WANGAPEKA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 101, 1 May 1871, Page 2

WANGAPEKA.

CFrom a Correspondent.) The crushing of the rubbish, from Gulliford's drives appears to have created much gloomy apprehension among the people in Nelson, whereas no one here appears to think anything at all about it. Thf>re was certainly a necessity for crushing some rubbish, but the manager overdid the thing and should have stopped after running through about 20 tons. However, they are putting through some of the real reef now, which is necessarily mixed up with a certain quantity of rubhle, but the plates look decidedly healthy, and when it is considered that threepenny weights to the ton will nearly pay all working expenses, there is not much fear but the mine will be payable. I know I should not mind giving a good price for it, if the shareholders are "funkey" and would like to sell the lot. The Waimea Crushing Company have all their plant on the ground and the timber all cut and stacked. I think well of the prospects of this company. The reef in No. 1 south is well defined, and gold is to be obtained in every dish of stuff washed. The company has no interest in the claim beyond a contract to crush for the shareholders at a fixed price per ton. The first contract is for 500 tons. This in a battery of 10 stampers of 6 cwt. each, should be put through in five weeks. As the price is £1 per ton, and the whole cost of the machinery will not, I suppose, exceed £1500, the shareholders will have every reason to be gratified if they get a third of their capital back iv five or six weeks. People who are given to betting, which I am not, are offering " odds," whatever they may be, that the first crushing from Doran's exceeds 1 ounce to the ton. Certainly there is a splendid body of stone, and the prospects to be obtained by the rude appliances of a pick and tin dish are very encouraging. There was a good deal of business for the Warden last Wednesday ; the hearing of applications for leases took some time, and there was an unusually long list of cases for hearing in the Court. The business in the Resident Magistrate's Court is always considered tame aud uninteresting ou a goldfield compared to the Wardeu's Court, and as it was known there were at least two very important cases for hearing ia the latter Court, the attendance was large, and was increased by visitors aud witnesses from Wakefield aud the Waimeas, and two lawyers, Messrs. Fell, and Acton Adams, specially retained from Nelson. The great case of Gowland and others v. O' Brien and others excited most attention. Mr. Fell was for the plaintiffs, aud Mr. Acton Adams for the defendants. The complaint of which I have obtained a copy from the clerk of the court was to this effect, "that the defendants did on the 12th. November, 1870, apply for a raining lease of certain lands at Wangapeka, the boundaries of which encroach upon part of the claim lawfully held arid enjoyed by the plaintiffs by virtue of their miners' rights," and the plaintiffs prayed the Court to order the pegs of the lease to be removed from their ground ; to order the defendants to desist from eucroaching upon their claim ; to grant an interim injunction peudiDg the final settlement of the case, prohibiting the defendants from working, any part of the disputed ground, and for such other relief as the Court might see fit to decree. The case wa3 called when the Warden culled attention to the fact that a copy of the summons did not appear to have beeu served on each of the defendants as required by the rules of the. Court. Of course, if Mr. Adams appeared for all the defendants that would cure any. defect of that. sort. Mr. Adams after, some consultation said he now appeared for all the defendants^ although in the' first instance he had only. been retained, by certain of them. Mr. Fell was proceeding to open his case when Mr. Adams said he had a preliminary objection to take, and it' was that the 'plaintiffs had 1 not fileti'their complaint within twenty-one days' after the surveyor posted tshe notices a 9 required by section ll of the Mining' Lease- Regular tions, and must therefore' be non-suited: Mr. Fell admitted that the objection was fatal,:. tout -'thought! if ftis ! clienta'had ' >an equitable r^ght . to, the grqund r i£ would be _ very hard that they should. Jose it through

ignorance of all the technical requirements of the rules. The Warden said so far as the case before the| Court was concerned it must break do|rn but he thought a compromise might? be arrived at which would save future litigation and expense. He would venture to throw out suggestions that, as the lease was fifteen acres in exteut and the ground claimed by plaintiffs one-and-a-half acres, the latter should receive the interest in the lease proportionate to the extent of ground held by them as compared with the applicants for the lease ; or. as the piece of ground in dispute formed part of a claim held by nine men and the lease was claimed by fourteen, they might divide the ground in dispute in those proportions. Mr. Fell asked the to adjourn the Court for an hour to allow of a conference with the bther side. This was allowed, aud on the ire-assembling of the Court, Mr. A6ton {Adams applied, the other side cerasentins, to have a non-suit recorded with costs lagainst the plaintiffs, and intimated that 'it had been agreed to divide the ground on the basis suggested by the Warden. So the case which had caused such excitement, so much expense, and inconvenience to many witnesses, came to an end, which was satisfactory to both parties, but whichl should think might have been reached more economically and rapidly, by a little giving and taking on both sides. The other case, Crewdson v. Gowland and others,, was an action by the plaintiff to compel the defendants to give him a share in a lease applied for by tbern of a claim in which all the parties had been jointly interested. The Warden said he understood it was simply a question of accounts between the parties, the defendants refusing to put plaintiffs name into the lease until he paid certain monies on account of the claim ; they could not refuse him an interest in the ground which he had done nothing to forfeit, but they might be able to make him pay anything due to the partnership ; there was a clause in the Act which gave the Warden full power to hear partnership disputes and settle the amounts owing to or by the various members of the partnership. The plaintiff said defendants had now agreed to settle the matter satisfactorily and he would therefore withdraw the summonses. There were several cases in the Resident Magistrate's Court, the one which occupied most time being Morrison v. Newman an action to recover £25 for breach of contract. Mr. Fell for the plaintiff Mr. Adams for the defendant. After going into the evidence it appeared that two other persons were partners in the transaction with plaintiff, on which Mr. Adams applied for a nonsuit. The Resident Magistrate said as the matter stood the nonjoinder was fatal. Mr. Fell then applied to amend his plaiut by joining the two others as co-plaintiffs, this was after some argument allowed and eventually a verdict given for the plaintiffs for £1 10s without costs. Among the mining items of news I should not omit to tell you that some seveu pennyweights of coarse, shotty, gold were taken out of the paddock excavated for the Doran's Company wheel, the gold is rich 'in quality, and as an old digger I am inclined strongly to the belief, " that there's lots more where that came from."