THE WEEK.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1729, 18 July 1874, Page 2

THE WEEK.

At the commencement of the present year the Star was twitted with allowing itself to be the -medium of a prophecy that 1874 would be a prosperous year for the Thames so far as mining matters are concerned. We are now about the middle of '74, and surely the field was never so healthily prosperous as now. It may be true that the mines which a year or: two ago yielded so much gold as to absorb nearly all speculation on the field have fallen away in their returns, but the very fact of their having done so has diverted capital into other directions in mining, which at present and for the future promise well to repay the investment. At noon on Saturday last the principal purchases of gold by the Bank of New Zealand amounted to 4575 ounces 13 dwts., to which must be added 622 ounces purchased after the usual banking hours, making a total for the week of 5197 ounces of gold. This total by no means represents the whole of the gold obtained on the field during that time, as .here must have been many small parcels lodged at theßank of New Zealand and' other banks which are not quoted. The principal feature of the present week has been the frequency of shareholders' meeti ings. The Crown Prince, the City of York, the Watchman and Ruby Companies having held their, biennial meetings. The four first named companies are certainly in a most flattering position, and from the surveyor's report of the Ruby, that company has a good future before it. As to mining operations on the field, they have kept on a pretty even tenor, steadily yielding gold at a remunerative rate. The Pumping Association have .got the underground works free of water, but at present only one party of me n are at work; they are employed; in driving out the cross-cut towards Tookey's, to intersect works from the latter mine. When communication isl; made between the two it will greatly facilitate the ventilation of the Albion, Imperial Crown, 'and Tookey mines. I may here state that the pumps now keep the water down with a plunge of four strokes a minute. The lode in the Cure, reported last Saturday, still holds out, but when I saw it last I must confess it had not attained that stoutness >that I thought it possible it would do; but fone thing must be noted—the manager ob» tamed gold-bearing stone from its immediate vicinity. The Golden Calf Company are just now in a little trouble, having cut a considerable quantity of water in sinking, but as it is evidently from the neighborhood of a reef, it is possible that the water will die away as

work progresses. The Central Italy commence crushing next week on stuff that haß every appearance of being profitable. Most of the stone has been taken from the, lowest levels in the mine. From the Whau I have nothing authentic, but I hear that the appearance of the the mine is improving. x'he Black Angel ii also likely to come to the fore, as the large brown jeef has shown up well at the mill. Waio-Karakamines,lmußtsay, are, with the exception of the Manukau, now the claims to which most attention is directed in the Thames mining world. I know of no one of the Waio-Karaka mines likely to prove unremunerative. The Queen of the Thames are getting well down with their shaft, and the Vanguard Company have just started to sink ; the prospects of the others are unabatcdly good. There has been a bit of a stir anent the City of London. A mining correspondent having thought that somebody had not acted fairly, said so ; what the upshot will be I do not know. So far as gold banked is concerned the week's returns are likely to be light, but the week's accumulation of gold in companies' hand will bo on the increase. There is one class of miners here who are worthy of special mention—l mean the tributers. Hundreds of ounces of gold are brought to light that in all probability would never have seen daylight but for them. They find and chase small leaders, work out old ground, and raise gold in many ways with profit that would never pay for a managerial staff. There is an absence on the Thames of one speciality generally insisted on by Australian tributers, that is sus-money, as it is called; if a tribute does not pay, the tributers get a subsistance allowance.