NEW RIVER DISTRICT.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 816, 9 March 1871, Page 2

NEW RIVER DISTRICT.

[FJBOM OTJR OWIT CORRESPONDENT.] March Bth. Soldier's Terrace is now the principal , attraction to the miners in this district, and a steady increase in the population is the consequence. There is very little doubt that when sufficient time has elapsed to thoroughly test the ground, this will be the most important place on the Coast. The terrace is well situated as likely to turn out promisingly, for it has Maori Gully on one side and. German Gully on the other. The character of bolh these places is too well known to need comment, few gullies paying better ; and now that gold is found, in the high terrace between these, men are sanguine that something better is likely to be got than what is generally going just now. Of course, it must take time to prove this terrace, and men with capital likewise ; for although provisions, in quantity, can be bought as cheap as in Greymouth for cash, or what may be equally good — a name for probity with the storekeeper — it is no place for strangers without means, for sometimes it will be only a question of prospecting, sinking deep shafts and taking in long tunnels, and these become expensive, and parties undertaking these works must be well provided with the needful. Soldier's Terrace will most likely not prove an exception to other places, most probable some will be more fortunate than "others, yet it is to be hoped that it will be unlike to No Name, and not so patchy. Be that as it may, parties are beginning to have faith in it. Already another store and hotel has been opened ia the gully adjacent, and it is reported that there are three or four more parties on gold. On the Hungarian Lead the Independent Company are actively at work, and are being remunerated for their labor. The Argus Company are prospecting their ground with the hope of meeting with something better than they have hitherto done ; four men being only employed in the meantime. The German party are working the run of gold which they first crossed, not having met with any inducement to continue the tunnel. At Maori Creek and the Eight-mile the population has diminished, owing to the superior attractions of Soldier's. Lancashire Gully is attracting a small population just now. It is about three miles from Clifton, but being a tributary of the left-hand branch of the New River, the road from Clifton to it is very hilly. It is a pity that the Road Board never had a survey track made from Marsden into this part of the country, yet it seems absurd to suppose that a fair track could not be found without having to make a road across the ranges from the Grey River. But how can this absurdity be otherwise, when all the members of the Board reside on the beach within half a' mile of each other, and refuse to r.Uow its sittings to be held at Marsden, which would allow up-country men to take a part in it, and who certainly ought to know far better the requirements of the district than those residing on the beach. In connection with the Road Board, parties are anxious to see published in the daily papers the money received and expended by the Board since its existence, as they think 25 per cent., according to the County Chairman's statement, is rather a high rate for the work that has been done. As regardssnuning in the other portions of the district, everything has been at a standstill for the want of water, which requirement now seems to be in a fair way of being supplied, and it has not come one day too soon, for the current coin of the realm has now become scarce, necessitating the free use of pen, ink, and paper. Notwithstanding the disadvantages the district has labored under during the last eleven weeks from dry weather and the abortive rush of Baker's up the river,

the^Bpulation has increased. This can only be accounted for from the fact that men ca^get a little gold here, and that combed with the small price provisions cm be bought for, is a great inducement to them, for here the average cost of living is only 15s per week per man, and this will favorably compare for cheapness with any town on the Coast.