MINING INTELLIGENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 31, 6 February 1871, Page 2

MINING INTELLIGENCE.

O BIR. H. J. L. AUGARDE's WEEKLY REPORT. Culliford Shares, £3 10s. paid. Inactive. A great mauy shares on the market, but no buyers. The machinery is not yet all complete on the site, but every effort is being made to push matters a head, still a deal of time is necessary before completion can be arrived ar. Perseverance Shares, £2 paid. Dormant. A few parcels of shares ou tbe market at a discount. The delay relative to the extension of the water race and the uncertainty of action, added to the nonarrival of gold per Lady Barkly tends to make investors hang fire. This day will show on whom will devolve the future legal managership and as candidates are plentiful no doubt a good selection will be arrived at. Collingwood Coal Company's Shares £14i0 paid. No shares changing hands. The meeting comes off on the Bth inst. at Collingwood, when tbe shareholders will have au opportunity of putting the company on a better busine33 footing than hitherto. With coal at our doors, tbe means for producing it should not be found wanting. Winter is slowly approaching and the lighting of the town with gas should nat be overlooked. Waimea South Quartz Crushing Company Shares, 10s paid. The contract is taken for conveying the machinery weighing 7 tons; from the edge of the bush to the machine site, for the sum of £14 per ton, by Mr. Busch. Thus the machinery will now soon be on the ground and at work. This little company is makiog great progress, considering their limited means, and shows that large capital is not always necessary to ensure success. Doran's Gold -Mining Company's Shares, £1 10s. paid. The £1 call becomes the Bih. The Legal Manager has returned, and has, no doubt, obtained all the information relative to wire tramways &c, in addition to other matters. This company will soon come to the front, Mr. Mou tray haa already completed the whole bf the machinery, which is worthy of inspection. The company will soon be at work it is presumed. P:oneer Shares, £8 paid, Lucky Hit Shares, £10 paid, Masonic Shares, £12 10s. paid, and Mount Ophir Shares £9 paid. Nothing whatever doing. Commercial Shakes. A call of £2. made last week brings these shares up to £21 155., paid. This call will tend to lessen the holdership, and, without a doubt, contract tbe Company, which will beneficial in the end; a few hands will hold the reins, and under these circumstances good results will be arrived at. When 8 dwts. per ton have been obtained from 1£ tons of quartz, a mine. such as this should nofc be abandoned without further trial. Our Share Market is very dull; still as shareholders and the general public, are _ deeply .interested in the progress of our mines, it is only correct that all information should be- afforded;' A large amount of capital is absorbed, and more is still being absorbed in our reefs. Many congratulate themselves that they are out of these speculations, still some one must give the helping hand. The various contracts given out tend to afford a deal of. employment, and to circulate capital and this capital eventually comes back to the many and .we all feel the benefit of it. The Government are making roads, and thus tb^e digger will be benefitted, as he will obtain provisions at cheaper 1 fates, thereby we may look for increased population. The Government work now being done will help bur mines, and bring mining population,, which; will aid our depressed farmers, assist trade, and tend towards prosperity. These are some, of the benefits, our mines, will bring about. ■

..Wellington Election. — This" contest is being carried on with a bitterness and rancour that have not been equalled iii' any of the present elections iii any other part of New Zealand. Mr. J. ; C. Richmond has been taken by the hand by. tHe'T^eform Aasociatipn and;-haiSi ir|- rcon-junc-ibn. witli T^Vers, '^el^ bybught forward j^n. opposition to Messrs. 1 Hunter ana' Pearcej (he Grbv^rttrxient ; Candidates, wMle in ; additibiiUfcd the above named, Messrs. Borlase, and John Martin were nominated on Thursday last, but of them no mention is made- by the local journals,

although from private sources, whether reliable or not we are not prepared to say, we learn tbat Mr. Borlase's chance is by no means a remote one. The Independent, the leading Ministerial organ, is evidently becoming alarmed as to the possible results, and, in the abuse it so plentifully showers upon the head of Mr. Richmond, shows most clearly that in the . eyes of Ministers his election would be a most lamentable occurrence. Among other endeavors to induce the electors to record their votes against this bete noir of the Government, the journal in question publishes a whole string of advertisements from which we select lhe following, merely to show to what unfair means the friends of those who are now in power are willing to resort in order to k%? out °f ie Parliament a man influence they so much dread. The appeals purport to be made to the "Independent Electors " and run as follows ; — " Will you support the man who, through his bungling and inefficiency was the chief cause ' of^hfft Poverty Bay Massacre? Surely' noEpT' Then turn out Richmond !!," " WJ^F sacrificed the settlers at Pates, and the surrounding districts? Richmond!" " Turn out the 'Old Hack' who wants a billet!!" Theseare the means made use of to deprive the country of tbe services of an educated gentleman, and a practised poltician, in favor of men, who, although old residents in the colony have never yet turned their attention to the politics of the country, but have devoted tbeir whole time to their own affairs, while Mr. Richmond, upon whom all this un-called-for abuse is showered, has for a long. limp, and to his owu personal disadvantage, taken an active part in public life, and has rendered services which have been recognised by. the House of Representatives to such an extent that it has willingly handed over to him a share in the government of the colony. Wo are exceedingly glad to find that the Wellington electors are not disposed to allow themselves thus to be hoodwinked, but that there is every likelihood of their placing Mr. Richmond at the head of the poll. The show of hands is not always to be looked upon as a reliable index of the opinions of the electors, but iv the present instance the majority in favor of the opposition candidates seems to have been overwhelming. The numbers are given by the Post as follows : — Richmond ; between 200 and SOO ; Travers, ditto ; Hunter, about 50 ; Pearce, ditto ; Borlase, 20 ; Martin. 5. We shall anxiously look forward to the result of the polling which is to take place to-morrow, and hope to find that Mr. Richmond has met with that reward to which he is so fully entitled by his past conduct as a legislator. The General Elections. — The nomination of candidates for the return bf one qualified person to represent the Southern Maori Electoral District in the General Assembly, will take place at the Kaiapoi pah to-morrow at noon, before Mr. Alexander Mackay, Native Returning Officer. There are several candidates in the field, . including a colored gentleman from Otago, whose name we have not been able to ascertain. The election is causing quite a sensation among the Maoris of the island, ' and Kaiapoi bore quite a lively aspect yesterday, with the troops of Maoris passing through the town from the South. Select circles, including tbe friends of the several candidates for parliamentary honors, assembled yesterday at various portions of the pah to hear them express their political views on matters directly affecting the natives. The poll will be taken afc the Kaiapoi Court-house on Monday, February 13 th.— Lyttelton Times. Canvassing in Wellington^- The Post, of Thursday last, says: — ''Komem-^s®*^ modes of canvassing for the Government candidates are, to say the least of them, rather peculiar. For instance, the following, which we believe to be a real occurrence : — The very active chief canvasser meets a clerk in a mercantile house, and a colloquy to this effect takes place : Canvasser — " Good morning ; how are you going to vote ? " Clerk — " Oh, for Richmond and Travers." Can. — " The devil you are. I can tell you, you wili lose your billet if you do ; our principals have interest enough with your governor to get you the sack." Clerk— "l don't care ; I can live without my billet, as I have done before." Can.- — "You had better mind what you are about." This is what is meant by a fair and honorable contest, but happily the ballot affords a protection to those subject to such intimidation. The Earl of Derby, ; at] the Liverpool School of Science, gave a short but comprehensive "deliverance on the question of woman's rights. '• Any work of industrial or scientific kind which women are fitted , t;o do, they ought not to be excluded from doing ; any work which they are not fit to do, they wiil exclude i themselves from doing."

.

Rusticus, in commenting on the present style of .female-coifFure, says : — "lt must be a very poor soil tbat requires so much top-dressing." Mrs Partington is anxious to know, if the compass haa a needle and 32 poiuts, how long it will take a woman to make ashirt with it. The Virginia Enterprise summarises a new pastime in Nevada : — " Our friend Perkins went out yesterday to practise throwing a boomerang sent him by his^ brother in Australia. The physicians think tbat his nose eau be patched and straightened up, but say bis eyes are entirely gone." A Sydney telegram in the Argus says : Proposals have been made to the Government to run a steamer from Java to Nor^ raantown, where the Queensland telegraph line now extends, and this would give the English news by telegraph about twelve days old, . An Election Joke. — The Ballarat TStar hns a rather good piece of dialogue which occurred lately concerning the approaching election. A hotelkeeper asked a gentleman by whom he was not much esteemed if he would allow himself to be nominated as a candidate for a seat in the Assembly, and the request was -made for the amusement of the bystanders, as the gentleman asked was not considered "likely." Mr. replied that If the hotelkeeper voted for him he would prolong his life, and on being' asked how that could be done, added, By introducing a bill for the abolition of capital punishment." Lost a French Prince.— We extract the following from the Neiu York Tribune. "Lost, Stolen, or Mislaid, a French Prince, 14 years of age, of tranquil temperament, wears red trousers, and carries a bullet in his pocket. Was last seen going home from a baptism of fire. Is i supposed at Paris to be in Melz ; is supposed at Metz to be in Paris ; is supposed in other places -to be iv London. Any information concerning him will be received with the greatest indifference by the Corps Legislatif." "Nane o' Your Fun ! "—ln the " auld lang syne," a Scotch minister was once I busy catechising his young parishioners before the congregation, when he put tbe j usual first question to a stout girl, whose father kept a .public-house. "What, is your name ? " No reply. The question j having been repeated, the girl replied, " Nane o' your fun, Mr. Minister j ye ken j my name weel eneuch. D'ye no say when ye come to our house on a nigbt, 'Bet, bring me some ale ?'" The congregation, forgetting tbe sacredness of the place, -were in a broad grin, and the parson looked daggers. The telegraph clerks in Canada have found out how fast an earthquake travels, ; aud they put the pace at about 200 miles a minute. At Minouski when the late earthquake came upon them, they sent at once to Quebec, a distance of 200 miles, to ask, " How do you feel ?" While the operator was there at his work, the shock arrived. He at once sent to Montreal, about two miles further on, to ask if they had felt it. They had just time to say, "No," before the shock came up. We suppose this is the first instance on record of men talking across the "edge of an advancing earthquake. . \ For remainder of News see Fourth page.