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Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 15, 24 October 1871, Page 2

It will be seen by our advertising columns that a soiree in connection with the Presbyterian Church will be held to-night, at which a large number of visitors arc expected. Tea will be served in'the Home Institute at 6 p.m., and afterwards an adjournment will take place to St. James’ Church, Pollenstreet, where speeches will be delivered, and the choir will perform under the leadership of Mr. Mitchell. The Fire Rrigade met at the engine-house, last eveniug, for their monthly practice, and those who put in an appearance were paid for their former attendance at practices, but as there were only eleven members present, the meeting was postponed until next Monday evening, when it is expected there will be a full attendance of the force. The Fire Rate is now being collected, and the ladders and other appliances requisite for tho full equipment of the Brigade are being prepared by order of the District Board, and it only requires a few willing hands to make our Fire Brigade all that can be required. The remains of the late Mrs David Sheehan were interred in the Catholic cemetery on Saturday afternoon. They were followed to the grave by a very large number of people, who took this last solemn opportunity of marking the great esteem in which the deceased lady was held. The barque ‘ Ballarat,’ which arrived from London on Sunday, brings some feathered immigrants, in the shape of a number of cauarics, consigned to Bishop Cowie. Capt. Reynolds also has several goldfinches and some peafowl, which we believe ate for private sale. Captain Peek, of the ‘ Beth Shan,’ who has made himself so useful during his stay here, delivered a farewell lecture last evening, in the Edwavdes-street chapel. The following is the list of passengers by the barque * Ballarat,’ which arrived in Auckland on Sunday last Alfred Carter, Martha Chandler, Hannah Sampson, Henry Berry, John E. Davis, Harriet Dazis, John Brown’ Patrick Reilly, George Chow, Mrs. Chow, John R. Gow, John Reed, Mrs. Reed, Patrick Mulhompy, G. Posslcthwaite, G. E. Ansey, Wm. Moore, Cornelius and Mary Davis. ’ The following account of a novel mining project may be worth quoting from the Sacrcmcnto Reporter :—“ At Murderer’s Bar, on the North Fork of the American River, is a great crevice or depression in the bed-rock, known to cohtaiu vast quantities of gold. The spot was flumed and partially worked several years ago under great disadvantages, and though no sign of the bottom of the crevice was discovered, and only a small space wa« worked, large quantities of gold were obtained before the water broke in upon the nr'ners. Recently some parties in that vicinity, acting upon the idea successfully carried out by Von Schmidt in his Blossom Rock enterprise, have organised a company, called the Great Crevice Mining Company, to work out the rich lead. The intention is to sink an iron pipe sft. in diameter to the necessary depth—possibly 100 ft.—and to run drifts from the shaft thus made, and extract all the auriferous gravel comeatable. By this means the water can be kept out of the mine with comparative case, and work carried on below the bed of the river with safety, cheapness, and doubtless great profit. A steam pump will be used to keep the shaft clear of water and when the freshets commence a tight-fitting iron cap will be placed upon the tube, so as to effectually prevent the lower portion of the mine from damage during the winter months. Altogether, the contrivance is a very ingenious as well as economical one, and we doubt not will succeed, in which case the company will produce many thousands of dollars before the winter rains. If this new mining idea proves practicable—and there is every reason to believe that it will—a new source of great profit will be opened, because there arc hundreds of enormously rich deposits in the beds of our rivers which can never be worked out by Burning, but which can be made to yield tip their hidden treasures by the tubing process.”