PADDY'S GULLY.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 730, 22 September 1870, Page 2

PADDY'S GULLY.

This place presents a different appearance now to what it looked like six months ago. Ashcroft and party's water-race will soon be finished, and it is likely to prove a good speculation. The water is raised from the upper tributaries of Paddy's and the main creeks. The scarcity of water is felt more about Paddy's Gully than it is at any other part of the district. All the claimholders have their paddocks full of dirt, waiting for water to wash with, and the consequent scarcity of money makes business very dull. Robert Wilson and party are bringing in a head-race to the spur behind Campbell's store. When these two races are in, the miners in the gully will not be so much dependent on the chance rainfall as they are at present. There are four or five good claims at work here, and there never were many more. A share was sold in one of fche'vu last week for L 59 cash. The last shaft taken down in Paddy's Gully was sunk by Yankee Dan and party. They went 80ft down, but were driven out by the water, and that put an end to any further prospecting. The township is still of considerable size. There are 5 hotels, 3 stores, 2 butchers, 2 bakers, a shoemaker, a blacksmith, and a dispensary. The population of Paddy and its tributary German Gully, and the saddle between Red Jack's, is about 800, including Big Bill's and Bell's Creeks, in both of which places there are several parties working. The prospects of the No Town district have never, within my recollection, looked better. It is just at present in the condition when it is always most prosperous. There are no exciting rushes to divert the attention of the miners from their regular work, and, as a consequence, the yield of gold is much larger than it was when there were more people in the district. The place never has, nor is it ever likely to be, able to bear a large rush. It is essentially a "poorman's diggings," although some of these "poor men"' drop across disgustingly rich patches occasionally, and it requires steady and continuous work to make the ground pay, as a rule. The district has;; been shamefully neglected by the Government. The long promised new road has not been commenced yet, aud the people are beginning to lose all patience; this can scarcely be wondered at, for the studied contempt with which the place has been treated by the authorities is inexcusable. One of the speakers at the <; public meeting the other evening said thit " because of the alleged defalcations of a subordinate officer, the whole machiuery of the Government was thrown out of working order, and members of the Government appeared to be practically panicstricken." He said that "there was something painful in this pitiful display of paraletic imbecility, and the sooner au alteration of some sort was made thebetter it would be." From the manner in which these remarks were received it was evident that the speaker was giving expression to the feeling of his hearers^ The population of the whole district cannot be far short of 1500.