MINING NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1178, 8 May 1872, Page 4

MINING NEWS.

NO TOWN AND THE TWELVEMILE LANDING. May 7. The supposed new lead <at the left branch of the main creek, about two miles

from the township, attracts most notice here at present. The exact situation of the discovery is on a terrace on the scuth bank of the creek, and about 200 ft above the level of the bed of it. The prospectors, Quin and party, are working at the place since Christmas, and after sinking several trial shafts, they took a tunnel in for about 150 ft. They hold a double area for two men. The run of auriferous washdirt is about 30ft wide aud from 2ft to 3ft in depth. The lead, such as it is, is taking a N.E. and S.W. course, although certain of the claimholders will insist that it is likely to describe a circle, or in other words, that it has neither beginning nor end. There are three claims below the prospectors and four above them Baid to be on the gold, but none of the fortunate holders of them appear to be highly elated with their good. luck. This may be because of their extreme native modesty, or it may be that they have not yet had time to realise the extent of their happiness. The place ia not well ppoken of, outside those working in the immediate locality, and this is chiefly because there has been so much fuss made about it. The patches in the left-hand branch have not, up to this, been extensive, although some of them have been very rich. About half-a-mile from the scene of the present rush, Hugh Anderson and John Pratt, two miners wellknown about No Town about five years ago, took over LI 000 each from one of these patches, but there was very little ever got round where they worked. Again, Smith and Dawson took a small pile, about a year after, out of the bed of the creek higher up, but chiefly in the old ground ; and Whitihead and party, one of whom is said to hold a good claim on the new rush, afterwards worked rich ground in a terrace on the southern bank, out none of these workings ever extended far. It is therefore not likely the present so-called lead will be of any great extent, althongh there may be half a dozen good claims, and those who talk about it being the best discovery ever made in the district, are speaking without a full knowledge of the history of the locality. Paddy's Gully, Candlelight, Cockney Terrace, Dead man's Creek and this, were

each in turn, as they broke out, going to bo the " finest rush that ever was ;" but the wnoleof them put together would not compare either for richness or extent with Irishiown basin. Irishtown is now under a cloud, simply because those who from long occupation imagine they have a sort of preemptive right to it, are profitably employed elsewhere. When those old "residenterers" work out the ground they are now at, or satisfy the love of adventure and travel some of them possess, Irohtotro will burst forth again as glorious as ever, in some fresh place, for it appears to be the fact that but very few know the proper places to look for gold in that remarkable locality ; and when those few do go in search of it, they invariably find it. After the new rush at the left fork, Maori Guliy No. 1 appears to be the most important place. The workings here are mostly on the points of the spurs abutting and overhanging the creek bed. The mode of working is principally by means of tunnels taken in from either side, and sometimes driven right through the range. Several of these tunnels were taken at too low a level, and the work had to be done over again, involving a great extra outlay and loss of time. This is a mistake which is constantly occurring, not only here but at other places ; and, some of these days, the miners will be^in to be aware that it would be cheaper in the end to employ professional surveyors to take proper levels at tirst, than to be groping about in the dark in the primitive manner now adopted. It is said that experience teaches, but it does not seem to do so in this matter, for after the lamentable failures of amateur surveying at Napoleon, Half-Ounce, Mosquito, and especially at Brandy Jack's, the mistake is perpetuated in this district as rashly as ever. The miners at Maori Gully seem to be generally satisfied with the result of their work. The other Maori Gully, on the Arnold watershed, has taken the place of Candlelight, in the regard of the transalpine miners. Those workings at the other side the dividing range, take Btrarge fits and starts in popular estimation. A few months ago, a shareholder in a claim at Candlelight was looked upon as a kind of "Joe Potter" among the alluvial miners. When he made his appearance in the township, he was tho observed of all observers, the "merchants, bankers, and others" of the little community flocked round him, and shook him by the hand till his arm ached just for all the world as any one of the unfortunate shareholders in the prospecting claim. Shiel'a reef, at Murray Creek, are now treated whenever they put in an appearance at Greymouth. Everything is changed now — Candlelight, from being an imaginary sunlight, haa become a very feeblo rushlight, with just' sufficient twinkle to illuminate the shadow of its former self.

Of the other creeks on the Arnold water fall, Portuguese is, after Maori No. 2, the most important. A large dam has been erected here, and this is a kind of work to which the miners throughout the districtgenerally are turning their attention. The large dam at Jarman Gully ia progressing rapidly, and Frank Oilier and party's reservoir on Stewart's Hill will, when it is finished, entirely change the stateof affairs in that locality, for a supply of water is much wanted in it. Water h wanted' everywhere to work the ground to advantage, and there cannot be too much of it. The miners do not seem to rush eagerly after the benefits of . the Government water scheme, whatever they

may be, and it will need a different manner to the one. now adopted .of .placing the advantages of it before the public before they will be likely to be appreciated.

The only other place of interest in the No Town district is Cockney Terrace. This place gives remunerative employment to nearly tW hundred men, most of whom have yet a long spell of profitable work before them. The workings appear to have come to a standstill at the upper or Joyce's Creek end, but at the lower part, near the Left-hand branch of No Town Creek, Btrenuous efforts are being made to trace the gold. From the left branch, Galbraith and party took in several tunnels, and they are now driving from the main creek. They are in nearly 400 ft, and it is expected they will strike the gold during this week. This party are now nine months in search of the lead, and the delay has arisen chiefly through taking wrong levels at first. There are a patch of good claims at the place where the Cockney lead finds its way into the left branch ; the washdirt. is not rich, but there is a great depth of it. From Paddy's Gully the reports are not encouraging. Ashcroft's party's race is finished some time, and it is only from such works as this that permanent good results need be looked for in the neighborhood of Paddy's. A party started some time since to take a head-race from the foot of Paddy's Creek t» Cockney Terrace or Joyce's Creek ; but from some cause the originators allowed tho project to fall through. The work is now taken up again, and a competent person .is making a preliminary survey- to demonstrate the practicability- of getting the water high enough to command the higher part of Cockney Terrace. , In the vicinity of Sunnybank and Marshall's Terrace there is a considerable extent of poor ground, which is the lay-by of the fossickers. This is now almost deserted . for the . several new rushes, but it will not long remain idle, for it is a locality where a small rise may be relied upon with. certainty — Rough and Tumble is upside down again. Most of the Rough and Tumblers are away on their periodical cruißu about the other parts of the district, and with the exception of the proprietors of Corbett's race, and one or two other parties, this famous creek is deserted. The population of the whole district is greater now than it has been since the rush to Paddy's Gully. Business is dull for this place, owing to the scarcity of water resulting from the recent dry weather, yet it is by far brisker than it is on other of the alluvial diggings. There must be thousands of loads of washdirt paddocked and ready for washing, and until this is disposed of there will not be any material alteration in business or mining matters in the district.