THE THAMES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 21, 17 June 1871, Page 3

THE THAMES.

[Letter of N.Z. Herald, 6tk June.]

Poverty and Charleston. —When the specimens and picked stuff from the new leader are finished, which operation is now going on, the yield from the whole is expected to be about 3ozs. to the ton.

Waitemata.—The Criterion machine had had five heads going for the past fortnight upon a lot of stuff from the stopes above the sixty feet level, but I am afraid when the clean up takes place the result will be far from satisfactory. Red, White, and Blue.—The shareholders of this claim are laying their ground out in a very workmanlike manner, to work out their celebrated leaders on a much lower level than they have hitherto done, and for this purpose are pushing a drive to intersect the big reef and the rich specimen leader. This latter is from seven to twelve inches thick, running almost due north and south ; and on the northern strike, surface level, it has been worked up to the boundary of the West Coast Company, and at this point ran close upon 4ozs., independent of the specimens ; while on the same level, towards the Newmarket (belonging to the Moanatairi Company), it ran into a large lode, varying from two to six feet. From this the crushings which have been latterly made, have gone over an ounce and a quarter on an average. West Coast. —On the celebrated specimen leader of the foregoing claim, this company have commenced to sink a winze on the boundary, and have got down twenty feet, and so far the encouragement received is very great indeed, as in a good quantity of the stone the precious metal is visible, and the crushing that will be made will be a rich one. This winze is going down some 100 feet to meet the mid-level driven in from the Waiotahi side of the spur, and when a communication is effected there will be some splendid backs to take out on a leader which has proved itself one of the richest on the field. The low level is how in 550 feet, and this is being gradually pushed ahead while some of the men are engaged in opening out upon a reef about two feet thick,' which promises to turn out well when tested by the machine. The Wandering Star. —The crushing for the shareholders of this claim, which

has occupied four heads of Greeuway's machine for some days past, was finished this morning, and the result is a good payable one, being 17£ ozs. Tramway Battery.—This fine plant changed hands this morning, the lessees, Messrs Breton and Co, taking possession, and, judging from the amount of stuff in the mill paddock, it is not likely to want work for some time to come, as the following companies have bespoke the machinef:—Point Russell; Austin and party, "Wood and party, Willis and party —the whole of these being tributers in Tookey's mine.

The Four Georges.—The shareholders of the Four Georges claim, Karaka, have had a crushing at their own battery. There were about twenty tons put through, and the gold obtained from, the cleaning up that took place on Saturday was 17ozs.

The Beehive.—A twenty-totf crushing for the Beehive tributers was completed on Saturday at the Criterion Battery. The yield of retorted gold obtained is 19ozs lOdwts, or an average of not quite an ounce to the ton. The Whau Company.—A parcel of gold weighing 29ozs 9dwts, the result of a retorting for the Whau Company, was lodged in the Bank of New Zealand on Saturday.

The Only Chance.—A trial crushing from this claim yielded 6ozs 15dwts of gold.

The Albumia.—There are now about l£ tons of specimens on haud. No retorting took place on Saturday, although there is a large quantity of amalgam, but it is intended for the future to have regular fortnightly retortings, and the manager expects to have 1200ozs of gold as the result of the present fortnight's crushing. The whole mine is looking well, the big reef especially so, for there is a fine seam of gold visible in the face, and some splendid specimens have been taken out of it. We believe that it is intended to shortly commence sending stuff from the mine to Weston's machine, besides keeping the company's mill constantly employed. The latter is to be rendered more efficient by the addition of another five-head battery, and the present boiler is to be replaced by a new large one.