THE LOWER INANGAHUA AND THE LYELL.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 786, 31 January 1871, Page 2

THE LOWER INANGAHUA AND THE LYELL.

The Lower Inangahua comprises the country along the river, below the junction of the main fork, including Fern Flat and the numerous gold bearing tributaries running into the main stream. The most important of these at present is Redman Creek, which was opened by the man and his party after whom it is named, in May, 1866. It has been rushed and re-rushed several times, but it has never been entirely deserted. There are between 30 and 40 men there now, principally working on the points and terraces. A work of some magnitude has been- undertaken by Collins and party, who have taken up a tail-race 1500 ft long, and they are now taking the creek in a face 100 ft wide before them. The stripping is 10ft deep ; the party have 4 years' remunerative work before them, and the claim has the reputation of being the best alluvial chum on the Inangahua. There is a store in this creek. The next in importance is Boatman Creek, which was discovered by a party oE boatmen, who were detained by a flood in the river, when conveying merchandize from Westport, to Kynnersley dnring the great rush over Saddle. There were several stores and other business places at Boatman Creek at one time, but there are only about 20 men there now, working along the creek bank and crevicing for nuggets in the bare and exposed rock in the bed of the creek. The gold is coarse, and pieces several ounces in weight are said to to have been picked up from time to time. The largest piece about which reliable information could be obtained weighed 13dwt and some grains. The Flower's Creek runs into Boatman, and there are a few men sluicing the banks of it. Burke Creek No, 2 gives employment to a few sluicing parties, and at the head of Larry's Creek a party of miners have been prospecting for auriferous quartz for the last eight or nine months. It is not generally known what indication they may have met with to induce them to continue working so long ; but it is thought they must have been more or less successful in their search, or they would not remain such a length of time. Quartz abounds in the locality, and the place is highly spoken of by those who hold ttie theory that lode 3 crop out on the surface at intervals along the same, meridian of longitude, because the top part of Larry Creek is in a direct line with the quartz reefs at the Lyell and those at Murray Creek. A dismally suggestive discovery was made in this creek recently. A party who were out prospecting, or otherwise engaged, came across the bones of some poor unfortunate who, from surrounding appearances, had evidently perished from starvation during one of the great floods. Snares were found, set as if to catch Maori hens, and from other indications the poor fellow, whoever he was, must have had a hard time of it, before death released him from his sufferings. It is not an uncommon occurrence for parties to be caught on one of the islands in the river and creek beds in these parts, the streams become swollen and impassable so rapidly. A year or two ago a man named Cairns and his mate were entrapped in this manner, and they were kept alive until they escaped from their perilous position by parties who had fortunately observed them from the shore, by throwing raw potatoes to them by means of a sling, such as schoolboys often get a thrashing for using with too much accuracy as marksmen. The Landing Creek, immediately opposite the place where the boats from Westport discharge cargo, has a population of between thirty and forty, who are all sluicing. Fox's Creek, in the neighborhood, also contains a few miners. There are several prospecting parties out in this locality. Stoneybattle and Painkiller Creeks run into the left-hand fork of the river near the junction, and Burkes No. 1, with its tributary, German Jack's Creek, run into the right-hand branch also, near the junction, and just opposite the place where the Grey Valley track descends the mountain. In all these creeks there are parties of miners at work, and the population is increasing every day, in consequence of the difficulty of finding employment for more than a limited number at the reefs. The Inangahua is lower at the present time than it has ever been known to be, consequently the journey from the reef to ' the junction of the Buller and the Inangahua can be made with comparative ease, because the river can be forded at any place. There are several accommodationhouses—as they are modestly called in that part of the country, although in the Grey district they would pass for first-class hotels — on the road, and about half a mile from the Buller River, and within sight of the confluence of the two streams, Christie's house is built. The Warden's Couri^ has heretofore been held at this place, and consequently the house and the joviallooking proprietor, who, by the way, ap pears to be "only a lodger," like any other visitor, are well known to the residents up and down the river. The house is romantically situated on a high terrace, on the south-western bank of the Inangahua River, which comes sweeping down in front, and striking the base of the range, which is a solid mass of limestone and felspar, it shoots off at a sharp angle into the Buller. The Court day is a busy time at Christie's. The business, owing to the long interval between the sittings of the Court — one month — is generally very heavy, and crowds of miners from all parts of the immense district, over which the Court has jurisdiction, are always in attendance. The arrangements and appointments of the room in which the Court is held are admirable. To prevent the noise caused by the shuffling of the feet or moving about of Buch a large audience, flour bags are laid along the floor, consequently there are none of those horrible noises and uproars, such as are made in certain other Courts, by the continued roaring of " order in the Court" by the functionary, whose business it ought to be to keep silence himself, in "order" to set a good example to others. The routine business is transacted with great despatch, and the numerous applications are disposed of with quickness and regularity, owing to a capital plan adopted by the Clerk of the Court of classifying them under separate heads, such as applications for waterrights, tunnels, protection, <fee, and each description of application is disposed of in its turn before another is called, so that the applicants know exactly when to atj

tend. Another practice observed in this Court might be followed with advantage in other Courts with greater pretensions, namely,Bupplyingtherepresentativesofthe press present with a copy of the cause list, whereby greater accuracy in the report is necessarily insured. During the hearing of a case at the last sitting, a witness would persist in addressing the learned gentleman, who was cross-examing him, as "Your Worship." He continued to do so in spite of repeated remonstrances, and at last, after receiving what was intended as a final caution, he again prefaced hia answer with " Your Worship." This roused the ire of the limb of the law, who, turning savagely on the unfortunate witness, let out at him thus — "I cautioned you repeatedly, sir, not to 'worship' me, and I tell you again, sir, I am not to be 1 worshipped,' that's 'His Worship'(pointing to the Warden) and (to the witness) ' for the future you will oblige by addressing your perswvalities io some* other quarter" But it is on the night of a Court day that the landlord and his household are busiest. Sleeping accommodation is necessarily limited, and numberless are the shifts and contrivances resorted to by those who have neglected, or are unable to secure a bed, to find a substitute for one. Von Moltke himself is not a more accomplished strategist than Christie is, and in course of time he has everybody Btowed away some place or other, but even then his troubles are not over. One night, after everything was quiet, the whole house was alarmed by a terrible uproar. It appears that a man who was sleeping in a room in which there were several beds left the dormatory for a fewmoments, and on his return he found his bed occupied by, as it turned out afterwards, some one who had been doing a "perish " on the floor. He groped about in the dark to make sure that he had not < mistaken his own bed, and to his surprise he found all of them full. By this time time he got astray in his geography, and he became unable to tell which bed he really had occupied, but he made up his mind to "bluff" it, and accordingly he