HALF-OUNCE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1416, 13 February 1873, Page 2

HALF-OUNCE.

A number of claims have been taken tip along Anderson's Creek, a tributary of Half -Ounce , Creek, coming, in from the Teyiot side of the ranges. . The ground is limited, but a good deal is thquqht of it by those having claims in the fancy line. The part of the Half- Ounce Lead, between Mutton Town and Mabille, appears to be fed by the tributaries coming from the western range, and the recognition of this fact has caused more attention to be paid recently to the gullies and creeks in that direction. A piece of gross rascality has been perpetrated by two fellows who

♦ately worked in this, or rather in the Dn&er Creek district. On the strength of a good claim, in which they hold shares, certain of the business people were induced to give them credit for food and clothing to a larpe amount. At the latter part of last week they had a good washing, and with the proceedsfrom this washing-up, together with a good price they obtained surreptitiously for the shares, they levanted on Sunday. It is conduct such as this that impoverishes the already struggling tradesmen, and casts a stigma upon the mining community. Honest and hardworking miners are often prevented from entering into legitimate and probably remunerative enterprises, owing to the loss of confidence induced by the actions of such vagabonds. The worst feature in this case is that there is good reason to believe these fellows were "put away" in a safe place of concealment while their victims were scouring the country in the hope of overtaking them. The harborers of these rascals are very little better than they are themselves, for they should remember that times have not been more prosperous lately with the traders on the gold fields than with the miners. The case is bad enough when tradesmen lose by backing men wto are actually and unavoidably unfortunate or unsuccessful in their mining ventures, but, as one of the victims of misplaced confidence in this instance remarked, "it is heart-breaking to be robbed in this barefaced manner by scoundrels who could pay if they were not thieves."