SOUTH BEACH.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1215, 20 June 1872, Page 2

SOUTH BEACH.

(FROM OUR OWN'edAttESPONDENT.) ; .■..: ■.■.'.-■• ,- ■■:.'.■.- • ;;. June 19. The North Star Company still continue to be very fortunate in , their mining operations, having struck splendid gold towards the, claim, lately^' abandoned by the Long Drive Company. The Co-opera-tive Company are : busy jarith their next paddock, which is expected to pay them most handsomely when they wash'vip. In consequence of the lead .'that the Co-opera-tive are now working paying so well, a fresh claim lias been taken lijp" on their northern boundary, by Drummond and company, who have named it* 4 the Hit or Miss. It 1b not at all improbable that if they succeed in getting payable • QQ|d 4 ' other claims will also be taken up. . Reference has bean made at various times to a long tunnel taken in from the beach by Campbell and X30., and Descaciatea arid Co. After the completion of the tunnel, which .was called the Hand and Hand, a great deal of prospecting was done for to catch the Storijr Lead. So far, however, fortune, has, been against themi and although Campbell' and Co. met with the Stony Lead wash, it proved so very thin and poor, that they have already abandoned their claim. It .may be mentioned that they drove ndrthifasa. whilst the other party are now driving southward, with the hope atill of fortune favoring them. As this is the last of. the ■

ground on the line of the Stony Lead, it can now be safely affirmed that where the Stony Lead has turned out good gold, that Watson's Lead has generally proved poor ; and where Watson's Lead has turned out rich, the reverse has been the case on the Stony Lead. The very ground that the Hand-and-Hand tunnel was taken in to prospect lies immediately behind that which was worked by Watson years ago, and turned out the well-remembered fabulous amount of 1001 b weight of gold. The Great Extended are still sluicing on their old claim, with very satisfactory results. They have secured another lease of five acres of ground, near the Halfway HoteL Barker and company are sluicing, as usual, on the same lead, but farther to the south ; and adjoining them are Golton and Co. Both of these parties have done very well, and are still doing so. Dowling and Co. are yet working near Paroa ; they have also been fortunate in their undertaking. Respecting the arbitrary conduct of the County Chairman in attempting to stop the Road Board from making the road from Paroa to the town boundary, one and all concur in condemning it, and say the sooner the County Council is done away with the better. The General Assembly place funds in the hands of the Road Board to make the new roads, but the County Chairman attempts to interdict its being spent for the very purpose it was given. Surely such absurd interference with the duties appertaining to the Road Board ought and must no longer be pernoUted, ,