THE SHOTOVER.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 63, 25 October 1864, Page 3

THE SHOTOVER.

■•- fFxpm the correspondent of the : 7Fic7eatip Mail.) ' ■ ■'.-';.: r ' ', -'.-/ ■•.-' ••' OctoW 14th. Prosperity is the rule in mining matters. Barrett and party divided £200 among them for their week's work ;. and, but for the fact of their whole claim being in ■, danger .of a sudden submergence, something lite 201 b weight of gold wolild hare been the quantity; obtained; as they were taking it out ftom underneath the crates in portions, of four and fire ounces to the shovelful, when they were obliged to desist.. The gold could be . seen in quite a stream running down every time a shoyelful of washdirt was removed from the gutters. They certainly have a vei-y rich claim. — and, now that the lay of the reef is known— will persevere, and thoroughly work the whole of the ground. It would ' amuse such scientific men as Sir Roderick Murchison to work the rule, :or rather no rule, sometimes adopted by the miners in selecting portions of their claims for immediate operations. No auriferous indications are looked for, but in this case a simple call of the partyis made, and the question put is — " Shall we work close to : the wheel ; or shall we commence at the end of pur claim ? " All those who are for the one hold up , their right hand; and all those for the other hold up their left. Majority for the wheel. ,\At it they go, and strike the gold; but being some ten feet below the level of the river, working in close proximity, and even underneath the huge crates, they are obliged to remove every boulder with the greatest caution, and as soon as one is removed, another must be substituted, so as to keep the wall of stones inside the crates from crashing in upon the party. One may easily imagine the chagrin of" the whole -when, they find that for another shovelful of rich washdirfc, they must needs risk the life o£ every man engagad, This is the every day work the miner has to endure; but the charm of the whole arrangement lies in the fact that the chances of fortune are two to one in favor of the miners, when compared with every other occupation that one or two hundred men may strike into. The Perseverance party, Stapleton's Beach, took out 70ozs since my last ; and Cameron's, next to them, 27 ounces. The former still obtain splendid washdirt, whereas the latter find their ground very poor. The Defiance party (Sulivan's) divided about £237 among them since my last, and are still taking np exceedingly rich stuff. I went down to inspect the reef under their wash dirt, and found it cut up in all directions, in channels forming little gutters, some of them not six inches wide, and in these the gold lay as thick as it was bright. it wiE be readily understood'why the original party could not get afi the gold out, when it is remembered they worked by the old hand-pump process and had to lift their gold up through two and three feet of water — besides the impossibility of getting their shovels into these narrow gutters. Some good river ground has been struck this week near the Sandhills. Rooney and party gained a case in the Warden's Court, against another party, and with it got some rich ground. Mr Aylmerwent up yesterday and decided as above. Pearce and party took out of their tunnel claim I >t Skippers, 71b weight of gold, for Monday and ' Tuesday's work. Last week they had to take their gold to Queenstown, there being no gold receiver hero- They applied to Mr. Netherwood, the clerk of the court, to take it from them ; but he is not authorised to receive, and therefore wisely deslined the risk. The Alymer Race Company, Skipper's, arc actively engaged in sluicing the terraces there, and., of course, will not wash up for a considerable period. Millan and party, and the owners of the three adjoining claims in that ground, known as the Sailor's claim, just below Maori Point bridge, commenced to work with their newly erected wheel, the " Vigilance," on Wednesday last, when the machine dissappointed them by deliberately twisting its own axle into splinters, and the wheel now lies on the beach a huge monument of stubborn timber. This is the same ground I repon ed a few weeks ago as being crated off in a far superior manner to that of any former attempt made at crating in the same claim. There is a party working steadily opposite to Pleasant Creek, keeping two cradles constantly going ; no doubt exists of their well doing. While on this subject I may as well mention that thousands of feet of the river lie ready crated off, from Stony Creek, upwards, and not a man in it. An immense amount of labor has been spent upon the work ; but all have left because the ordinary hand-pump process failed to prove of such service as was anticipated by the proprietors. No doubt exists as to the payable nature of the ground, but the miners who left were fairly beaten by the unexpected difficulties they had to encounter, yet, the gold is there, and only requires lifting ; and when I say this, I mean that it will pay enormously for the labor required. It is rumoured here that the Perseverance party at Stapleton's have taken out some 300 ounces since my own inquiries were made, but I know nothing authentic on the matter. The building for the Bank of New Zealand is now erected on the surveyed township, and will open for business on Wednesdaynext. The escort took from here over 500 ounces of gold, and had there been a gold receiver the quantity would | have more nearly approached 1,500 ounces.