HAMILTON.—Nov. 13.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 142, 17 November 1871, Page 5

HAMILTON.—Nov. 13.

(From our own Correspondent.)

I have exceedingly little to report in mining matters except that a few are washing up in case of water falling short,-which is expected, notwithstanding our sanguine expectations some time ago—the high winds prevalent nearly every afternoon tending greatly to diminish the supply. We have at length reliable news from Cambridge's Diggings, owing to several of the miners from this place going there on the 7th and returning on the 11th for provisions, &c. Although it cannot be said that any of them •were fortunate enough to get good payable ground, «till they saw suffi( i >nt to satisfy them that there is good gold getting, and a likelihood of inore gullies being opened. In fact there is a new gully being prospected, and it is said that one pennyweight to the dish has been got in it, but that bad weather prevented it being thoroughly tested. In the first gully there are only three or four payable claims ho far. but it is supposed that a good deal of what is considered unpayable now will ultimately pay when a more systematic way of working is adopted, the present being a most primitive style. The greatest find I have heard of is a half-ounce to the dish, and it is vouched for that one man was making two ounces per day and I know that one man was here on Saturday who showed the proceedb of two days' work for himself and mate, it being over six ounces. It must be understood, however, that these are exceptional

cases, and no one should go there expecting to drop on to the same at once. To nny one going there I believe that the Sowburn is the best starting point for the range, and anyone on the Sowburn diggings can show the spur that leads direct to Cambridge's, a distance of fourteen miles. I believt there will most likely be a track by this time. As yet there are no provisions on the ground, but it is supposed that drays can get there from or near the old halfway house on the Dunstan road.

We had rather a stormy meeting of the Library Society here last week, when two well kncwa residents lost their tempers, one particularly forgetting himself and allowing private spleen to override his assumed zeal for the public good. The Chairman, also, was not v'ery clear in his duty, allowing extracts from private letters to be read without showing the necessity for the same. That there are irregularities to correct no one doubts, but the meeting was a miserable attempt to hoodwink the public without arriving at the remedy of the evil. However, further steps are being taken.