CURE.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2819, 26 February 1878, Page 2

CURE.

Yesterday the manager made a start at sinking the winze below Ndi. 1 level on Gilmour't leader, and some golden stone is to hand. The appearance of this lode ia bo promising that it is likely soon to become one of the chief gold,producing lodes of the miae. To-morrow a start will be made, at rising to the No.. 2 lode at the junction, which it ia expected will be reached in about 30 or 4.3 feet. It is intended shortly to let a contract for driving a .cross-cut from the surface on the Waidtahi side of the spur to a point between the Bed Queen and Cure shafts. This is to be done with a view of proving the country above the Crown level, nearly all of which is maiden ground, and, indeed, very little work has been done at all in the mine except between the No. 1 and Crown levels. The cross-cut above referred to will give 70 or 80 feet of good backs from drive to surface, and it will have the advantage that the heivy tax on low-grade stuff— winding—will not be required, and the stone can be tak*n out to the Waiotahi read, whi^h with the reseat improvements is much belter then the Moa!iat»iri road In yesterday's issues of both Advertiser and Herald. appeared reports which if allowed to go tincontradicted would have a very injurious effect on both this mine and the Sed Queen. One part of the reports (tnth of which emanate from .the same source) taken exception to by the manager of the Care is where it is stated that the Sed Queen shaft is unfit Co be used, " as the first 2C3 feet of it is much too small and would need to be stripped and re-timbered." It is also asserted that it would cost £4 or £5 per foot to make the shaft deeper, as it is in hard country. The first statement re the uhfitness of the shaft is quite incorrect. The shaft is of quite snfficient size, and is in excellent order. As to the tightness of the couatry in the bottom of the shaft, to show that that is a myth, it is sufficient to say that a cross-cut put in by the Cure Company to the bottom of the shaft, cost only 12s 6d per foot to drive, the country being pi most 'too easy. How all this affects the Cure is easily explained. For along time the Cdedonkn Comp:my have charged the excessive hauling cVarge of 2s per ton on the company's and tributers' dirt, which is far too much for low grade lodes to stand. Besides the heavy cost of winding, the company's and most of the tributers' quarts and mu.Uock has had to be trucked through some 7CO or BCoft. of drives, creating a greater loss of time and wear and tear of material than would be necessary if the distance to the shaft was shorter. In short, the using of the Caledonian shaft is so unsatisfactory that a scheme has been moated to connect with the Sed Queen shaft, and work the pine by it, of course erecting an engine and winding gear over it. The reports referred to, it will be seen, throw cold water oh a scheme which, though detrimental to the Caledonian company iv putting a stop to the extoiviug of heavy wiidiug rates, would be beneficial to the Cnve and Sed Queen, if the latter is floated again, and the directors of both of these companies are justly indignant thr.t such damaging reports should be circulated, especially as the facts on which the principal arguments are based are trrong.