VICTORIA

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 707, 30 July 1870, Page 1 (Supplement)

VICTORIA

[MELBOURNE LEADER. JULY 9.] A crushing of some trial stone at Alfred Town in the Wagga Wagga district has just yielded 22dwt to the ton. The reef is 2ft 6in thick. A large quantity of gold is reported as having been obtained last week at Berlin, especially in John's paddock, where, says the local journal, Harvey Hall got on Tuesday a piece weighing lloz 7dwt: In another claim near a piece weighing 7oz was obtained on the same day; and a Chinaman found an 18oz piece at the back of Slcshmaii's store. If the mining operations in the vicinity of the Main road are not soon stopped, people will become afraid to live in that portion of Ballarat East. AMr Myers, landlord of the . North British Hotel,. Main road, Ballarat, was standing tranquilly at his own door on Monday morning, with his hands behind his back ; the ground on which he stood sank without the slightest warning, and he was taken downward till nothing was seen of him but his head and shoulders; but as tho sinking then ceased, he soon found himself again on what he had more reason to consider terra firma. The cause of the sinking could be nothing less than mining says the Star. " Rumors were circulated in Graf ton," says the Observer, " some two weeks since that a mountain of antimony largely mixed with lead and silver had been discovered near Tabnlum, some also saying there were indications of sufficient golddeposit to pay working expenses. Allowing for exaggerations, we have reason to believe that there is a little reliable truth in the report. We hear this week that some dray loads of samples were being sent down for shipment to Sydney, to ascertain the nature and value of the material. If the report should turn out true the discovery will be a valuable one to the district. A gentieman from near Tabulam, who has often brought into Grafton quantities of gold from that neighborhood, a couple of weeks since brought into town about 60oz of the precious metal, of a coarse and nuggety kind." The Ballarat Star relates the following story of a hoax which occurred on Saturday : — " At the Corner, on Saturday, people were deceived by the report spread at Gordon, that the fortnight's yield from the Victoria mine was 300oz, and several lost rather heavily by hastily buying under the belief that the statement was correct. One instance is worthy of mention. hotelkeeper, on the Gordon road, learnt when the coach stopped at his house that the yield was 300oz, and being informed by a person supposed to be reliable, and possessed of peculiar advantages for learning the truth that it ' was right' to buy shares, , started off on horseback, arrived before the coach, and bought at the Corner at 345. . Shortly afterwards he found shares offered at 28s, and ascertained that his kind adviser had left the coach before it pulled up at Cobb's office, and had as carefully abstained from giving Ballarat people intelligence as he had been willing to tender advice to buy. The coachman sincerely believed that the report of the large yield was true, and he unwittingly caused the loss of a good deal of money by repeating the news." All the miners have struck work at the United Miners Company, Harrietville. They demand L 3 per week for eight hours' labor per day. The manager, Mr Naughton, has set them to work temporarily at this rate of wages, and has telegraphed to town for instructions. Miners have been telegraphed for from Ballarat at L 2 10s per week for eight hours a day. The wages at the United Miners Co. 's mine have been for the last three months L2 los per week for eight hours' labor per day. Previous to this the company was paying L 3 per week for nine hours' labor per day. In consequence of the refusal of some miners to submit to a reduction of wages some months back, the proprietors of the Bromley Reef mine were compelled to suspend operations, and discharge between forty and fifty men. " The new alluvial rush recorded in our last issue," says Saturday's Pleasant Greek Neios, " as having taken place in the gully which runs from the Wimmera dam to the Scotchman's claim, promises to prove profitable to those who have secured claims on the lines of the fancy ground. Elder and Jackson, the prospectors, report that they are vory well pleased wich the appearance which the claim presents, according as it becomes developed. At the present time, it is impossible to speak with any degree of certainty as to the breadth of the run, or the quality of the cement and washdirt obtained therefrom. It is sufficient for present purposes to know that some specimens of the cement show a good deal of gold, and that an average of 7dwt to the load has been washed from the dirt. Mr Jackson says that from experience which he has already gained of the ground, he would judge that there are two runs of gold, the better of which

i% Bft wide, while fov a, distance of 17ft, the Bft inclusive, gold can Ye found. Thei'e is, however,- a break of apparently barren ground between the two runs. The washdirt and cement are about two and a half feet hi thickness. Close to the prospectors, Deyelin and party bottomed yesterday evening, and it was rumored that gold had been found by them in similar strata ; but on this point we are not certain, not having heard it from the claimholders themselves. There are now about twenty shafts going down. Yesterday over 200 diggers were on the ground."