REEFTON LETTER.

Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 301, 27 November 1886, Page 2

REEFTON LETTER.

0 (from our own correspondent.) Wednesday, Novembsr 24. It is difficult to imagine the change made here by the nnexpocted success of one individual mine. A few weeks ago this place was extremely dull and depressed ; many of those in business chafed and fretted that opportunities had been missed when they could have disposed of their interests with advantage, but evil times had come and they wer9 compelled lo remain to grin and bear it. It shows how little we cau forecaste the future. Possibly the very last claim in the field, from which aught of succour or hope was expected, in a locality condemned from its repeated trials and failures, came to the rescue and has lifted us into the seventh heaven of mining excitement. It is a repitition of the saying " The unexpected always happens," and it has this further advantage that up to the present everything almost has proceeded on a sound basis. A few wild cats have intruded themselves, and no doubt too familiar acquaintance will result in scratches and scars, but people go into these with their eyes open aDd risk the consequences. Broadway of an evening is a Babel of tongues, and reminds one, from their numbers, of holiday seekers at Christinas time; but all are ready " to buy with you, sell with you," and it is soon found that something more absorbing than amusement has caused them to congregate. Since my last shares in the Globe have advanced from 26s to 435, and are firmly held. Brokers have been having a busy time of it. Fortunately there is a lull occasionally in the share market, or those disinterested mortals would be worked ofl their feet. A large extent of country is being taken up and applied for under lease, and a good deal of prospecting is going on. Reports of finds of gold-bearing stone in previously disregarded localities have been circulated, and taken altogether mining matters are on a decidedly healthy looting. On Saturday last the United Devonshire Company, comprising the ground formerly held by the Anderson's and Invincible companies, was successfully floated. The affair had bang fire for some time, although the prospectus states " There are large bodies of highly payable stone ready to be taken out;" but, it is possible the absence of the secretary, Mill. G. Haukin, who is agent for Mr Prince, the electrician, may have been the cause, fof shortly after his return shares-were enquired for and on Saturday went off with a rush, a large number being disappointed in not acquiring an interest at 4d per share, the price they were floated at, but consoled themselves afterwards by an advance of 50 to 75 per cent. On Monday the Golconda, formerly known as the Orlando, was placed in the market at Cd, and the shares, 24,000, were all absorbed in a remarkably short time. The ground is in the neighbourhood of the left hand branch, and under the old company was partially prospected, some excellent gold-bearing stone was found, but owing to the loose character of the face of the hill the work done was not remunerative, and the hands were withdrawn. A liitle more ea nestness in the present company might bring to light some of the hidden treasures of that district. During the last fortnight work at the ; Globe has been chiefly devoted to the making ot the tramway; this is about

finished and the quartz will now be trucked from the different faces to the paddock. The depth of the winze from the surface is about 70 feet, and the prospects and appearance of the reef is as satisfactory as ever. Good progress is being made with the tunnel intended to cut the reef, bnt While this is being driven 250 feet, the required distance, the battery will be kept employed on stone obtained from the original face, from a shallow level dr.ven along the reef, and with stone from the winze. On Saturday last the battery started with ten heads, but in a short time the manager will be in a position to keep the twenty heads going. Owing to the superior class of stou • to bo crushed, the directois have decided to conserve the tailings and erect a large number of berdans in which to treat them. The Progress, late Oriental, is driving towards the Globe, on stone. A difference of opinion occurs as to whether this is the Globe line or not. Applicants for other leases in the neighbourhood take their bearings so that they can satisfy themselves and edquirers that the line is going through their own particular property, but no doubt time will solve this among other problems. Mr Samuel Greenich has been appoiuted mine manager. The reef found in the Vulcan ground now belonging to the Wealth of Nations Company, has been driven on to the south, were it tailed out; it is now being followed in the opposite direction, and is showing a large body with a fair sprinkling of gold. Shares rose to 143 and Gl. There was a run on Eclipse shares for a short time, stone having been struck in the drive from the shaft. It prove.! however, to be broken, and repeated prospecting could not demonstrate that it was payable. The Low Level Tunnel is coming in for a share of notice. Whilst marking oil some ground adjoining some stone was discovered which proved on enquiry to be on the ground of the Low Level. It shows a large body on the surface and is gold-bearing. Two men have been put on to open it up. The Tunnel itself is advancing, but slowly, the average rate of progress beiig about 500 feat in twelve months. From Black's Point, to the Left hand branch, the terminus, is two and a half miles ; distance driven at present about 'i3oo feet. The winze in the Lone Star, Boatman's, is down about 60 feet, and carrying a reef averaging two feet in width,' with excellent gold, The tunnel from the suffice to connect with the foot of the winze is being pushed ahead, in a fow weeks it will be into the line of reef, and the level be re -dy to open up. The Just-in-Titne is still crushing, and will likely continue until the holidays before having a general cleming up. The hardness and massiveness of the stone in the rise makes progress slow, and until communication is made with the level above a fair and general average of the stone cannot be sent to the mine. Mr Fenton, from the School of Mines, Duuediu, the teacher recommended by Professor Black, met the local committee on Monday evening last. He left next morning for Westport, where he will remain until Christinas when he returns to j Reefton and devotes two months to the classes here. The future movements will : then be directed by Professor Black who i will be on the Coast about that time. Mr M'Lynmont will do the Coast from Greymonth southwards. The committee have decided to erect a building for the school and are negotiating for a site with the Minister of Lands. A vigorous canvass of the neighbourhood has been started to raise funds for that object, and up to the present have met with liberal treatment. Mr Walter Prince, electrical engineer, is now in Reefton, and will give lectures with practical illustrations of the use of electricty on Thursday. Friday, and Saturday evenings. A steam-engine used in Mr Oxley's brewery at the rear of Broadway, is to be utilised to generate electricity, and a double line of wires have been stretched to William's, Dawson's, and Stevenson's hotel fronts where the electric will be shown. The wires are also extended to the hall where the lecture will be given. Mr Prince, to back the genuineness of his experiments can point to the success of the Phoenix battery, Skippers, Otago, where the power to drive a 80 head battery is transmitted through a single wire over nearly three miles of mountain. Thaoy. (Continuation of News, see 4th Page.)

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

exhibition. A " chin-wagger" is the elegant term used across the Atlantic to describe a gossiping person. In London, during the first week of September, the thermometer registered 91 degrees in the shade, and 140 in the sun. A Russian professor, now in England, is at present offering £25 reward for a flea which has strayed or been stolen from his collection. The loss of property through the earthquake at Charlestown is estimated at £1,600,000. Fifty persons were killed and over a hundred injured. A Socialist named Belderok has been sentenced by the Criminal Court of Amsterdam to one years imprisonment for publishing a placard grossly insulting the King. A movement is on foot by the members of the Nation \\ Thrift Society to erect a Thrift Hall, as a memorial to the late President of the Society, Mr Samuel Morley. The Marquis of Huntly, on behalf of the Gordon family, has handed over to the community of Aberdeen a statue of Gordon. The monument will be erected in front of the School of art. The bank clerks of London propose to present to Sir John Lubbock some striking mark of their gratitude for obtaining for them the boon of a two o'clock closing on Saturday afternoon. It is a most curious fact (says the Herald of Health) that there has been nearly twice as much so-called hydrophobia in France since Pasteur came into the field with his remedy than before. The leading Australasian timber exporters are New Zealand and Western Australia, who last year exported £152,000 and £104,000 respectively, New South Wales coming next with £IOO,OOO. A new American church in the Avenue de l'Alma, Paris, was opened on Sept. 12 in the presence of a large congregation. The church has been built by the subscriptions of American visitors to Pans. Womens' colleges at the Universities of Oxford and Chambridge have thriven more this year than at any previous period, and the increasing number of students has created a necessity for greater accommodation. The shipbuilding trade on the Clyde continues to show an increasing depression, and the output for the month of August is the smallest on record during any corresponding month for at least sixteen years back. The salaries of the male school teachers in Victoria are to be increased, but not those of the females. The supply of the latter commodity is in, excess of the demand—so says the amchivalrous Victorian Minister of Education. Captain Smith, of the ship Flora P. Stafford, that arrived at Burrard Inlet from Yokohama, reports that Chinese pirates are again attempting to capture British and American ships, and that he was chased for several days. A national exhibition of fine arts will be opened in Venice in April, 1887, under the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen of Italy, for which extraordinary preparations are being made. English artists residing hi Italy can exhibit. The Parliamentary return of the cost of the police in the larger Boroughs of Great Britain has just been issued. The total cost of the police in the Metropolitan district, which contains 4,716,000 inhabitants, is £1,376,593, or 4s. lid per ineabitant. The spot where Ludwig 11. of Bavaria met his dsath in the Lake of Starnberg is now marked by a big wooden cross, thichly hung with wreaths of immortelles and laurels. The late king's mother intends to erect a chapel raised on piles on the spot. A suggestion has lately been made that the question of fuel for ocean steamers; the substitution of petroleum for coal; be solved by freezing the petroleum, using it in the form of bricks, when it could be packed as safely as coal, and, it is urged, even more so. M. Bertillon, in the course of a lecture delivered at the Hygienic Exhibition in Paris stated that out of every thousand inhabitants of Paris, only 360 are natives of the city, 565 belonging to the departments of France or the Colonies, and 75 being foreigners. One of the Australian visitors at present in London, who, from his official position, should be able to speak with authority, says that since the Colonial Exhibition has been opened, it has been attended by at least three thousaud persons, who have come all the way from the Antipodes that purpose.