THE INANGAHUA REEFS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1146, 1 April 1872, Page 2

THE INANGAHUA REEFS.

[from our special correspondent.] March 29. The rush to the Inangahua still continues, although there are unmistakable signs of the setting in of the great reaction which must be expected, because it can never be supposed that the present excitement can last long without something giving way. A rush of this magnitude, at the present stage of operations .at Murray Creek and the locality, is unjustifiable and unaccountable, and ib is calculated to seriously injure not only the future prospects of the quartz districts, but the present prosperity of the older alluvial diggings. It is no use now' to inquire the cause of this immense influx of population to the Inangahua ; the people are there in overwhelming numbers, and the next question is, -what will become of them ? There is no employment for the majority of those on the field, and except some alluvial ground is opened in the locality before the winter sets in, the consequences will be something serious. It is the opinion of those well qualified to give one that very extensive auriferous deposits are .and will be discovered, but the country must be opened and occupied gradually. Reefton and the district swarm with men who came with the hope of "getting a show " on one of the several lines of reefs, or, at all events, of being able to. obtain work for wages, but they have been bitterly disappointed in both expectations. Work for wages at mining :ia out of the question, and, although getting an interest in a claim in even a favorable. position is not so difficult as might al first appear, the chances are very remote of men without means being able to hold out long enough to allow their shares to become of any marketable value. The aforesaid "marketable value" of mining property appears to be an entirely figurative-term. Except in some of the older and well proved claims, frbin which stone has been crushed, and others the richness and permanency of which are indisputable,* the market value of shares has a mythical existence. You meet an old friend you hn.vo.._.noh seen_for_ ji:._long time; but of whose great good fortune you have repeatedly heard. You have been told that he holds such an interest on that fancy line, and such a one on another, besides minor interests elsewhere, worth altogether, if he could be induced to sell out, a nice little "pile." You are overjoyed at his good luck, and you tell him so ; but you soon discover that you know more about the matter than he does. He will tell you that the price quoted and the price [to be. obtained are altogether "irrelative numbers," and that a buyer with the hard cash can get very " close up," indeed, for a'comparative trifle on the best of the lines. From information gathered from the most reliable sources, it would seem that practically inexhaustible deposits of poor auriferous quartz are found which will give employment to thousands for years, when machinery for cheap crushing on an extensive scale: is available; but such is: not the case at present, and for that reason it is not advisable to encourage fake hopes of the place, at ;this stage of .its, existence.' The holders of the good claims— and there are numerous claims which would be pronounced rich by the most experienced quartz miners— might have taken measures to prove the real value of their claims long ago had they been so; disposed. Instead of waiting for and begging of outside capitalists to erect machinery for them, they might have acted so that they could dictate their own terms to any capitalist. One of tlie small hand Berdan crushing-machines, in such common use on the Victorian Gold Fields, could be imported: and erected on any claim on the Inangahua at a costf of less than ' LSO. These ; machines can be seen at work on any of the: old ;cement leads in Victoria. A single man can crush three tons a week with one of them, and, notwithstanding all; the new inventions and improvements, it is admitted that. the .amalgamating and gold"saving properties of these Snacluiies are superior to those of any other yet brought into general use. -. The Berdan is one of the earliest patented machines for crushing and amalgamating auriferous mineral substances, and they are adapted for all situations, for although they are made of a size and pattern so small that one man can work them, yet, ,on the Mariner's Reef at Maryborough^ Victoria, one of these machines was in full >work some years ago of such dimensions that it required a 60 horse-power steam engine to driye it; ■As before stated, the gol(k •saving properties of; these machines are Unrivalled, but the reason they are not in general use; like the ordinary stamping machines; is that, liketthe Chilian .roDera, they are too slow and tedious in their operation. But this need riot be an oih jection to the introduction of them here for the purpose of testing the value of stone in small quantities. 1 They possess two great advantages, in being portable and requiring but a very small quantity of water for amalgamating purposeSj and their special adaptability to the peculiar requirements, of this district., would .compensate for any other drawback. Every company with gold-boaiihg stone in their claim could procure one, of these, machines ; : there would not be any trouble placing them in any position where gold has yet been found in the. locality ; the cost would be trifling ; and the actual value of the olaim on which one of them was f erected could be ascertained to a fraction. Whatever may be the ultimate i

fate of the mining interest in these parts, the commercial interest would seem to have faith in the permanency of the dic- :- trict; The town, or as it might almost be called, the city of Reefton, is making wonderful progress, and bids fair to become a second Sandhurst. Buildings are springing up as if by magic in* all directions, and. from a careful calculation made there must be nearly' 100,Q00ft.of lumber used weekly for the last four weeks. The place must be a paradise for sawyers, for every suitable where a . sawpit can be erected is occupied, and work is in full swing all day long ; still the demand remains unsatisfied. A majority of these craftsmen graduated in the "Holyland," consequently they understand their business thoroughly. The price of timber at the pit is 25s per lOOfb, and according to the locality it costs from 5s to 10s per 100 to deliver the timber at the buildings. The carrying of this timber is mostly performed with one-horse sleighs, but the work also gives employment to a number of men who carry the lumber; on their backs, and this affords almost the only employment at present open for those who are not of some .trade. Carpenters are also in great request, but their numbers exceed the demands The sound of the hammer and axe never ceases, and at the present rate of progress, those living here a month hence will see Reef ton one of (if not the) finest inland towns in New Zealand. Sections in good business localities fetch, from LSO to LIOO, and the Warden's Court is almost constantly occupied in settling disputes with reference to them. There is no doubt the town, like the diggings, is overdone, but still business is very brisk. This may be expected from the quantity of oittside money coming into it, but there will be hard times -here when the influx of persons now coming in ceases.. However, it may be expected a reasonable share. of the L 24,000 to be spent iii making the Grey Saddle and Buller roads will find its : way into Reef? ton, and that will keep trade alive a little while longer. The population of. the whole district is now. about 3000, one half of whom live in or about the town ; arid the number is constantly increasing. It is astonishing the number of old faces one meets every day. Long separated friends run against each other in the crush, in the "Strand," as the principal street yet built upon is called, and people who supposed each other to be long since dead and buried jostle in the crowd in anything but a ghostly manner. From the diamond mines at the Cape and the newly-manufactured Kingdom of Fiji, from the gold fields . of Australia, California, and from all parts of> New Zealand,, wanderers have comej* and they say there are; more; coming. These pilgrims compare notes .and relate, their several experiences, and some of these experiences are well worth listening ;to. One young fellow, whose maiden name was Smith, went on a pleasure trip over the Grey River bar; one bright *nd sunny day, at. Christmas time, about three years ago. >x He went on board' an outwardbound steamer which, was lying outside waiting for him and for the English mails. He meant to come back, but the .tugboat forgot; to call for him, and, although he made desperate attempts to communicate- with his' friends ashore at Hokitika, or rather those friends made frantic efforts to interview him, alas ! fate was against" them, and' they never met— at that time— but they have since. In due course he found himself entering the Golden Gate, and on his arrival in the city of SanFraiiois3o,he was welcomed by no less a personage than George F. Train, an old Australian friend of his, who was at that time." digging down"- among the slopes, or "slopers," on the' Pacific Coast. After cooling his heels for a while under the shadows of the Andes, our traveller began to tire of wandering, and made up his mind to settle down, but, singular as it may appear, in some remote corner- of the Calif ornian gold mines, he came across -an ; old copy of. the Grey River Weekly Argus, announcing the discovery of auriferous quartz at Murray Creek. This unsettled him again. He had a hankering after the Coast, and with "all their faults he loved" some of its inhabitants still. He returned by way of the Fiji. lslands, and in certain of the Ministers of the Crown, in those dusky dominions, he recbgnised old pals with whom he played many. a game of ."freeze out" ? in. the good old times.: , He is now resident at Reefton,. and a " broker;! 1 although ; he. does not . traffic in mining shares, but if it^be true that history repeats itself,- '-'the subject of our memoir" will not long remain under a cloud, for most assuredly, ■ ■■■in his case,-' " travellinghas extended his ideas. " ; : .. :

With respect; to the actual, progress making 7 in the ; several : clainis on • the different lines of reefs, there is nothing fresh to be said. Your resident correspondent and the^ local newspaper give reliable, arid,, generally, very, accurate accounts from * time, to time of the workings, especially of those" in the localities of Boatman's and .Larry's Creek. Rich specimens from Potter's claim, at, 'the latter place, were exhibited, in Reefton during the early part, of tthe^week^one lump of stone, several • pounds in weighty broken .from' the ; face.'.of , the reef, being thickly impregnated with gold. The; ma-: chinery for; -Rhody, v Ryan ? s elaim,uvbn Kelly's line, and for the prospectors', claim j on Anderson'sline; will be-inposi-tion witliin ; the. .spepifiecl time, ; but erecting thi3 machinery must of necessity be tedious work, and, although every effort may be made continuously week aft^r" week, comparatively, little . headway vis made. The machinery on the prospectors' claim, on Shiel's reef will commence crushing, it is said, this week. There was a temporary delay caused by some slight defect in the. construction of the flue, but that is now remedied. The company certainly did riot lose any' time, when it was discovered where the fault' lay, in applying a remedy. Every possible means of carriage was utilised to convey bricks and other material to the machine site, and the alterations have been cony pleted with! astonishing rapidity. .The delay in starling this "company's machinery gave rise ,to numerous groundless and discreditable reports. Every, cause but, the right one -.was' attributed for. the stoppage of the work and-tne postponement of the crushing, but the energetic manner in which Messrs Mace and, Co. got through- the .obstacles before, tlfeiu has silenced all invidious comment! This company, it is said,' intend brushing, when they begin, a quantity of stone, of about six hundred tons before they clean up. The resuit : of this prußhing will .be anxiouslyuw.aited; for, because it is*expected .that; the realiyalu© of .the quartz-

will then be known. Capitalists in other places look upon results as tests of value, and, no matter how rich Btone may look while it' is being broken out, it is by the yield from the crushing that the worth of it is judged. This is "especially the case with " investors," in contradistinction lo mere speculators, ; who' gc^ "in for tfirweior fall in the. share market-rinvestors , lay out their money with the expectation of getting dividends, and therefore they are 3eldom found as shareholder^^in "progressive mines, particularly? if there be the " least doubt, or, as it is called, "smoke," about them. ■•.. „ : It is desirable that monied men putside the district, and even of the West Coast, . should be afforded the opportunity of forming a good opinion of tour mines, for it is by the assistance of this class alone that our wealth of auriferous quartz will ever be developed. There is now an almost continuous belt of quartz more or less auriferous, all of which will yet be worked, traced, extending from the head of Rainy Creek to the Lyell, but this golden meridian might just as well exist in the moon, as far as the present population are likely to benefit by it, if foreign capital be not plentifully introduced and brought to bear upon it! The public works shortly to be com j menced may employ a limited number of new arrivals, but the supply will enor-: niously exceed the demand. The old ground in the locality of the reefs isifos* sicked over arid over again all ; the available agricultural land in the ' vicinity, at least such of it as men with small capitals could tackle,- is [occupied ;'' arid I;heir6 is only the thickly timbered land left. r New rushes may break put, but that is a forlorn hope, because the majority ' of .the' r meii now on the field cannot afford to g& prospecting, and for all these reasons miners who are at all profitably employed' in other places would do well to pause before they break up their homes to go to the reefing districts at ; the present stage of their development." Mentwho have money- to enable them to' hold out until the real value of the district becomes known may have a chance, and for. the capitalist in search of a legitimate field for the profitable investment of .his. money, such an opportunity never before presented itself in the history of goldmining.'