NEW REEF AT WEST WANGANUI.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 40, 16 February 1874, Page 2

NEW REEF AT WEST WANGANUI.

To the Editor of the Evening Mail. Sib, — Believing that the public may take an interest in this reef I send you the following particulars. It is situated on a spur bebetween Slaty and Malone's creeks. Its course is north and south with an inclination of lia2 to the West. As far as opened, a distance of 25 feet, it has a thickness of five feet with clearly defined walls. The quartz is hard and massive in character and in some places of a black color from the presence of oxide of manganc se. The gold is plainly visible in the solid reef throughout, and plentifully distributed Six claims, about 40 men's ground have already .been pegged out. The prospectors have carried through to Cdlingwood about a ton', of picked stone to be crushed at Ross's battery, wheh it is calculated will yield 40oze. The road there from Collingwood, if 'such it may be called, is one of the worst imaginable, one portion for about nine miles being through a Bwamp. in places. up to the waist. No attempt has ever been' made to improve it or lessen the difficulties of access to the district, where a considerable number of miners, have been for years employed. -The discoverers have had a very hard struggle, having been for the past eighteen months engaged in following up the specimens that were found on or near the surface of the creek, and latterly in making, a cut a quarter of a mile long when the reef was strpek, living in the meantime upon the results of the specimens crushed by band in a mortar. Their number is nine, and they now hold a block of nearly sixteen acres in extent. Taking into consideration the large quantity of rich specimens that have been found in tbis district from time to time, and the present discovery, it is a certaintv that a large number of other reefs must be the-e.. A prospecting party could easily be formed of men who know the district, with whom a suitable arrangement mfghc bo made, and no time than the present could be better for carrying out such a scheme. Yours, &c, Thomas Ad ms. P.S. — I forgot to mention that a seam of coal, upwards of three feet in thickness, is within ten chains of the outcrop of the reef.

To the Editor of thb Evening Mail. , Siu — Just hefore the great dinner which was eaten on Tuesday last, I heard one of its promoters urging people to take tickets for it on the ground that it was not at all of a political character.' From your report of Mr Vogel's speech it is evideut he thought far otherwise. He clearly took it, and from the " prolonged applause" of- his audience, they, it seems, as clearly intended it as the tardy hut sincere' recantation by the Nelson people of their opposition to his policy. .And certainly there seems a peculiar fitness in such a heresy's being recanted amidst half empty champagne bottles.^ X Possibly we should not all agree as to what Mr Vogel's policy is. But'what I understand to be the main facts of it are these: — To borrow as much as can - conveniently be obtained, and to spend /what is got as usefully as the political exigencies of the moment wi 1 allow. No doubt an indefinite amount of the money may g.t applied to really reproductive purposes — the question is how much? ' And this question, I teel sure, none of Mr Vogel'a supporters will undertake to answer, unless they be financiers pf the Sheridan type, who, . whenever they put their name to a bill, thank Heaven that it is done with. Mr Vogel has now for three yeara or ' so borrowed largely, spent largely, and promised more largely still. I would suggest to my more enthusiastic compatriots that they should wait, siy another three years, to see whether any and how many of these promises aro fulfilled before they again abase themselves. Such a course would have many advantages; among others that ia the interval our nine

pound trout might probably become ten or twelve pounders, and would surelv then be an even still more acceptable sin-offering than was offered up on Tuesday lest. I am, &c, Qci PKCCAT EBRIUS LUAT SOBRIDS.

To the Editor of tjie Evening Mail. When Dr Jobnson, annoyed by Boswell tollowmg him about, argtily exclaimed « You have but two subjects, Sir, yourself and me, lam eick of both!" he uttered what the Premier might feel provoked to say on reading the telegraphic communication from Mr Luckie, giving us the unexpected information that he could not come from Auckland to the NelsoD banquet The fun con .is 's in the fact tbat Mr Luckie was not missed— until we saw tbat announcement in the paper— and some of his warmest a herents here think that the Committee gave him a broad hint not to come because they did m.t invite him. The ee'f-complacent misapprehension of seme minds ever eager to participate in triumphs which do not concern them, bas a ludicrous affinity to the following anecdote:— A young student inflated with his own importance at having taken his degree at College was, on a visit to London immediately afterwards, asked by a friend to accompany him to the theatre on an occasion when the Klog visited it. They entered at dfferent pans of the building simultaneously, when as usual the band struck up "Gcd Bave the King " and as the house roee to receive him (the King) our youthful friend turning to his companion exultingly exclaimed " Tbis is really more than I expected I" and amidst much cheering he sat down. To make the storj apropos we may surmise that Mr Luckie not only feels all this, but wishes to identify himself with his majesty and Bit down with h m in the Rojal box! I trust you will insert my communication as a query whether the dinner was or wa. not a success owing to the lamentable absence of D. M. Luckie, M.H.R I am, &c, Not a self-invited Guest.