WARDEN'S REPORT.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 257, 6 February 1874, Page 3

WARDEN'S REPORT.

The following is the report of Mr. Warden Robinson (Mount Ida) for the quarter ended December 31: —There has been but little to vary the usual course of events upon this Goldfield during the Eeriod. Until quite recently there has een a good supply of .water for and the Christmas escort will be a heavy one—l say, will be, for it will not be actually dispatched until the New, Year. The weather is now setting in for." s dry season apparently, and water is already scarce. If fresh falls of rain do not soon take place, many claims will be stopped working. This is by no means unusual at about this time of the year, and the ordinary practice is for numbers of the miners to cross the ranges to the Waitaki side and seek a few weeks' employment at harvesting, returning to their mining work here so soon as water for sluicing becomes again available. At the Maerewhenua the important question of the pollution of streams has at length come to a.practical issue. The runholders (Messrs. Borton and M'Master) are owners of a large tract of freehold land fronting the river. They have upon their freehold the usual apparatus for sheep washing, for which they obtain water from the Maerewhenua river.by means of a the .Works, rice, and everything are 'within the f 'The Eollution of the! stream by sluicing'into it as rendered the water quite' useless'for sheep washing; and they have this season:

been in consequence obliged to shear in ihe grease. To avoid this they wish ihe miners to refrain from sluicing during tinshearing time. This could not- he arranged, and Messrs. Borton and M'Master are now taking steps to enforce what they consider to be their-rights. The proceedings, which are by way of injunction, are at present only against one party (Henry Howe and Co.). I purposely refrain from passing any opinion upon the merits of this question, as no doubt it will soon be solved by proper authority. I regret to have to mention that the quartz reefing works at Rough Ridge seem likely come to a stand. The works of the Energetic Company ax*e, at any rate, stopped for the present, and it is reported that the Company will be probably wound up. It is certainly a pity that so much capital and labor should from time to time have been wasted in abortive attempts -to . .work the Rough Ridge reefs to profit. Every conmanv that has had to do with them has failed hitherto. Yet there is undoubtedly gold in the reefs, and practical men seem to be of opinion that if worked on a sufficiciently large scale they would pay fairly. One difficulty appears to be that the companies have all had Dunedin directories, who, looking for immediate returns, have not perhaps been willing to incur the large preliminary expense of thoroughly opening up mines. Whatever the cause, the fact remains that company after company has, after comparatively short trials, given up the work. At St. Bathans the large water race of Halley and Co. is being steadily carried onward, but I am not in a position to state when it will be completed.. It will be a fine property when once the water is in it, as ,it will command such an extent of payable ground.

The Naseby sludge channel and the water race from the Manuherikia Eiver aje both showing good signs of progress. Of the sludge channel there are two and a half miles finished, and two miles cut, but not yet paved, although the stone for paving is on the ground. This work has taken longer than was at first reckoned upon. It was expected to have been done in ten months, but to air appearance another year must, elapse before it can be ready for use. Yet the work now goes on well, as many as seventy men being recently employed. The mining community is beginning to get anxious to know whether the channel is to be brought up at the deeper level as suggested. I presume the engineers will soon have to decide whether it is worth while to increase the expense of making the channel deeper at the upper end, for the sake of the additional ground that would thereby be rendered workable. If the expense of deepening is not too great, it certainly seems a pity not to make the channel at the lowest working level, so as to command the greatest possible extent of ground. The fall of the race at the upper end, according to the present plan, will be about 1 in 55. The proposed deepening would reduce the fall to about 1 in 60, or rather less than 2£ in. to 12ft. The head race is all let to contractors, with the exception of about ten miles; that is to say, there are fifty-six miles under contract, of which twelve and ahalf are actually finished, and five and ahalf almost ready. It is expected that the whole may be finished before another year has gone by.' The escort for the past quarter has been as follows :

ozs. dwts. Faseby ..., 4,392 16 St. Bathan's 1,150 ' 0 Macraes ... .... ' ... 381 7 Palmerston- 79 14 Total 6,003 17