MINING NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1855, 16 July 1874, Page 2

MINING NEWS.

GREY VALLEY GOLD-FIELDS. [from our own correspondent.] Everybody is still on the tip-toe of expectation as to what the Nelson Government means to do with the Warden. Although people at a distance profess to know all about the future action of the O'Conor Executive in this respect, those chiefly interested in the sacrifice, namely, the victims themselves, are really very little better informed than the general public. The idea is gaining ground that the very marked expression of opinion made known in the protest sent to the Executive by the chairmen of the .meetings held throughout the district against the proposed reduction in the number of Wardens, and especially against the anything but "holy alliance " in its ultimate results threatened to be effected between the Grey and Inangahua districts, has had effect in inducing the Government to take time to consider the ruinous consequences of lessening the number of responsible officers, just as the work these officers have to perform will be increased materially. There is a wide-spread belief existing that the action of Mr O'Conor in making such a determined set upon the Grey Valley and its Warden has its origin first in a personal animus he bears Mr Whitefoord, and secondly in his desire to retaliate on the Grey Valley generally for the manner in which he was treated in one or two places when he was a candidate for the Superintendency. It is said ; that the misunderstanding, if there be any such, between Mr O'Conor and the Warden had its commencement at Westport some years ago, when the former was a "poor, but honest " tradesman, and the latter was clerk to the Warden's and Magistrate's Courts there. Westport residents remember that there was talk of something disagreeable taking place with reference to : the election of the officers of a public institution of a literary character at the time alluded to. Mr O'Conor was a candidate for one of these offices, and Dr Giles, Mr Whitefoord's then chief, was another. Dr Giles was elected, and the story is that in consequence of some unpleasantness which arose during the contest, Mr O'Conor and Mr Whitefoord became bad friends, and still continue so. The other piece of gossip is that because at the meeting at

Ahanra, during his_ candidature for the Su perm tendency, Mr O'Conor did not succeed in having a vote passed that he was a fib and proper person to fill the office of Superintendent of the Province, he vowed that if he ever had the opportunity he would make the Grey Valley rue the day it rejected him, and that, suiting the action to the words, he shook the dust, or rather mud, off his feet when he reached the Tnangahua boundary, and wafted a left-handed blessing backward on the breeze to the valley and its people. Neither of these stories are worth a moment's consideration by thoughtful individuals. Ib is the height of absurdity to suppose that any public man, having the slightest pretence to ability as a statesman, or even as a mere politician, would be so shortsighted as to thus " cut off hi 3 nose to spite his face." If what those who suppose they are Mr O'Conor's most intimate friends say be true, the Provincial Secretary of Nelson has his eye upon a seat in the Ministry of the Colony, and he has given nobody any reason tosuppoae that his native modesty would be a bar to his acceptance of the Premiership if he were memorialised to accept that high office, and if this be so, is it likely that a man who possesses such ambition would allow personal antipathies to interfere with his sense of strict justice in administering public affairs ? Mr O'Conor has foresight sufficient to take warning by the political fate of his predecessor, the late Provincial Secretary, an able man, but one who was so infatuated in his utter disregard of public opinion as expressed by the Press and by the intelligent minority in the Council, who represented the great majority of the intelligence outside, that he firmly believed his Government was as secure two hours before it fell to pieces as it was two years ago, when it set the Press and the people at defiance, and dared both to try conclusions with it. Mr Greenfield saw his power cut from under him by declared enemies from without, assisted by pretended friends within, and what guarantee has Mr O'Conor that the men who raised him to office, and who now regard him as a demi-god, so to speak, may not set up some other political idol when it suits them to do so ? He will, therefore, if he is wise, not disregard the all but unani-.; mous wish of the gold-fields residents with respect to the Wardens, for his action np to this on the subject has lost him many friends, who expected good things from his administration, and who were sincerely anxious to give his Government a fair trial. ; no town. This district is again recovering its usual healthy appearance, but there is still a remarkable absence of anything in the way of new discoveries: The following extracts from a letter from a resident on the Creek will give an idea of the general state of the workings :— " In coming up the Creek to-day, I was astonished to meet old Paddy Quiulivan, who, you will remember, as cne of the earliest and luckiest miners of the place. He was the original prospector of the since celebrated Paddy's Gully, and one of the richest claims there. After wandering about in " foreign parts" for years, he has box-hauled his way back here again, ard, incredible as it may sound, Clare Paddy is about tackling ground the Chinamen couldn't make head or tdiiway in. Paddy and his party have taken up ground at the Half-way, in which several paddocks were stripped by the Chinese before they were driven out by the last big flood. They left a wheel and other plant behind them, all of which Paddy has annexed, of course, so that his party has very little to do before they get gold, except to secure the ground, at the top part of the claim from the inroads of the creek. Sam Hall, the man who was so severely hurt a few weeks ago by falling over the terrace at Sunnybank, is so far recovered that he is able to work and manage his "old woman," as he fondly calls his hydraulic hose-pipe. He had a narrow escape, and it is a mercy that he was not lamed for life. The road is now repaired where the accident happened, and the contractors who did the work under the Road Board, almost regret without wishing any harm to anybody, that a similar accident would happen every day if such other contracts could be obtained, for, as one contractor remarked, "its na sick a bad contract that'll gie ye thirtty bob a day noo a can tell ye." A story is about how of an affair which happened when Cockney Terrace was in ' its prime, and which has led to the discovery of a new "lead" of remarkable formation. Jemmy Jack and Tom Mowat, known as the Buckeye party, had a very good claim at Cockney, and Sandy Cameron, or " Lochaber no m ore," had the next claim.. It came that both parties wanted to wash at the same time, but, as the water belonged to the Buckeyes, they washed first. When most of the dirt was washed, Lochaber took the water, and the others commenced to clean up the boxes. Something went wrong with Lochaber's washing, and forgetting what the Buckeyes were doing, he turned the water away from his paddock and down the other party's race, where it rushed with such force that it washed the Buckeye men, with their boxes, gold, and all, away on to the flat. It is supposed that between 20 and 30oz of gold were lost; and now. it is a dead heat between No. 1 and No. 2 Tip Head Companies, who shall reach the place first where the gold wa3 swept to; These companies are now each cutting a. dry ditch, and working, for dear life to reach the " Buckeye Lead.'' Law and party, at Abe's Creek, have started a new shaft, and if hard work and plenty of it deserves success, the Fardown — Scotch and Cornish party— ought to get gold. Christie's party broke through into the gravel with' their tunnel last week. It is not known whether they \ have touched gold, but from the "bright smile " which lighted up the countenances of the several members of the party last Saturday, they would appear to be satisfied with the prospects before them. All the groundsluicers in the ont-lying gullies have been busy for the last few weeks, but the result will not be known while the wet weather lasts, for they must take advantage of th 9 water while they have it, and cannot spare time to visit the township. The Provincial Council Company are doing rattling on the Flats, and I must conclude fthis veracious chronicle by announcing the important fact, in our little world, that several Block and Pillar Associations haye been formed, with the desperate intention of turning what remains of Cockney Terrace inaide out."