THE itiANGAHUA REEFS,

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1142, 26 March 1872, Page 2

THE itiANGAHUA REEFS,

r [from the herald;] " ' Boatman's. • '/ i March 22. . Great anxiety ia expressed by all parties touching the road between Christie's, and Reef ton. Section No. 1, from Christie's to the Landing, tenders have as.yet not been accepted. No. 2— the tender 'of Messrs William Morris and Co.— has been approved of> and one of the party is now some mile and a-half from the Land-' ing, at a place called the Crossing. None of the othor sections have been taken up. With regard to the section already let to Messrs Morris and party, a great deal of ■ uncertainty , exists amongst the men who are waiting to be employed as to whether the contractors are able to fulfil, or even proceed with their work for the cc : ce at which they took it up, and conse4ueutly in the, long run be unable to settle with their workmen. Of course, it

is natural enough that every man 100k 8 out for himself in these days; but whether the accepted tenderers may gain or lose by their bargain ought not to be considered at all by the workmen. A law was passed some short time back by which contractors for pubUc, works^cfliino^ draw the whole of the money doe them: until the workmen are paid ; this at once obviates any risk that may be attached that way. Now, as regards the contrac.-; tors themselves, their securities are so large and their agreements so binding, that they sorely "would not risk losing such large sums by putting in for a thing they could not- 'carry through. Besides, as yet/ no one seems to know what was the absolute amount of their tender. Howeverj whatever may, be the' cause (and it may also be stated that Borne of the men refuse to work for less than 15s per day), the heaviest section, viz. '?* No. 2, in the whole distance, has as yet had nothing done to it ; and although some thirty tents are pitched about the Landing bush, housing between forky^and, fifty men, everything seems to be at r "a ' stand-still. It is to be hoped that this will soon be altered, for bettert weather than it is just new could not be picked j for road-making. While on this subject it may be mentioned that were Mr Dobson to give- prders to survey a line from the main trunk road to Bbldertown (Liari^s 'J Creek), and Georgetown (Boatman's), 1 ' private individuals would at once put "on , labor to make such lines passable for, / pack-horses until Government came, fbr-^ . ward to make roads. Making ah unprofessional guess, the two lines conld be cut -'. through in less than a week;. .Boatman's tract is - bad enough, b.ot Larry's ia far worse, as the ; pack-horses have to., go .six miles' up the creek over nothing else than one mass of boulders, and through many " holes where the water is up to the saddle girths ; this route would be utterly 1 im-' ■ practicable in winter^indeed, ! after the slightest shower of rain. There is another thing to be Baid in favor of these tw<oP '** branch lines being favorably reported on by the Acting .Provincial Engineer, that, - alqng' with the Reeftbh road, they com- ' ; ; matid, and indeed supply, the whole b?lt* of reefs as yet discovered between Rainy Creek on the north, a distance at a rough "guess of fifteen miles between the two points. ; K^?: w_. The Landing presents' quite a lively appearance now, so many tents s 'bi6ing|' seen in all directions — waggons loading, *•• and new buildings going up-^-but'' this will only last for a short time, as tho last flood altered the course, of the river.sp . much that the boats now cannot get nearer than a quarter of a mile of jfchejreceivwg; stores. The owners of these have the intention of removing to where the new road cross.es the river, where they pur-;; pose putting up larger and more conimo- U dions premises than what are at present in existence, and certainly, if one was'to judge from appearances, it is not before they are wanted. .'A -..-' . '. .7 : .".~. ; Long has removed his accommodationhouse from the south to the north side of the river, and is re-erecting it in his paddock. There is also a restaurahtj; owned by Arthur O'Neil, recently opened, which- $ seems to be doing a pretty, thriving | business amongst the road ineih Mai- " colm . Stevenson has. still his place on : . the south side, so that travellers can - hardly, go ; wrong for accommodation at ft ,the Landing. 7. : r ;•. =.: As yet no work has been done on Potter's line of reef, "with" the exception ; of the prospectors, who • are" how -actively \ employed commencing operations for a tunnel, which they purpose putting in for 60ft or 70ft alongside. thVreeito: properly test the value of their claim before going 'to the expense of getting machinery. The "i tunnel will be about 14ft above water I line, so that it must be an extraordinary flood that will stop them working. The writer was shown some specimens that' came out of this claim on Tuesday last, :r which were really worth looking at^ and' ' it has every appearance that there will be .some surpassingly rich blocks through the reef. A quarter share changed hands tin- - this claim two days ago for ,L 209. No. l.soa.th ...&ts.^noiit.ramalgamating^. * with two men who have got; USftybfr « ground in the prospecting claim, and with 1 on c man on their south boundary, these, with their own party of six men, make a total of nine men in No. 1 south. The machine site is to : the. westward; of their;?claim on a flat terrace, to which they bring 1 their water ' by raising it out of Larry's : Creek about half-a-mUe up. It may be"> stated that the prospectors' machine site is™ also on this terrace, but they hold the first right to a creek, which empties itself into Larry's a little lower down the flat. -T^»n whole of the south claims up to No. 8 wUI . have to be worked from the Westward, thus making it almost a central place for. machinery on this leveipatch of ground, , No. 2 south, with thirteen men holding twelve men's ground, and No. 3 souih, with twelve men, have their claims pegged t * ,. but on rather a steep spur. These, two claims are double banked, but as there' is •a law case pending anent the same, ? nothing further can be said about themV until- that is over. ; It was reported that Nb. 2 had got the reef, but on making inquiries it seems that Joe Potter, while' out prospecting in the neighborhood, came down this spur and found a Apiece of- loose*"" stone under a.tree, which be, took {down to the creek, crushed, and obtained some - .half-dozen specks on washing. ; This oer> > taihly is a fairish indication that the reef/ is not far off, but where ? That is the. question. i ■:. ; ■C" rNos. 4, 6, and 6, have ground on the level at the top of the spur, but as pro-- J tection has only jusij expired, the number of men could not be ascertained, nor their proposed mode of operations. The ground on the north side has been pegged out' up an almost perpendicular terrace to No. 6. ' No. ,1, with nine men, certainly has ,a little level ground adjoining the creek, but from there it is all hand and feet , work to get up. No. 2is in disputeV'so ° the number of men is uncertain, No. 3 v . has eight men, No. 4 six men, and No. 5 eight men. •; By standing at the top peg of No. 6, it would be .possible to throw a. stone and let it fall in No. 1, so that , the steepness of the ranee at i the north side of Larry's may be iniagiued. There are several parties Wt ; in this north direction (that is St Helena's and Landing Creek) prospecting for reefsj '[ as it i 3 the general opinion that, with so many specimens and quartz in 'smalt ' blpcka in f the numerous gullies in this ' stretch of country, a reef must be olose I. handy somewhere, but as yet nothing has" j; been discovered. Even as .far -as Co*l Creek the pjvrties have wandered, some of them returning disappointed,, others still .continuing on their course. Prospecting s not confiued altogether to reefs at

Larry's, others fancy alluvial) and with pick, shovel and tin dish, try the several gullies around. As far as appearances go, a good field for small alluvial finds discovers itself here, as it is a creek that owing to the difficulty of obtaining provisions in former days, men did not care to travel far, or stop long. An accident occurred to a man, who was packing 'or Mr Bowen, storekeeper, Georgetown, on Tuesday last fle was proceeding down Boatman's Creek, when one of the wild cattle, which are known to have made that creek their run for the last five years, rushed him, dislocating his shoulder. As no person was in the neighborhood that could relieve his sufierings, ho went to the Landing and took boat for Westport.