TINKERS GULLY.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 40, 5 November 1869, Page 3

TINKERS GULLY.

! (From our own Correspondent.) , j In a late issue you report the Mount Ida District School examination. It is fortunate for the children, and likewise j gratifying to the parents of that district. I am very sorry it is not in my power to furnish a somewhat similar report from this place for the simple ; reason there is no school here. Children, who ought to be receiving the rii-' diments of education may be seen daily running about,unconscious thattbetime is. idly passing by, never to be recalled, when they should be receiving that intellectual instruction, which will lie' found so useful in after life. It is painful even to bachelors (what the feeliugs of parents may be I cannot say) to see children growing up to young men and women unable either to read or write. , Wherever the fault lies, and unquestionably there must be fault somewhere, must rest either with the parents', the public, or the Government. However, I am happy to have to report that in this locality a step has been taken in the right direction: At Dry bread a committee has been formed to canvass that neighborhood 'for subscriptions for the erection of a schoolroom suitable for the districts. A meeting was also held on the ISth ult. at the Ballarat Hotel, Tinkers, the object being to consider the best means to enable them to co-operate with their neighbors of Drybread. Mr. M'Lean, of the Drybread Committee, who attended, was unanimously voted to the chair. On rising, the chairman stated at some length the importance of imparting instruction to the young, and asked for a cordial co-operation of the entire district; and he had not the j least hesitation in saying that, by joining together in harmony, their combined efforts w r ould be crowned with success. The following gentlemen were proposed and unanimously elected for the Tinker's G-ully Committee:— Messrs. John Mellor, ¥ra. C. Holmes, P. M'Cluskey, B. Charles, R Donnelly, J. Norman, D. Anderson, and R. B. Tully, hon. see. Subscription lists are being actively circulated, and the Jomt Committee are to meet at the Dunstan Creek Hotel, Drybread, on Wednesday evening, November 3rd, to fix upon jv site for the school-roara, and. adopt such plans as to them may seem bes!" for the carrying out of so laudable an object. It is to be hoped, for the welfare of the rising generation, that the intentions of the Committee will be satisfactorily successful. This district is famed for its liberality, and thespirit in which everything is carried out that is undertaken ; and it is to be i hoped that that character will be made j more . conspicuous by the inhabitants j earning liberally forward in support of \ one of the most important objects that

can be brought before ariv civilised -community. Minitig isgoing on briskly, thanks to a heavy fail of snow upon the Dunwhidb tarnishes a copious supply of water in the gftseifce of rain. Water is plentiful and the races well filled, and the miners are takiug advantage of it. The mining tympanies of .Tinkers never ha'T"e bees enumerated • in your journal, I will endeavor to do so by commencing at Sugar Fot? iSome. time ago Messrs. Norman and partv commenced working, at the base of the hill where they left oft* some three years ago, and before long will have, a face to their workings 100 feet in depthf containing gold from top to bottom. This-small but persevering party have had many trials to contend against. They first cut a difficult and expensive water race, seven miles in length. After numerous land-slips and neverending expense and labor, they finally abandoned it, and cut a new one at a much lower level, which equally serves the same purpose, without the drawbacks and dangers thzy experienced before, and have now many years of remunerative employment before them. ', Next adjoining them is the Biue Mountain Company (M'Ckiskey, Pevine, and Co.) liecently they washed up a three month's working, and were rewarded handsomely. They have now got their ground well opened out, and by adopting every improved plan in hydraulic sluicing they calculate to have fifty years steady Avork before them: " r Holmes- .-and- Co, have nearly completed their tail race in Tinkers Gully proper, aad their claim is Mr., Mellors fourteen acre paddock. Owing ; to the sandy nature of the upper shafts and the powerful quantity of water they are able to bring upon it, they feel confident of being able to clear away one acre fortnightly; and, as they have well and carefully prospected the ground, they are sanguine as to its results. YaseyV "Read, Grey, and Co. still continue working their ground in the Gully, which -has ijow uninterruptedly been worked by the present mode of sluicing during the last four years. Mr. M. Sammon, who is content to constitute his own -company, and employs a number of men, is reported to be doing exceedingly well. All these- parties use their own water, the hiring of water in or about Tinkers" being out of the question.- .... : .-. -

The new race from the Upper Manthat .has been sometime in contemplation, is now being surveyed, with, a view of selecting the best course, and of ascertaining the probable cost. It is the intention of the Company to bring in thirty heads of water into the vicinity of Drybread, and when this work is completed it will probably be the means of giving employment to alarge number of men, and thereby become the agent of making the district the most flourishing and prosperous part of the Province. May their undertaking be attended with success. Messrs. Peek and Skinner have at last been rewarded by finding excellent coal in the Devonshire Coal Seam, and are iiow prepared to supply coals of the best kind in any quantity.