REEF SALTING AT BALLARAT.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 734, 1 October 1870, Page 4

REEF SALTING AT BALLARAT.

[age.] The Castlemaine miner:, who were going to revive the palmy clays of the Corner have turned out to be a couple of barefaced swindlers. Public attention was first called to certain suspicious circumstances on Saturday morning, when the following letter appeared in the columns of the Courier : — " Sir, — As your paper has always been a staunch supporter of the mining interest, we wish to expose through its columns what we consider to be a deliberate and cold-blooded attempt to impose on mining speculators. We, with several others, inspected the claim of the Revival Company to-day, and have no hesitation in asserting that it is a swindle, and we consider it our duty as quartz miners and speculators to give the public the benefit of our experience. Our object in writing this letter is that from the favorable opinion expressed by several gentlemen (with a superficial knowledge of quartz mining) "who visited the claim together with ourselves, we are afraid that they and the public are likely to be gulled, and we would suggest to applicants for shares io appoint three of their number to inspect the claim, break down present faces, and if they find what they consider payable gold, after that we will acknowledge our mistake, but not before. —Thomas G. H. Fitzgerald, Blackwood ; John Harris, Talbot street, Ballarat." This letter would seem to have caused immense excitement, and we find the two evening journals denouncing the supposed reef discovery as a mining scandal and a swindle. We quo*e what the Mail has to say on tl~e subject :— " The much-talked-of discovery alleged to have been made in an old shaft near Valo Park, on Thursday, turns out to be one of the greatest swindles we have become acquainted with on Ballarat for some years past. It appears that last evening several mining men and some shareholders in the proposed Revival Company had slight suspicions that all was not as represented in connection with the rich quartz vein of which bo much had been said ; and when it became known that two

experienced quartz miners hail visited tlie shaft dur'.otj theai'ternoou. aud pronounced ■(.he whole affair a swindle, great excitement ;;reva ; !ed. A letter written by Messrs' Mo:rs and Fitzgerald was published this morning, in which the affair was unhesitatingly termed a swindle, and suggestions were made to knock down son?e from the face of the drive, in order to prove or disprove their statement to that effect. Of course this letter was the signal for a movement to be made at once in the matter, and a notice was posted at the Mining Exchange, to tho effect that at ten o'clock a party would start for the claim with a view of testing the correctness of the report made. The party was soon got together, and consisted of, among others, Messrs Foster, Gavin, Croyle, Copeland, Downing, ar<d several other gentlemen interested. On arriving at the claim some demur was made on their descending the shaft ; the windlass had been removed, and descent for che time being seemed impossible. However, after some delay another windlass was procured, and two or three of the party descended, and closely inspected the workings. The gold then rubbed off the stone with their fingers, and a close examination showed them that what had appealed to be the precious metal running through the stone was in reality bxit gold leaf, either pasted or shot in. The face was at once worked upon, aud a good quantity of stone kziocked down, but no other gold was seen, and the affair was then pronounced to be a swindle. By this time Mr Gaunt, acting as warden, Mr Inspector Ryall, and Sergeant M'Cullagh, had put in an appearance on the claim, and as one of the prospectors ascended the shaft, he was immediately given in charge of the police, as was also the other when he arrived at thb surface. They were then charged with ' trying to obtain money under false pretences,' and brought into the Western lock-up ; subsequently, at two o'clock, they were marched to gaol, and passing the London Chartered Bank corner, where a large concourse of people had assembled, were greeted with yells and hoots. Later in the day an information was to be sworn against a well-known local resident, lately an hotelkeeper in Sturt street, for " conspiring to defraud," as it was thought that he had had some hand in the matter. The affair of course has created the most profound sensation iv mining circles, and the wonder here is, that so many persons descended the shaft and failed to discover the swindle. We may add that both Cawson and Hanna had with them from time to time, since their alleged discovery, some fine speciments of quartz, which of conrse were believed to have come from the mine. It is only fair to Messrs Gavin and Foster, in whose hands the formation of the Revival Company was placed, to exonerate them from the faintest tinge of suspicion in the matter ; indeed these gentlemen well be losers to the extent of survey fees paid by them to take up the ground on behalf of the proposed company. No money, wo are informed, has been paid for shares, so that the prospectors have not benefited much. Great credit is due to Messrs Harris and Fitzgerald for exposing this attempted swindle, and a subscription was this afternoon being got up to present these gentlemen with some suitable testimonial for their services. It was stated in the evening that the police intended to put some miners on to work the claim for a few daya in order to fully test the affair. Some days later, W. J. Coleman, J. J. Cawson, and W. Hanna were placed before the Bench on the charge of obtaining money by false pretences, and were committed for trial. On the application of Mr Trench, the Bench said they would accept bail for each prisoner, himself in L2OO, and two sureties, to be approved of by the police, of LIOO each.