NAPOLEON.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 703, 21 July 1870, Page 4

NAPOLEON.

July 19: '•'• The rush to Sullivau's Creek, near the Ahaura, nearly depopulated this place last week, and after the miuers returned and settled down to work Agaiv*, after satisfying themselves that Sullivan's was not any better than it should be, the ■whole place is thrown into a state of excitement again by the reported rich discovery at Half ounce. All sorts of people were scudding " over the hills and far away" in the direction of "Ten Pennyweights " (as this place is sometimes called) all through Sunday night and Monday. The spurt will soon be over, for there has been nothing found ' to justify a rush of such magnitude. ■

The Mosquito Lead is progressing very sTowly. These rushes have a bad effect on the rapid development of even proved and established leads. The . excitement of a new rush, and the chances of getting

gold quickly, are apt to lead men away from regular work, unsettling their minds until a final conclusion as to the value of the alleged new discovery is arrived at. There are eleven claims at work and paying well on this lead, and there are five or six claims at the Orwell Creek end in different stages of advancement. ' John Hessey and party have been taking levels, with the intention of raising water from Orwell Creek, to sluice away the point of the spur where the Italian lead is supposed to have been run put. They have found that, to raise the water to such a high elevation, they will have to go a long distance up the creek, and the quantity of water they will be able to bring on the terrace will be much smaller than they anticipated. Evans and Co., at Orwell Creek, are getting their large waterwheel into position. The party have the paddock they are going to sink to search for the main bottom, down a distance of 12ft from, the surface. The dimensions of this paddock are 50ft by 60ft square on the surface, and it will be allowed to gradually slope ihwardsj to keep the side from falling in. They -reckon to reach the main bottom at about 30ft. There have been 20,000 ft of timber used by this company already. Noo len's party, further down, have had a washing up. The yield wa's .satisfactory. This party are washing away a face nearly 60ft in height, but the large supply of water they command enables them to i»et through a deal of work. ! The weather has been intensely cold for the last ten days. The ground has been frozen so hard that the workmen on the new road were obliged to suspend operations. The frost penetrated to a depth of 12 inches in some planes. The : T6aa to the Ahaura is in somo places covered with ice, rendering travelling, especially along the side cuttings, very dangerous. ' Water for domestic purposes is not to be obtained without much trouble. The regular sources of supply are all frozen over, and the creek at the font of the hill is almost dry. Business is dull, in consequence of the late, rushesaud the scarcity of water. There being no permanent supply of water in the vicinity of -the • principal, workings, the miners have mostly to depend ou their dams and surfage drainage races ; but this supply is now cut off. The following shares have changed hands within the lasjt two weeks: — A one-twelfth in au amalgamated claim on the Mosquito -Lead, sold by order of the Warden, L3O ; a one-fifth share in claim and, tunnel at Half-Ounce^ Ltp ; a one-sixth in another, , claim on the same _ lead (on gold), Ll2O, on terms ; a one-sixth on the Italian Lead, at Napoleon^ for Llo— nearly worked out 1 ; 1 and a share in a water-race and 'sluicing claim at Duffer's, for LSO. The Commercial Hotel and Casino, at Napoleon, has also changed hands at a good price. ............ The case, Cavichavich v. Jeffries, recently heard at the itesidentJMagistrate's Court hero, caused a good deal, of local excitement. That it was an> attempt to injure Sergeant Jeffries in an "under* hand manner" — as his agent described it r-r-there could not be the lea3t doubt,- and it was not an idle boast that tb.e. majority of the respectable inhabitants would, had the case gone; on, have given evidence as to Sergeant Jeffries' efficiency as a police officer. Policemen .have •: never, as- far as I have heard, been considered patterns of morality, and we have yet H,o learn that because a man draws lls or- 12s a ? day from the revenue for performing ai specified dnty we are bo'irid to take him as a model in regulating our moral behaviour. , The conduct of the persons who were the instigators of this prosecur tion, and the trivial and frivilons argu-: ments used in support of it, remind one of the Scriptural allusion about "strain-! ing at a gnat and swallowing a camel," or as the nigger preacher ,put it to his flock, " straining at a gate aiid swalleren of a sawmill;" . \ ;';-'. ;; ;