OHINEMURI.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1934, 16 March 1875, Page 2

OHINEMURI.

(feom oue special kspobteh.) Sunday. The prospectors hastened to their claim,, just made their property by the decision of the Warden, and were accompanied by others anxious to fee the result of the work, and if need b&do lend a hand. Everything was conducted with , commendable quietude, and there was no appearance of the turbulent spirit which prevails on goldfields usually. Considerable excitement was felt when the prospects of success or failure were weighing in the balance of men's minds, but nothings-more. On arriving at the ground it was found that the payable reef was at tfye bottom of a winze, which was full of water. A bucket was procured, and baling, immediately commenced. The water was reduced to about 2 feet, and a few buckets full of stuff were taken up for inspection, but' nothing found, as indeed might have been expected. The prospectors then started to work to put in a drive to drain the water from the reef. What might hare been a disturbance occurred through the indiscretion of Thorpe, who when spoken to by some of tkose excited, for the delay had created impatience, threatened to get a number of Maories to turn i them off the claim, on which, he de- j clared, they had no right This was an ill-advised and thoughtless remark, not oiily in consideration of the circumstances, but, because, since the world began, a white man never liked to be threatened with a thrashing by the black. It is expected that gold will be shown tomorrow. From what I learn I have every confidence in a payable reef being disclosed. . We will hope so. Smyth, Coleman, and party have amalgamated with Thorpe's party, and Smyth is gding in for the five men's ground pegged off the fifteen surveyed as a; reserye by Mr Mackay. The following are the names of the amalgamated parties : — Phillip Holes, Jas. Verrall, Thomas Arnold, Keepa Rohaiahi, '_Hoera te Mineha, John Thorpe, J^M. Beeche, A. Jl Thorpe, Alex. McKay, Jas. Smyth, M. Coleman. P. Dillon. J. Corbett, J. M, Macdonald. Mr Mackay proceeded to Tauranga on horseback at 11 o'clock yesterday, for the purpose of; meeting Sir Donald McLean on matters of official business.

' Mr Mackay has, I understand, obtained permission from the acting Premier to undertake necessary work. 25 men start working on Monday to improve the track through the Gorge to Tauranga Road. Work is being pushed ahead in some of the claims. On No. 1 South, the shaft is being sunk, and other workings proceeding. It is thought the. different parties on this claim will amalgamate, so as to avoid litigation. Adam Porter srj3 his is the best manned claim on the field. I believe it is. The Treaty of Waitangi is situated on the top of the spur to the right of the creek, and is considerablyabove the Banyan claim. This ground is the junction of four reefs, and though no gold has been found at present, the reefs look exceedingly well, and the fact that gold has been found on either side of it lower down oil the spur should give. hope that something good may be expected .of this claim.

From the Waitekauri tho news is not startling. A good deal of work has been done in Leahy's claim, and a little loose stone has been got with gold, but nothing more. The claimholders, however, are as confident as ever. There is only one store at the Waitekaari and. the storeman keeps a limited stock. It consisted the other day of about seven pounds of bacon and a bag of biscuits ; so that you. can understand there is some real roughing it in that direction. One man came down thence on Saturday, and to use his own words, " put away 4p«unds of chops to his own cheek/ entirely exclusive of attendant morsels like broad, potatoes, etc. Gum digging has" become a recognised industry, and parties have been going out every day recently. The Takapuna took a number of miners; and others from the Paeroa and Creagh's landing yesterday, but.most of the former took return tickets. ;

(FBOM A COEBESPONPENT.) ■. ■• Mackaytown, l^arcli 15,1875. Great excitement at the taking out of Publicans, Licenses. Every person interested thought it was a shame to be asked to pay a license until such' time as payable gold would be struck. The Warden allowed all the privileges he could, but, owing to Mr William McCloughen stating that he would take out a license whether there was' gold or otherwise, caused many to follow suit much against their will; and, in less than two hours, there were ten applications for licenses^ arid: the money I(£20) paid. I may here state that Captain lYaser, Warden, has a great deal to put up with for the want of a suitable place to do business; and, if the Government were as quick in building suitable places for officials as they are in demanding fees for licenses, there would be some encouragement for the inhabitants. Licenses were taken out by Messrs McCloughen, Leydon, Bae, Giithric, Clark Harkins & Co., Cashell & Young, Miss Eadcliffe and others whose names I can't remember. Building is still going on in different parts of Mackaytown, and the drays easily find employment carting timber and other building materials, in the face of no encouraging accounts. I have been speaking to some of the prospectors if they really had gold or not, and their answer was " Taihoa'; it is right enough; the country is safe ; never mind what people say." Mr Leydon, I hear, does not care 1 about people stopping about Mackay-

town and not prospecting the district. He spoke to a few storekeepers, namely, Messrs Whitby, Young and Cashell, McPherson, Clark and Lang, about sending out a man each and finding them in tools and provisions to prospect. They are to be sent out in pairs, and if any of them find gold all concerned receive an equal benefit. If the other storekeepers acted in a similar manner it might do a great deal of good.