OHINEMURI.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2529, 13 February 1877, Page 2

OHINEMURI.

(FIIOM OVU OWN COBBESJONDENT.)

Waitekaublj Feb. 10th. Hearing a great many inquiries as to to what has become of your Waitekauri' correspondent, I just send you a few lines so as to let my friends know I am still in the land of the living, and doing well; and when I tell the reason of my silence I know they will sympathise witK. me in my disappointments. The ,fac£ is"" I have been crossed in love, acd naVe also been so busy looking for work that I have had no time to attend to anything else, and am sorry to say my endeavors hare " not met with success so far, bnt live in hopes of better days ; in fact if it hadn't been for my hopeful disposition I would have left the country before this, but I'm under the impression there is a grand and glorious iuture for this country by the time all the Maories are defunct: then you will hear the words passed around, " Arise, ye sons of men, and cultivate the land."

Strange and wonderful events hare taken place here during the last two months, and yesterday a memorable event in,the history of this district took place, namely, the birth of a child of white parentage. The happy father's name is Mr Halton, resident at the Waitekauri mill. This chronicle sayeth not to which sex the atom of humanity belongs. ; A patient and persevering individual living around these parts has been trying very hard to rear some young kakas; the attempt failed, as he forgot to feed them for a period of six days, at the end of which time they had gone the way of" all flesh. We have been honored by. a flying"visit from the County Chairman, who looked well in a brand new suit, of clothes.' 1 can't say as much for his retinue, who. looked rather seedy, but I suppose their turn will come before long. ___ In mining matters a great improvement is noticeable. The Waitekaubi Company had a splendid crushing last month ; since then the crushing has been going on as usual, with every appearance of the stone turning out as much gold if not more than last month's lot. The No.~ 2 winze looks as well as ever it did, and is now 70 feet deep and 17 feet wide, with no signs of the hanging wall. The main drive is making good progress, and is expected to be under the winze in about five weeks, when a large and Valuable block will soon be opened up, so as to g«t sufficient quartz for keeping the 40 stamps constantly going. At the Golden Point end of tbe low level the reef is of immense size, and has paid well so far, and to improve matters last night the men engaged putting up a new rise to make room for stoping operations struck a run of exceedingly rich stone—the best yet found in this portion of the mine. Very little is known about it yet, but I will send you particulars next weekif fam not too busy looking for work.

At the Weicomb the manager is busy driving" on what is known as the No. 4r I leader, which ii about lft. in thickness, and carries some good stone. The manager is of the opinion it wijl open out to a good body of stone before long. Th« . progress made is slow, as the directors have limited the number of men to bo employed in the mine to four with the . , manager; if more men are not put on . before long, I'm thinking the ground' - won't be sufficiently opened up to get.any quantity of quartz by the time the tramway is finished. The directors of the Bank of England Company have decided to suspend operations for the present, which is a great pity, as another 160 ft. of driving would pretty well prospect the ground, and give them; some sort of idea- whether it was. worth while spending any more money by the time the second^year'a rent is due. I see severed of the Companies are making calls, so suppose" work will be • started before'ong—fctifc doesn't take the amount of fist call / Vn> «me to pay the legal manager's exprf -and so on. Messrs yright riffi; 2t- T*'bett are. taking , the prehistory. stp#jJs for forming the tramway to correct the Welcome mine with the Waite> kauri tramway ; no definite decisioi< >nas been arrived "at as to its course yet, but another day or two will do so. ■■' '

Our township is slowly increasing iv size and population ; in the course of six weeks a large aud commodious Hotel with a select stock of liquors will be opined by host McCombie.