Tararu.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1984, 14 May 1875, Page 2

Tararu.

By a. Casual Contributor. At the Sunny Bank Reduction Work*, Messrs Brown and [Wicks are storing up , an immense heap of tailings, which, with their present appliances, it would take two, years to, reduce. It is the only'place in Tararu where any of the old energy is now displayed. Work at the Tararu Tunnel has been discontinued; .including the cross-coif, 3000 feet of driving ;has been done. j. This ;tunnel, !,"of; the. same dimensions as the Kuranui Hill« Tunnel, is a first.rate piece'of work. It was intended to cut the Sunbeam and Silver Crown lodes at a low level, and to- serve as a main adit to the numerous reefs in their vicinity. It is-unfortunate that the spirited proprietors have not' met' with sufficient inducement>to persevere. There is abundance of quartz on -the surface that would pay well, could it be broufht to the mill through the tunnel, but which docs not pay to sleigh and. cart, such a roundabout way a? is' necessary. \ <lsQ rise to the surface would be a serious undertaking, as it could not be done on any of the reefs under 400 feet. It is to

?*be, hoped somo plan will bo devised to utilise the tunnel and--reefs cut in it, and ....to keep the Company's splendid fortystamper battery at work. Few batteries combine the advantages of theirs ; driven by either steam or water power, there need be no stoppages. In the driest season there is a plentiful supply of clean soft water for: the., tables, the value of which is not duly appreciated by those who have mullocky stuff to crush. The 'rjbattery^is.idleAbutiMr; SteMman ?has it iii first rateorder, "and "ready to s>art at an hour's notice. The Flora McDonald battery has not done any crushing for many months past. The last stuff crushed was from the Windfall claim, which yielded,7-dwtsta the ton ; .but, as a pair of horses^ with three men at the loading and discharging, could only sleigh down five tons a day,.it did not pay. It was intended to have laid down a tramway from the claim to the battery, but when the claim became a company, there was , an end "of it. The :BusseH battery has long been idle, and the outside shows it. Mr Cameron kept it in good order, and it as, long as he could get work*ing expenses "out of the Company's ground. rJhe Highland Chief swindle having disgusted .people jwith Tinker's 'Gully, arid; {stopped] workt -in J several

promising claims, he liad to close it. Beyond the Eussell battery is Fiery Creek 5 which once was a busy place, and is now the only place in Tararu where any mining is being done. The Missouri Goldmining ijCoinpanyv; are putting in a drlva on° i their main drive, but haVe got into very hard country. Sometimes the battery does a little crushing, testing the reefs in their own and the California lease ground, but no crushing of importance has taken, place for many a day i i '■■■ Alfew men;, are I still j at I /work in the California lease, fossicking about for the lost run of gold, which near the surface paid well. So far as mining goes'the rest of the creek is blank. Inspectors have no heart to go, out on - thVrahges, lest they find 1 themselves in the same predicament as the "Windfall and 'Prentice Boys shareholders did—working ground fibirerbd by a lease. If the Warden would forfeit every mining lease in Tararu with the exception of the leases of the Tararui Missouri, and California Gold Mining Companies, Tararu would hare another.chance. , Some of the old Tarwru^ineW-think there would be :a better prospect of finding a payable reef in the Vulcan, if the other side of the creek was tried opposite to where so much work has been done; ~ that the Scottish . Chief is well worth another trial* especially as by using berdans, more of the .-thin, flaky .gold so visible in the stone would be saved; and that, the old Lord Baglan, Princess Alice, and many others • from which : fair prospects were obtained would be taken up and worked again.