THE SOUTH BEACH.

Grey River Argus, Volume VII, Issue 489, 4 March 1869, Page 2

THE SOUTH BEACH.

(FROM OTTR OWN" CORRESPONDENT.) March 3. < The Leviathan race -will now soon be completed, and it is expected that the company will be in a position to realise some of their well-earned rewards in the course of a few weeks. This will add thirteen more men to those who are now getting gold. The race goes within a few chains of the northern end of the Stoney Lead, and is about 10 feet higher than the ground on the lead, which has been taken advantage of by being connected with fhiming, so that the water is now available, and Messrs Keith, Inglis, and Hopkins have erected a water-wheel to enable them to pump the water out of their claim. This will be the means of saving an immense amount of labor, and enable them to work the ground to great advantage. The most northerly tunnel known as the United have made good progress with their work, and expect to be into the lead in a fortnight or three weeks. Messrs Howieson and Co. have also made considerable progress, and they expect to be in about the same tune as the United. Both these parties have lately met with veiy bad ground for tunnelling, being immensely wet and the sand running. This has caused Howieson and Co. to open from the surface, which necessitates a great deal of surplus labor. Had it not been for this drawback they would now have been in working order. They have, however, a splendid prospect to cheer them on, and well do they deserve it, for taking in a tunnel such a distance is no child's play. Messrs Scanlon and Co. have at last reached the goal of their ambition, and will now be able thoroughly to test their ground. Before, however, undertaking to bring /up their tunnel, they had succeeded in obtaining payable prospects, but could not work the ground through the super-abundance of water. Now as this tunnel is up to the ground, and will consequently drain the lead for some distance,

it is to be hoped that it be the moans of others prospecting without being defeated by the wetness of the ground. The Great Extended Water Race Co. are still hard at work with their, huge *ace, and are at the rear of the north end of the Stoney Lead. They have taken up about two acres of ground on the terrace beyond where the Ballarat Hotel used to stand, and not far from the Cemetery. The ground has the character of being good, and is expected to pay the men well, and riphly do they deserve a good reward for their manly perseverance. Some severe comments are being made just now about the action the Waste-Lands Board are taking once again in reference to the sale of land. It seems that this body wrote a letter privately to the Chairman of the Road Board to get his opinion as to the_ sale of certain lands, Avhich letter he the Chairman courteously informed the Board he had received. Now when are the public affairs of the County of Westland to be conducted openly! Whether it be advisable ip sell the particular land about which information was required is not the question, but it is the manner iij which it was attempted to be got. Why not have written a letter to the Chairman asking if the Road Board knew of 'any objection to the sale of the land and made it a public letter instead of a private one. It is said that this course was pne; of the recommendations of the County Cpuncil. If it be so, it is certainly a very rotten one, but t cannot believe for an instant that the County Council ever intended that, the Waste Lands Board should apply privately to any Chairman of a Road Board. Nothing but public information on public affairs will ever be satisfactory to the public.