THE OTAGO GOLDFIELDS.

Southland Times, Issue 1231, 1 April 1870, Page 2

THE OTAGO GOLDFIELDS.

(FROM OtTR OWN COEBESPOIfDESrr.)^ Dunstan, March 20. The only item of interest I have got to communicate is the reefs, and it is very questionable if they have not lost some of their attraction. So far as the much-talked-of Bendigo Gully is concerned, things have become very quiet, and' the " immediate prospect of threat gains are not so generally indulged in as the^ were a few weeks ago. It would be wrong to suppose that this arises from a 'failure '-of their own intrinsic value. They are' richly gold-bearing, without the shadow * of a doubt, but the. facilities for working " them continue to be as remote as ever. The Aurora Company, about which we have heard so much, has been miking a very poor, show for the last week pr two._ The water for driving the machine has falleu short, and at the present 7 moment * one of the five head of stamps -b as been thrown out of gear, which leaves only fbiir at work. Indeed, I mltyinform you, on the strength of current report, that they are not getting through more than a ton of stone per day, which must, as a matte^ pjf_ course, make a serious inroad 'upbiT tneir;, weekly earnings. The : pecuiiarifjiesv of* this particular water supply would seem* to be these. It.is brought iv from a^ very exposed source, behind the Dunstan : range, and during the depth of winter it is liable to get frost-bound. During the summer the supply, as a rule, continues good. The past season, hoWeverJ ! hasbeen altogether ah exceptional oaer~ Itr has been a hot, sapless^ summer, and the Aurora race is not the only race ia the country that has" betrayed untimely symptoms of exhaustion, r Had theloug-y talked-of water scheme bjeea* f?a.jefied.^p^m. at the time it was first mooted, it would have been a, saying to,, the country. Southern Trunk railway schemes are more attractive to the Government of the'day^" and thereon hangs "the tale jof that ; premature decay -by which - the-goldfields-interest is retarded. As a set-off against the shortcomings, of the Aurora, I have* got an item or two to communicate. Th© Carrick range reefs, on the opposite side of the district, had atrii_l ferns hingli week or ten days ago, which showed up yery well. It gave at the rate of 7 ozs. 7 dwts: to the tpnijand; as the -«hare-r holders were honestly determined to ~test[ tee true value of thei? -,- claim, _ : there is reason to believe that the stone was not picked. The mineral -resources* of thit 1 ' same Carrick range .would seem yto be varied. Some excellent samples of plumbago have been got but lot" ;it,' aiid) from time to time samples, of ore have been found,, the nature and ; value of which have yet to be" ascertaitiedt 'I am: mistaken, and the mistake will be shared in by many more, if it does : not'.yet„-plojjD an important ..part in ; the- material development of Otago. A second item of intelligence to qualify . the Aurora drawback-is the last washing-up from, the Bendigo, Or^ as it is better known, Loganf and Co.'s battery. Out of leas than* eighty tons of stone,*"from-fottr~to fivehundred ounces of gold were retorted. It was taken outof what is known-as-the. Golden Link claim, a piece of spare ground between Goodger's two leased* 'claims* - This eighty tons of. stone was ...part of oner hundred and forty tons got to grass when the crushing commenced* . so that ■the next washing is ; bound to be equally good. Would this not be an inducement for some of your Southland readers to invest? An interest in the claim" ior question formed part of the estate of, the. young man Garrett, whose untimely^ end took place the latter, end of last-yewy Itis now in the hands ofthe Curator of Intestate Estates, and will be brought to the hammer early next- month. A few hundred pounds of stray capital about Southland might Tbe —invested _in..„tbj_ purchase to good advantage. A third promising feature 'at" the Bendigo* is the discovery of a new line of reef. Its pre* cisc situation (say s the Oromwell Guardian) is 300 yards below Colclough's line, land 200 above that of . .Richmond's... , It is described as having been found- -cropping up to the surface, and some 600 feet of the lode has been traced along thfrfocgof a flat spur. Finely distributed gold Has been found-in the various-specimens, and at last sitting of the Warden's Court the prospector, a man named Bro_dfoot, obtained a prospecting claim. One word, more, and I think 1 may inform you that my budget -of mining intelligence is exhausted for the present. The* dry summer promises well for tlje winter^ iso fer at least as the rivers are concerned. lif things keep on as they are doing, both t£i dredges and bank claims will bejenabled to do a stroke this year, such as they "haye not been able, to do for some. yea__*pafiflb. As regards matters generaUy,,llliardiy know anything "worth noting. The Dunstan has not yet bebome< / t_t6 seat of government, so that- 1 have not the cbanceof "-slipping in ''on L thatvlay;i We have, however, got one or two amateur performances of the kind not faraway _tt the shape of municipal* councils, so tliat we are not left wholly without recourse^

«•, as the poet would put it, " Waste our tweets upon the desert green." Cromwell, on the upper side . of the Dunstan Crorge.isat it tooth and nail. Mr Whetter, who a few weeks ago figured as a Mayor, but was expelled from office by decree of the Supreme Court, now figures as a councillor, and, in order to revenge his downfall, he has organised a clique to obstruct the public business. Daniel in the den of lions is a far more complacent picture to contemplate than Whetter in the Municipal Council of Cromwell. The Clyde Council keeps itself tolerably quiet, and, as for the Alexandra Council, atthe junction of the Manuherikia, it does not as a rule sin grievously. The Nevis and Morvan punts on the Kawarau were brought tothehammerlast week. They sold for £500 each, the two working partners ofthe late proprietary being the purchasers. A talk was made about getting Grovernment to purchase them, with the view of having the postage rates reduced. Nothing definite, however, was done, and the proposal fell to the ground. It is well for Invercargill that it did. But for the high charges exacted at these punts, it is very questionable if Southland would get a share of the Lakes traffic at all. The Rev. Benjamin Drake, who some years ago. labored in connection with the Church at Invercargill, has been for sometime past stationed at Cromwell. iSast week a soiree took place in connection with, his church, at which Vincent Pyke, Esq.. R.M., presided. Tou will be pleased to learn that, as a preacher, Mr Drake continues as vigorous as ever, and, ao far as I am able to judge, his ministrations are acceptable to the district.