessened in amount, bnt their purchasing power has been still further re- ' - duced. There never was; a time since the discovery of gold in this colony, when em- '- ployment was found to be so scarce, and when the evidences of poverty^ were' so pain- i fully apparent in_ the hordes of begging ; children which are to be met "with in the - •streets." "' It will be seen by our import list that the Wallaby brought down on her last trip from the BuUer .221 02s. of"gold. ; This is 'the Second or third shipment recently from the Buller. ' 'Thepiec* of qxiartz already mentioned in , " our columns as having been found at Gully has proved on being broken up to be impregnated %vith gold to an . extent seldom seen. We have inspected la portion of- it, - ; and' ; " certainly we cannot remember having "■ ;s'een-'' / anything-equal to it, the gold istuddirig the 7 stone in small semi-crj'stalised forms^ ■ / The following amusing incident is reiatetili^ tytbe Otago Daily Tunes:- ":M sitting nnderjhe- Debtor^and Creditors*=-^ Onlinance, a soliciToT^hira^a^^ opposing; creditors exsimined^ an insolvent / very, pertinaciously as to some 'valuable / plate,' which it was insinuated the insolvent \ hiad sent to the house of a friend for safety. \ The insolvent' denied that he had had any I plate, and said that 'the Court would laugh' • \ could it see what is now spoken 6f as plate. \ He admitted that some old things werejeftin a box in which he had sent some plans to . - a friend's house. The solicitor did ;: not easily give up the idea of secreted-plate ; but probably he yesterday laughed heartily; -, enough over the matter. The friend, • seeing" \ the pubUshed report of the examination, has sent toVthe assignee the ' articles of plate ' They comprise-twd -plated ■ spoons, one " plated fork, a battered' Britannia, metal tea- '" , pot, a block tin coffee pot, and three small - : small japanned canisters; •- -.The, things were packed in something like a ; porter case. The sender requested that the assignee would be ' ■ good enough to 'give tatiie bearer a receipt / for ' one box plate !' ' We believe that the f assignee didn't.',' - . ■ / We have been requested to announce that 1 the. Rev. ,Mr White will preach two sermons - ! " in the Religious Institiition Rooms, Gresson ! street, to-morrow, ia 'tW ' morning^ at 11 > p'clock, and'Tn the evening at half-past 6. "i '.. CoUections will be made after each service in aid of the. building fund; which is still iv arrears. _ ■ \ . - * In our last we made mention of a rumor, to the.effect that some good ground had been discovered -at Jackson's B»y. 'We find, the foUowing information relating to the alleged discovery, in the Westland , Observer, °of Saturday last :— " Jackson's Bay is once more spoken of as the probable locality of a rush. One of. a party' of foreigners, who have been at wo*k in th.at neighborhood for several months past, arrived in Okarita this week. It is said that his intention wastoapply lor a prospecting .claim, and obtain protection for the^same. There is, however, no warden here at present,! and- he has/proceeded to Hokitika to "effect his purpose. '^ Such, at least,, is the statement of his friends >■ %., 1 and those with whom he has been in comnraideation; The patfy is said to have pros- *1 pected the country north and south of Jackson 's Bay, and the gold now obtained is i underatood to have been go£ on a tablie land ,' in the vicinity, the prospects promising rijuh ' ' and permanent workings. . . All this' inuWbe ' received, in the meantime^ with coniideratle • caution. Should the story; prove 'correct, 1 there is not on the whole : coast a : more eligible locality as the centre of a gold field thairJackson'sßay, but there have'beenso' imany unreliable rumorspf good thjngs 'dowA •* south,' that the exerdse of, aUttieipatieuce is advisable; A few days will ?proye wh^ ; M ther the soi-distant proapector;Ss in eariies?' M or riot." i.:. ■ ; >-.;' : v -'.-. . .;.' a