GREY VALLEY DIGGINGS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1050, 7 December 1871, Page 2

GREY VALLEY DIGGINGS .

[£BOM >OUR OWN COEBBSFOKDIOrr."} Ahaura, Dec. 6. ._ The town was busier within the last two weeks than it has been since the memorable day, on which Jhs» counter jo£ the Bank of New South Wales took its departure,* accompanied by the officer? of other Banks, and escorted by the biggest half of our police force. --ThUhlstir -has been caused .chiefly by the influx \of visitors from Grey mouth , Hokitika, and other places on their way, to the Inangahua quartz reefs. Numbers of miners and business people are travelling in that direction^ and there is evidently some good reason for this, becanse what everybody says must be true. People at a distance appear tor be lnore.affected-by the news -from Murray Creek than we are nearer home, for up to this time scarcely any one resident about here, except those whose business called them there, have seetr the new eldorado. Business has consequently improved, and as it ,^.is ari ill wind that blows nobody, good," let the rush to the reefs turn out ill .or well, the Ahaura will reap some benefit. The local committee appointed on^bohalf of the Grey River Hospital are working away in furtherance of the good object for which they were formed. Committees were formed at Ahaura, Totara Fhyt, Cailaghanj and Moonlight . Greeks, witbia the last fortnight. The zeal and energy of the members of any of these committees would be thoroughly enlisted in behalf of the; Hospital i£ they paid a visit it and saw the admirable' manner in which it is conducted, and the care that is -bestowed on the number of poor sufferers who have found shelter and succor within it. ■ The amount of public work at present going on here is positively alarming in its magnitude, so usedhave we hitherto been to see none at all doing. The road through to Totara Flat is jfinished— that is as far as the bridge over Brandy Jack Creek — and tenders are taken for about another half-mile. ;.' A dastardly act of what is known in certain select circles as : " cattle-duffing v took place here lately. A mate belonging to Mr William Thurogood, a farmer, on Totara Flat, was missed, and the owner traced her through Half-Ounce to Napoleon. She was known to be ridden there and then turned adrift, but it is only suspected by whom. Mr Thurogood followed, the tracks of. his horse to. the Amuri and Napoleon roads, through the Haupri, and thence over the Hurunui Saddle and into the Canterbury Province. After a nine days' search he at length found the animal at the Count De La Pasture's station still wandering en her way onwards. Mr Thurgood travelled some hundreds of miles in the worst weather on this journey. The scoundrel who perpetrated this outrage well deserves the punishment he will assuredly receive if he be discovered. . -• i *■ 3 It is rumoured that the Nelson Government intend to grant the proprietor of the new pnni on the Ahaura- River protection for some distance up and down the stream. If such be the case, then •the Nelson Government will do an equitable act. If the tolls the ferrymen would be permitted to charge were considerably reduced, say to Is 6d for horses and 6d for foot passengers, no great hardship would be inflicted on the travellingtpuhlic, while justice would be done to the ferryman, who has erected the punt at great expense. He would thereby be enabled to keep it working, and a safe means of crossing a treacherous river available the whole year round. It has been objected that there are times when' the river is low enough tube forded anywhere, and that it would be a hardship to pay tolk at sach times. Others say they would rather ford the river at apy time than cross,, oh a punt, : but Arfemus Ward's ' adyice r to those who intended to patronise his "show of moral wax figures," that "they might pay without going in, but they could not go in without paying," wo«Jd apply to people who wquid ; prefer "fording a dangeroua river ta paying a small charge for usiug a safe punt, for they; should- be made to pay whether they used it or not. The news from the mining districts is, of course, most -important from Murray Creek and the 'Inahgahna quartz reefs. It is now fairly established that an immense field for the safe investment of capital, and the profitable employment of labor, has been opened up. The place i» beginning to be properly appreciated, and the reliable accounts coming from all sources of the bom fide and large prices paid for interests is a si^cient proof. Shares have ■changed hands at high prices in localities in which an interest could scarcely be given away a few months ago, and yet it is a fact, that those shares were intrinsicly as valuable then as they are now. This is the effect of the introduction nf capital, and still there are men, holding rich claims, who cannot see that they must eventually call iti the capitalist to assist them to develope their properties, and to make their fortunes. These men have hitherto held aloof, because they think that if the capitalist once got in, the working-man must go out, but the scales are gradually falling from tfceur ejtes and they are becoming fewer in number every day. It is needless to entering details of the progress that the several lines of reef are making, because such information is now getting stale. ' It has been repeated so of ten thatj to use a racing-card phrase, with an alteration, the "numbejrs of the reefs, with the reefers' names, Jtne colors they are getting, and the prizes ishey gain, 1 ' are known by rote ail over the country. The few hardy pioneers who first opened this splendid field, and the far-ceeing capitalists who- assisted them, to make known its value, have manfully done their work, but what have. the Go-< verninent, to which unibrtuhaiely it belongs, done towards its development? Why nothing, as usual. Machinery has been brought on to the ground at an enormous expense, provisions / are at famine prices, the necessaries of life at other places are considered luxuries, and all for the want of roads and other means of communication. In any othir part of the world, the Government which would, be fortunate enough to possess such a I magnificent public property within its territory would beg, borrow, or "annex" money to enable the discoverers of so much wealth to renderit available for the use of the community. . Because the people of Nelson were "had " at Wangapeka, which was entirely their own fault, the Government of Nelson are content to join them in their lamentations; and sit under their own fig and mulberry trees, and talk of those dreadful diggings and the people who live • on ' tltem-as- being continually wanting mouey spent on their odious tracks, but "we won't do it sir, the

more settled districts require fostering, the miners are a wandering and vagabond race of people, and we don't see why we should spend our money on them." That wai the remark made by one of these wiseacres at Nelson recently at a meeting with reference to the Nelson and Foxhill railway. It is reported that a great change is about being made in the licensing system in this Province. It is said that the license fee will be reduced, but that persona holding public-house licenses will have to keep proper accommodation. A change of some sort is required, and especially with respect to roadside houses. Licenses are granted indiscriminately now without reference to the character of the applicants, except in very glaring cases, and the question of accommodation is never inquired into. It is hot desirable that every man who deserts his wife, or every woman who deserts her husband, as the case may be, should be allowed to obtain a license to sell spirits and setup shantieß, perhaps next door to each other, without any more of the requirements of an hotel than a bar and probably a billiard-room, without another room in the house to entertain a traveller, or the means of cooking him a meal. Nothing new has transpired in the Half-Ounce district, except the striking of gold in another claim on the Duffer Creek Mad, and the erection of one more wft'erwheel at the upper part of the Half-Ounce lead. Several good washings in the neighborhood of Mabille's claim, are reported, and the striking of another patch on one of the Duffer Creek terraces.

The Cockney and Mackenzie terrace leads at No Town are still increasing in population j and the lead at the Mackenzie end is still being closely shepherded.

Callaghan Creek is not getting any worse. On the contrary, if the reports coming from that quarter are correct, an increase of population is-^l;iely to take place shortly. The Moonlight district is again attracting the attention of quartz miners, and it is reported that, consequent on the Warden's recent visit,, some move will have to be made shortly by the owners of the machinery on the reefs, or rather with the leasehold on which the machinery stands, which is now locked up from men who are ready to go to work on part of it.