THE WEEK.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1979, 8 May 1875, Page 2

THE WEEK.

The past seven days hare not been without; incidents J of oak encouraging nature on the Thames and at Tairua; of Ohinemuri, hereafter, much may be heard (may there be no end to its muchness) I but at present we hear of nothing very encouraging from there. On the Thames the gold, return for the week is a good : one, as will;be observed bythe analysis at the foot of this column. The return ifrom the. Queen of the May very much surprised:,-many*' :and nowj that "matters have been comfortably arranged with respect to securing a good battery to which quartz may be carted during the • wet weather, we may look forward to a : prosperous winter for the company. The other mines in the locality , are doing as well as usual; the City, to wit, and the Queen of Beauty. . The Bright Smile, though not in active i operation, may soon be expected to

be making itself felt in the periodical gold returns; as it is confidently anticipated that the new battery and all matters pertaining thereto will be in a complete state of readiness for a fair start by the beginning »f next month. The letter of Mr Graham objecting to the tram and flume would not appear to havo culminated in anthing very Serious, for the work has not been stopped, and, to outsiders, nothing further than the notice in the papers hasybeen known of the matter. In the Hape Creek a number of claims are being worked, and some with considerable profit, but the ground is very patchy, and never to be depended upon; notwithstanding which, however, there are men now working in the creek who have been there, working steadily, for the past three years, and have seen no reason to complain of their fortune. What they do not make one day they make another; and so very additional pieces of ground are taken up and prospected. Up the Moanatairi Creek things are improving considerably; the Caledonian still manages to give out a little gold from the small specimen leader*, and _ the ground is being prospected; the Albion's prospecti hare risen to a considerable extent, a circumstance to which I drew special attention during the week; and the Golden Calf seems destined to make itself conspicuous once again, a very much better class of country having been broken into, and good stone obtained from it, showing gold. freely. . The Old Whau is crushing^ and seems to improve in prospects. Mr "Walker, of the Long' Drive,] has met with good results since last crushing; that is to say, the stone taken out is likely to be remunerative, and a good return may be looked for if circumstances do not change. On Monday the battery belonging to the Pumping Association started to work, the big boilers having been inspected,: and the stamps have been,actively engaged since pn^ variousjsmalllparcels, some of; which were completed during the week. The news from Tairua is of a most encouraging character, but it is looked upon by many as doubtful whether much real reproductive wort will be done this winter. In the first place, nothing can be accomplished without machinery, and j the sooner, therefore, the road, from which ever point taken, is made, the sooner may Tairua be expected to add to the prosperity and consequence of tho whole district. " .