MAEREWHENUA.-Oct. 14.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 242, 24 October 1873, Page 4

MAEREWHENUA.-Oct. 14.

(Before 11. W.! Robinson, Esq., Warden.) : Agricultural Lease- Application.— -Mr. E. A. ? Julius, solicitor,.' 'appeared to' : support; the application- of the New Zealand : and AustraUan Land Gompauy (limited), for ! an agricultural lease..of. 8-iO acres, on their ; Jain No. 23, Ktirow. Objections had been lodged.by a number of miners—the'ground ; of objection being-.that the land wa3' within i thefU-oidfields and had been proved to be i auriferous.—Mr. Frank.Thomas, miner, was appointed by the objectors to oppose this .application. He.'stated that, 'at. tb3'time of the application being made, it'had been supI posed'that it would take in the gullies. He now. found, since the survey had been made, that the gnllies y/ere not takendn. He-was not, therefore, .prepared : tp prove that- the. ground applied for was' actually auriferous. It. had never been tested; but it would ocou-' py .outlets; . and vhe wished to prove tb at • there was auriferous land which, .could only be worked through the land applied, for.— : | Mr. Thomas then gave evidence to i'the effect that'hc had ; found gold in two gullies—marked A-and B on the" plan—and : which; converged .on the, area, applied for, 'near the wpolshed., The gullies were hot | worked out, and lie believed, that they would , pay to sluice. There was very little water in either gully, but water .could be -brought from the.KnrPWipr. Awakino river 3, and fall could be got through the. application to run into the Waitaki Kiver. When first heprospepted ; these gullies (about four years ago) r there were -several persons at work, but he did not think there -were any. working there now. The workiugs had been confined to a narrow run of gold in each gully; but he had prospected as far as twenty or thirty feet away from the line of workings and got | payable prospects on a falss bottom. He did | not think that the gullies had been worked on the rock. He was aware that the two creeks, after their junction in the application, lost themselves 'in the shingle. It was possible that the level at the back boundary of the application might be lower than the bank of the Waitaki;. but he thought the bank was twenty feet above the river level, and that fall could be got by cutting a tail race. In. his opinion, it would be a good speculation to bring in a. race from the. Kurow ■ ■ kino rivers and cut a -tail race to .the taki.—John Thompson deposed. that he had worked in the Kurow Gully (A) in 1539, 1870, and 1871, and had at times made as much as 355. to 40s. per day; but it was very patchy. Perhaps, on an average, he could earn 14s. per. day. > Was.-there >in December, 1870. • Thsre -was no proper lead in the gully. The. coarsest gold was got by following the bed Of the creek. No Outlet could be got for, sluicing the ground without going through ; ; the, appliciitiou; and, from the Woolshed to : the Waitaki he would consider there was 120 • feet.fall.—James M'Quade, examined, sa'.d jhe knewthe Sheepwash Greek marked A on I theiplan. Had visited it in June last, when ; he, had been shown ground, ten orf if teen feet. i deep, in.which he had got the. color of gold five feet from the surface. Did not thiuk it would be difficult to bring the Awakino water on to the'ground, or to make a tail | race. It would [not be possible to construct J a tail race, except throueh the application. ; Had suggested to Mr. M'Xerrow that the outlet should be' left open.—David Barron, | district surveyor, being sworn, said that, in ; his opinion,, if one deep tail race wei'e to hi I made.it-would require half a chain of width-.. |Thou v :dit there, was about twenty feet of fall [ from the point where the creeks lost theni- | selves in the shingle. Did not think it likely. two races would be made; but thought it advisable to- reserve from half a' chain to a. chain for one tail race.—Mr.. Thomas stated that, "on behalf of the oVectors, he would be quite satisfied that a sufficient reserve should be made for a tail race through the ground. —Mr. Jiilius,. after with-the company's agent,; said that he ; was quite willing to agree to this;, and, after some discussion, the Warden decided, by consent of both sides, to. grant the-lease certificate for the land applied for, with the exception of a "stripj two chains in .width, from the Waitaki River to the junction of creeks A and B, and thence one chain in width along each to-the southwa-rd boundary of the application. The application Messrs. -Borton and] M'xVlaster, for an agricultural lease,..was next-i heard. , Mr.-Julius appeared- foivthe applicants. Objections had been, lodged, ,tp the. effect that the ground.was .highly auriferous, and that,, ifthe application'were granted, 4t would block up the outlet to a large portion of auriferous ground, and would render,several water faces comparatively .yaluelessv, iyfr. Farquh'arion was appointed to oppose on be[,half of the objectors.—John M'Leod deposed i that he had sunk." eight shafts, from four-td", ten, feet' deepj dn; Pringle.'s ,Gully r : otherwise ■ called Long Gully: JHe. got good,sluicing.: prospects in two of the_ The oiier3 were not so good, bu.fr might pay. Was sure he had got payable gold inside the b'dundanesj' applied for. It was in the centre ofthe gullythat he had prospected.—(lt-.was .eixplaiE.Qd , by the applicants that their application did,, not extend across the gully'.)-— >W. T:'Smiley! : deposed that he had pf P3pecte'd ia'Pringie's'

Gully and the spursruhningrihtoit, included in the application. Had-also-opened' up ~a claim in, the Eureka r Guliy, on. the same-spur, but qutside;the -.appiiSation. faiir-years ago, got very good goldin.Sutherland's viully, —James M 'Quade gave evidence that he had prospected on the Maerewhenua side of the block, at the lower.end of .Sutherland's Gully, and further, dqwn, : Had purchased'; several ounces of gold got from Sutherland's, Gully. Believed that Hhere was payable gold in "the centre- of the spur. Julius, said he was not asking to have ..any ground which was known.to be 7 aquiferous; -but,; though;it had been shown that there was gold in Pringle's G Lilly anion the Maerewhenua- side of the niaiu.sp.ur, there was no proof of gold in the main spar itself. .He would'be willing to accept a lease of the portion hot shown to be auriferous, and-which- comprised some- very good cultivable land.—The Wai-den said that the finding of gold on both sides of the "spur, coupled with the fact of there being actual gold workings, higher.up on the same line of spur, raised a very strong presumption that gold would be found in the main "spur itself within the application. In. was decided to hold over the final decision until November 23th, to allow, time for the objectors to prospect the main spur; Grants.---E. Keed, extended; claim; Woolf and others, tail race and dam ;0. Grimmer, extended,claim; A. Woolf, extended" claim; Bofcting and others,, extended claim and tail race; .Karquaarsoir and others; enlargement 'Of main -tail race, and extension of main tail race in Golden Gaily. ,;, | . ; Kef used.—JVlaca'ab and Ileaney,* extended claim and dam; J. Anderson-,: extended claim and tail race; A. Baxter, extended claini./ : Withdrawn.—A. Woolf, tail race: and dam. ■ > '■ "".'." " '■' ■",' .•"'.""'

Cancellation. —F. Head" surrendered certificate for extended claim, No. for cancellation:-, .-. .-'. ■- -.:,-• ::-.:,.-. ..■-■..-...-.■ .......:.