MINING NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1250, 1 August 1872, Page 2

MINING NEWS.

GREY VALLEY DIGGINGS. :

[from our own correspondent.] Ahaura, July 31 . There being now an abundant supply of water in the races, mining work in the sluicing districts is going on vigorously. Throughout the Noble's, Duffer, Napoleon, and Half-Ounce districts the sluicers are having a rare opportunity of making up for lost time, and they are making the most of it. Hafford's Terrace, at HalfOunce, is now the ; busiest place in that district. The gold has been struck iii several new claims within the last week or two, and there seetAs every probability of this patch being more extensive than was at first supposed. The lead at Eraser's Terrace, at tlie Teviot, is being traced gradually but surely, but the prospecting for it is tedious and difficult, owing to the formation of the country in; the locality' an d the nature of the work; ; It was reported last week that a rush had taken place to shallow ground in the locality of Murray Creek, butit appears the locality was at Larry's Creelc, some twenty miles lower down the Inangahua. Although it attracted some notice, as any excitement is sure to do now, as matters are on the Inangahua, it does not seem to be of much consequence. There has been a"kind of panic in the reefing districts, caused chiefly by what now seems to be unfounded and damaging reports of the crushing from the Westland Company's claim (Rhody Ryan's). The rumors were that the yield did not exceed a few pennyweights to the ton, but the return is given on undoubted authority at a trifle over loz to the ton. If this be the case, and if, as it is said, the body of stone in the claim is 6ft wide on the average, the company are in the possession of an exceedingly rich claim. From recent returns supplied by the Government Mining Registrars on the different gold fields of Victoria, it appears thalt in certain districts the yield of gold has ndtexceeded lOdwt to the ton, and yet splendid dividends on the capital invested have been declared. Anyone who has a personal knowledge of the quartz-mining districts of Victoria, will, on reading the reports of the Government Surveyors and Mining Registrars of that colony, see that quartz-raining is carried on profitably in certain localities under difficulties which do not exist on the Inangahua. The conformation of the country about Murray Creek affords great facilities for working the reefs to advantage, and this difficulty of working is the great, because expensive obstacle to the success of quartzmining in other countries. From the nature of the locality, the situation of the reefs on the Inanganna, and the absence of any serious natural impediment in procuring material, poor quartz should be made to pay belter at that place than on any goldfieldyet opened. Pumping machinery is not required for deep drainage, coal and .timber are abundant, and auriferous quartz, apparently poor, when the number of pennyweights to the ton is only considered, but actually rich when the facilities with which it can be procured are reckoned, exists in practically unlimited quantities. The absence- of available means of communication, and the consequent high rates of freight will make crushing expensive for a time, but this obstacle will disappear with th|e opehing-up of the country. The high price of labor will also be. la drawback for a time, but this will be removed when work for wages becomes general and plentiful. The absence of constant employment gives a fictitious value to labor, or to put it plainly, if a, workman can only get three days work in the week he will have to charge.for sik "to, make wages." The present deprea^ sion, slight as it is, will do all the good in the world to the reefing districts, because it will be the means of compelling holders of claims to go to work to procure dividends. The days of speculation have gon^ by, and the glory of the scrip merchant has departed. Scrip is now only valuable as beautiful specimens of the typ'ogra^ phical, as the Southern greenbacks were about the time of Shearman's march through Georgia. The paper of the "Permanent: Strata" Gold\mining Coin* pany, on the "Old Red Sandstone" line of reef, wasas'gobd as Bank "flimsy" a month or two ago, but alas ! to' what base; uses we^ may become, the bar-maids now utilise it for carl papers, and small boys, in the streets make tails for their kite^ with it. Fortunately all the scrip floated oh the market has not shared the fate of^ Permanent Stratas, but a warning has been given which it especially behoves the original working shareholders on the reefs to, take heed of. Extravagant expectations have been formed, which calm and' impartial consideration would demonstrate; to be impossible of realization, and on the first sign of disappointment a partial collapse is the result. The only remedy now is to push forward the bonajide work-, ing of the quartz to the dividend paying' point, and if the working men still hold-: ing original interests do not insist upon this, they will find themselves rapidly journeying heavenwards to that elevation of which the cat in the fable availed her- i self when her tete-a-tete with the fox was rudely disturbed by the appearance of the hounds. . The weather, although generally favorable recently for mining purposes, has not been so favorable for, road-making. The main road from the Little Grey to the Inangahua is not open yet, and there is something dismally suggestive of short funds in the fact that two-thirds of the number of men on the works have been discharged. It is said that the estimate will not come up to the actual cost of the road by some thousands of pounds, and that it will be difficult to get any more money when the sum set apart for this particular work is expended', in the meantime traffic is' all but stopped. The worst part of the road is through Totara Flat, and to mend matters, the inextinguishable Montgomery is now demanding a toll for allowing horaes to pass along his tramway from the bridge at Brandy Jack's Creek to Lardi's Hotel; The place whore the main road ought to be parallel to the course of this tramway is a slough

of despond, in which there is every likelihood of the horseman who would be rash enough to attempt to pass through it being fatally engulphed. When a certain class of people fall out, the proverb says, honest men come by their own. The Nelson Colonist and the Examiner have been at it hammer and tongs about . the action oMiis*Honor the Superintendent on the Inangahua goldmining leases; ! Neither of these journals care the value of three straws about the welfare or interest of the goldf fields; or of any one resident on them, but good may arise out of the controversy by thoroughly ventilating the leasing question from a Nelson point of yiew. To be sure both papers display a lamentable ignorance of the subject 'they v are so earnestly discussing; but what does that, .matter? The Colonist hasthe i best 6f,ijt sotfar, and has shown conclusively that the Nelson Executive in delaying the final decision on the several leases recommended by the Warden was wilfully obstructive, for by the Gold Fields Act of 1866 tendent has the power to give a final decision in ten days instead of waiting for two months, or, as the more general practice has been, from six to twelve months, with the ground locked up all that time. ' ' ' ' '■" '■--*'• Recent political agitation at'Ahaura, if it have no other good effect, has succeeded in bringing Mr Greenfield out of his shell. He has thought it worth while to publicly contradict in your columns a statement made by Mr Guinness when addressing, his constituents on his return from the late sessioii of: the Provincial Council. All the special pleading of the Provincial Secretary does not alter the fact that the Nelson Government is deliberately delaying the .sale of the land on the gold fields townships, in defiance of every remonstrance, and to the deliberate infliction of pecuniary injury on the residents. There was not any necessity to amend the Gold Fields Act to enable -the Government to sell the land ; they could do so as the law stands, and the excuse of amendment or alteration in the Act is a trantparent subterfuge to gain time by delay, for the further levying of black mail. J A second memorial to the Parliament, petitioning for its interference l to' seveff •the Nelson connection as the first stogy towards the amelioration of our condition, is being extensively, signed throughout the Grey Valley. This is the second* memorial of the same sort prepare? within twelve months. If, as recent events would seem to indicate, a "dissolution of Parliament should occur* the election of a new member to represent this district will depend upon the ability and will of the candidate to use. his endeavors to procare separation from Nelson. This will be an indispensable article in the political creed of candidates seeking the suffrages of this constituency. In. spite of all the disadvantages the Grey Valley is laboring under it appears we are likely to have an emigration from Hokitika and the south. At a recent trial in the Resident Magistrate's Court, here, for damages for breach of contract, evidence was being given to show the value of the property in . dispute. , .The original price of the property was Ll5O, and the, plaintiff claimed LI OO .for nonfulfilment of the contract.; An expert swore that he valued the -'property in dispute at L 395, and that he; did not think he would have any , difficulty in procuring a purchaser f or it at LBOO, and he gave* as a reason for his opinion that in all probability before twelve months the Ahaura would be the principal cattle and other stock market on the West Coast, and that this opinion was generally held by capitalists and stockdealers both at Hokitika and* Christchurch. We,^ho were living here in sylvan innocence" and obscurity, were wondering what all; the uproar at Hokitika meant about the road from the " thirty-second mile-post," ■ wherever that may be, to Ahaura, . but now, that we're awoke and found ourselves famous, we can understand it. The Christchurch people are raving about making a road from the Amuri to the Ahaura, so that if they pour in stock from the one side, and money to purchase it from -the other, we may become rich in spite of ourselves. During the hearing of the case referred to above, two witnesses were called to explain matters relating to bill transactions, and customs of dealing with these documents in commercial circles. One of the lawyers paid those two witnesses the left-handed compliment of saying that they were perhaps the. only two gentleman in the district who were competent to: gwe the Court information as to the commercial custom in dealing, with bills, which was as much as' to lay they had more experience with "kiteflying" than anybody else in the community. The learned gentleman, althoufhusually infallable in his inferences as well as in his law, was astray for once, for, unfortunately, he could have procured an overwhelming number of witnesses wha wish they didn't know anything about bW transactions. The instruments for the Telegraph Office have arrivecl, and are ready for use* jThe 'line is not quite finished to Reef ton yet, but it is expected everything will be in readiness for transmission of messages between Reef ton and Ahaura within ten days. A pony express will run between Ahaura and Greymouth at the expense of the Government until the line is opened between those places.