NATAL.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 670, 5 May 1870, Page 4

NATAL.

[CAPE ARGUS.] The Natal papers contain news from the Tatin gold fields, not of a particularly encouraging character.. A Mr Upton, whose name is said to be a guarantee for the accuracy of the statements he makes, has written an apparently candid and explicit report of the progress of the diggers. It contrasts very favorably with the indefinite and random rumors which ate set afloat from time to time, and which even gain access to the London newspapers. Mr Upton's report is certainly not such as to induce a rush to>the fields. He gives a short account of eight distinct pits, with the names of the party engaged in each, and the result of their labors as far as they were known to him. Of No. 2 only does he give anything like a favorable report, and the following is the best that can be said of it : — "No. 2 consists of Itockey, from Durban ; also Dalton and James, two experienced diggers, who arrived here by the Sea Nymph, and a man employed, by them. They have a shaft about fifty feet down, and a second seven feet. Were getting quark with gold in it, visible to the naked eye. They told me they satisfied with the appearance. Mr Cookesly obtained his specimens from this party, one of which was the best piece of quartz that had been taken out of the ground by any of the diggers. Tbeir reef is about two feet thick. This pariy had three small stampers, put up by Rockey, and they had the London and Limpopo Company's engine to drive them ; but at the onset it proyed ineffective, and before three quarters of a ton of quartz was sufficiently crushed to separate the gold, the machine broke. It has been erected again on a better principle, and they expected to have it at work shortly." All the rest — Burrill's party, the King William's Town party, Old Charlie's party, and the remains of the Limpopo Company's men— have either found no gold at all, or such small quantities as to be scarcely worth mentioning. One of the parties had sent to the surface as many as fifty tons of quartz, and one hundred and fifty was ready for crushing, which gave do hopeful signs of gold to the naked eye. Mr Upton sums up the results yet achieved and the expectations of the diggers in the following paragraph : — " There was not a quarter of an ounce of gold out of the quartz in the possession of any of the diggers up to the 3rd of August. If there had been I feel sure I should have heard of it. The men there are all, I may say, determined to work as long as they can. They are very poor and have to live on Kafir corn (mabele), which is not fit food for a European. I was told that had it not been for the two diggers who came by the Sea Nymph, raising their hopes and setting a good example, there would not have been more than half a dozen men left at the Tatin. I should think there was in all abqut one hundred and fifty tons of quartz ready to crush. 1 could not see the gold in the cropping-out of any of the reefs, and yet fifty feet from the surface there is gold visible to the naked eye. Mr Hubener, a geologist, told me he thought they would find the reefs get richer as they descend, and that they ought to go down from one to three hundred feet ; also that there must be alluvial gold in the vicinity." This is certainly not a very cheering account, and does not predispose us to join in Mr Hubener's sanguine expectations. We hope this gentleman is not first cousin to Mr Mauch. It may turn | out that proper machinery will bring more gold out of the quartz than the diggers anticipate ; but we cannot but think that the indications would have been more encouraging if the fields are really to pay for working. It is at least satisfactory to know that no Btone— we ought perhaps to say no quartz — is being left unturned to test fairly the capabilities of the reefs. Sir John Swinburne, it will be remembered^ has with his party made for the Northern fields ; but nothing, either one way or the other, has been heard of his success. From all we have heard, we should doubt if Sir John is just the man for thfe expedition he has undertaken. He is a roving gentleman, with no great knowledge of practical work, and, we beV.eve, none at all of mining. The Mercury is naturally far more anxious that gold should be found at the UmzintOjUn the neighborhood of Natal. The diggings have, so far, borne no fruit, and we ourselves shall be quite surprised if the Umzinto is ever associated with remunerative operations of any kind.